50-year study delivers 'chilling' verdict on deep sea mining risks
| | RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, 12 May 2026 (CIN) - A major review of 50 years of data warning that deep-sea mining could cause long-lasting damage to Pacific marine ecosystems has reinforced the Cook Islands’ cautious approach to seabed minerals exploration, according to Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) Commissioner Beverly Stacey Ataera. |
Why is the US so obsessed with controlling Cuba?
| | MELBOURNE, Australia, 12 May 2026 (Conversation) - For months, Donald Trump has been fixated on Cuba. He’s issued threats and imposed additional sanctions on the island. The US military has conducted dozens of intelligence-gathering flights off the coast in recent weeks, suggesting a prelude to an invasion. The Cuban government has indicated a readiness to negotiate with the Trump administration on some issues, such as migration, drug trafficking and investment openings for Cuban-Americans. But Cuba’s sovereignty is not negotiable. |
The Bahamas goes to polls in three-way battle
| | NASSAU, Bahamas, 12 May 2026 (Guardian) - Voters in the Bahamas head to the polls on Tuesday in a hotly contested general election featuring high-profile candidates such as the former basketball champion Rick Fox. Voters in the Caribbean archipelago are divided over concerns about immigration, especially from neighbouring Haiti, and the rising cost of living, with significant spikes in gas prices caused by war in the Middle East. |
US in closely guarded talks to open new bases in Greenland
| | WASHINGTON, US, 12 May 2026 (BBC) - The US has been holding regular negotiations with Denmark to expand its military presence in Greenland, according to multiple officials familiar with the discussions, with talks between both sides progressing in recent months. |
Pacific theology and the governance of deep-sea mining
| | CANBERRA, Australia, 11 May 2026 (ANU) - Regulatory frameworks for deep-sea mining (DSM) treat the ocean as a space to be measured, governed and economically valued. DSM proponents claim that this form of mining avoids many of the negative impacts associated with terrestrial extraction (such as displacement or land use changes), working from an assumption that deep seas are largely inert or empty spaces. |
Gullah Geechee people set out to keep their family land
| | LONDON, UK, 10 May 2026 (Guardian) - On Arthur Champen’s half-acre property in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, a thicket of southern live oaks, palmettos and pine trees muffle the roar of cars on nearby highway 278. His haint blue house, lightened by the sun, sits on stilts to protect it from flooding that comes with the high tide. About a decade ago, Champen’s family nearly lost the grassy marshland next door that their family bought several generations ago. |
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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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