Army parachutes onto remote island to help Briton
| | LONDON, UK, 10 May 2026 (BBC) - British Army medics have parachuted onto the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha to help a British national with suspected hantavirus. The man left MV Hondius, the cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the virus, in mid-April at Britain's most remote inhabited overseas territory, where he lives. Oxygen was also dropped from an RAF A400M on Saturday, with supplies at a "critical level" on the island, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. |
Technology is making the Pacific's drug highway harder to detect
| | SYDNEY, Australia, 8 May 2026 (Interpreter) - In the global narcotics trade, transnational criminal networks are consolidating their hold on the Pacific drug highway. Technology is enabling these networks to adapt and refine tactics to evade detection in the region, resulting in a trafficking system that is distributed and resilient. The approach is less about the protection of individual shipments than ensuring the redundancy of the system as a whole. The repeated discovery of “narco-subs" in Pacific waters is an example of this evolution. |
Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak reveals an unexpected solution
| | GLAND, Switzerland, 8 May 2026 (IUCN) - A deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has renewed global attention on how rodent-borne diseases spread. The outbreak, linked to the Andes strain of hantavirus, has resulted in multiple deaths and triggered international contact tracing efforts after passengers travelled across several countries. But while the immediate focus is on containment aboard the ship, scientists say the bigger story may begin on land, revealing how environmental disruption may increase disease risk. |
Fires could erase years of orangutan habitat recovery
| | JAKARTA, Indonesia, 8 May 2026 (Mongabay) - Fires have burned part of a restoration site being prepared for orangutan habitat in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, raising fears that another severe fire season could undo years of recovery work. The restoration project, led by the government, Yayasan IAR Indonesia and local communities, has replanted about 300 hectares (740 acres) with 150,000 trees to help keep critically endangered orangutans out of nearby farms. |
European island finally set to reopen to tourists
| | LONDON, UK, 8 May 2026 (Independent) - An island in Montenegro will reopen to tourists this summer after a five-year dispute over beach access. Sveti Stefan, an island on the Budva Riviera, is set to welcome back guests from July following a settlement between the Montenegro government and island leaseholders. The popular island was forced to close in 2021 amid a decade-long legal battle over beach access for locals. |
Health fears in Cuba as US oil blockade halts rubbish collection
| | HAVANA, Cuba, 7 May 2026 (Guardian) - As the US oil blockade on Cuba enters its fourth month, choking off most of the island's fuel supplies, growing mounds of waste lie on street corners across Havana. Amid fuel scarcity, authorities have opted to ration petrol by reducing waste collection, leaving less than half of Havana's rubbish trucks operational. |
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IWRA |
 | | 1st Islands Water Congress 4-6 Sept, 2024, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 12th Anatomy of Islands symposium 26-28 Sept, 2024, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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CIS |
| | Critical Island Studies 4th international conference 3-4 Oct, 2024, Manila, Philippines |
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CBD |
| | COP16 21 Oct-1 Nov, 2024, Cali, Colombia |
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UNFCCC |
| | COP29 11-22 November, 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan |
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ISLAND DYNAMICS |
| | DARKNESS II conference, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland |
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JICAS |
| | Islands And Island Studies conference 3-7 June, 2025, Jersey, Channel Islands |
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UNITED NATIONS |
| | UN Ocean Conference 9-13 June, 2025, Nice, France |
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UPEI |
| | 3rd international conference on SIS and SNIJs 16-20 June, 2025, Charlottetown, PEI |
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GSIS |
| | Global Sustainable Islands Summit 20-22 April, 2026, Gran Canaria, Spain |
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SICRI |
| | Island Studies International Conference 25-28 June, 2026, Tacloban City, Leyte Islands, Philippines |
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ISISA |
| | 20th Islands of the World Conference 7-11 July 2026, Shinan County, Jeollanam-do, South Korea |
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SPREP |
| | 11th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, 7–11 September 2026, Noumea, New Caledonia |
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