Vanuatu to take dispute with France to international court
| | WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 15 July 2026 (RNZ) - Vanuatu will escalate a decades-long dispute with France over two uninhabited islands to international arbitrators. The Matthew and Hunter Islands have been controlled by France for decades, even after Vanuatu became independent. But Vanuatu says it will never truly be independent without its Umaenupne and Umaeneag islands, sacred to the Aneityum people. |
Ocean of peace requires one standard for all
| | SUVA, Fiji, 15 July 2026 (PINA) - Papua New Guinea PM James Marape’s call for the Pacific to remain “an Ocean of Peace” deserves widespread support. Few regions have suffered the strategic consequences of great power rivalry more profoundly than the Blue Pacific. The battlefields of World War Two, decades of nuclear testing and the return of geopolitical competition remind Pacific islanders that the costs of militarisation are often borne by those with least influence over it. |
This Greek island has a dark past. Now it's covered in rare seals
| | LONDON, UK, 15 July 2026 (BBC) - For half a century, Gyaros was off-limits to the world as a military prison and naval firing range. Then, in 2004, an unexpected photograph focussed attention on this apparently desolate place once more, but for very different reasons. It turned out Gyaros had become a wildlife haven, offering a sanctuary for a rare seal which was, at the time, threatened with extinction. |
Caribbean calls for return of British Virgin Islands
| | LONDON, UK, 14 July 2026 (Guardian) - The main reparations committee for Caribbean nations has called on the UK to return the British Virgin Islands and for King Charles to commit to decolonising Britain’s remaining overseas territories, warning of a “resurgence of colonisation” around the world. |
The ocean wealth that keeps leaving Micronesia
| | SUVA, Fiji, 14 July 2026 (PINA) - More than 50 percent of the world’s tuna supply comes from the western and central Pacific Ocean, making it the most important tuna fishery on the planet. The waters surrounding the Federated States of Micronesia help feed the world. Every day, industrial fishing fleets harvest tuna from the FSM’s vast ocean territory, generating billions of dollars in global seafood markets. Yet only a small fraction of that wealth ever reaches Micronesian shores. |
Top threats to Tapanuli orangutan habitat
| | JAKARTA, Indonesia, 14 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Large infrastructure projects have long dominated debate over the future of Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem, the main stronghold of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. But a new study suggests that while those projects have accelerated forest loss, the greatest direct threat to the ape’s habitat now comes from a much less visible source: the cumulative impact of small-scale agriculture and logging. |
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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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ARCTIC COUNCIL |
| | UArctic Congress 26-29 May 2026, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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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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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 14th Anatomy of Islands symposium 15-17 Oct, 2026, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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SOCIETY OF ISLAND BIOLOGY |
| | 5th Island Biology conference 2-6 November, 2026, Atami City, Japan |
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IWRA |
| | 2nd Islands Water Congress 9-11 Dec, 2026, Montego Bay, Jamaica |
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