Beyond Treaties: How investment disputes trap Pacific nations
| | SUVA, Fiji, 2 October 2026 (PINA) - Across the vast expanse of the Blue Pacific, island states are managing approximately 30 percent of the world’s oceans and seas within their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), making the region a continent of “Big Ocean States.” What lies in the depths of these waters are substantial deposits of rare earth elements and precious minerals. These deep-sea minerals have become the centre of regional to international debate, driven by the increasing demand for energy, military expansion, and digital and commercial technologies. Corporations have now entered a race to secure access to Pacific earth minerals. |
Birdsong tells only part of a forest's story
| | SHEFFIELD, UK, 2 October 2026 (Conversation) - Birds calling back and forth in the morning is one of the defining sounds of tropical forests. We’re likely to assume more types of birds we hear or see indicate a healthy forest. But counting species isn’t the only way to measure a forest’s health. Evolutionary biology asks another question that matters just as much: How closely related are the bird species that live together there? In a study of 422 bird species across 1,410 sites on seven islands in Borneo and the Wallacea region, my team and I found that densely forested areas do not necessarily harbour a greater diversity of bird species. |
Indonesia's rubber growers draw on traditional ways to fight back
| | PENUKAL ABAB LEMATANG ILIR, Indonesia, 2 October 2026 (Mongabay) - In South Sumatra province, rubber tree growers in the Tempirai customary zone say they use fire only after the end of the dry season, after they have planted food crops, and that fires began to afflict this area of South Sumatra province after the oil palm industry began operating in the peatland. That may reflect the relative resilience of oil palm trees to wildfires compared with rubber trees, which are much more vulnerable to incineration. |
Plankton bloom turns Thai island waters a bright, smelly green
| | KO LAN, Thailand, 2 October 2026 (Reuters) - The sea off Thailand's popular tourist island of Ko Lan turned a bright, pungent green this week as heavy rains and floods helped spark a plankton bloom that kept some swimmers on shore. Dense patches of green could be seen stretching along parts of the coast, with jet skis floating in discoloured waters around the island in the northern part of the Gulf of Thailand, while other stretches of the shoreline were unaffected. |
Pacific Islands get their climate moment with pre-COP meeting
| | CANBERRA, Australia, 2 October 2026 (Reuters) - Australia's efforts to put Pacific island nations at the centre of global climate diplomacy are falling short of ambitions, with few leaders from outside the region planning to attend a gathering in Tuvalu and Fiji next week. Australia and its Pacific island partners sought to turn the pre-COP conference - a forerunner to the UN's flagship COP31 event - into a headline-grabbing moment when some of the world's most recognisable leaders would visit a tiny atoll threatened by rising seas and extreme weather. |
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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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WORLD ISLANDS FAIR |
| | The world’s first international event themed around islands 5 Sept-4 Nov, 2026, Yeosu, 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 27-29 Jan, 2027, Montego Bay, Jamaica |
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ISISA |
| | 21st Islands of the Word Conference 6-10 June, 2027, Willemstad, Curacao |
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