With support from
|
These ‘alien tortoises’ are back on a Galapagos island
FLOREANA ISLAND, Galapagos, 15 September 2026 (CNN) - The giant tortoises of the Galápagos are not a single species; each island has its own species of tortoise that, over time, adapted to its environment. Several of these became completely extinct because whalers stopping in the archipelago caught them for food and introduced other threats, such as invasive species. The first to go extinct, around 1850, was the Floreana tortoise, named after the island where it lived. |
PMC share progress in strengthening weather services
NUKUALOFA, Tonga, 13 September 2026 (SPREP) - The 8th Pacific Meteorological Council meeting brought Pacific nations and development partners together to share the progress they have made in strengthening weather services, early warning systems and climate information. |
New to science endemic species in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 12 September 2026 (Mongabay) - Scientists have formally described Mus dumbara, a new species of spiny mouse from Sri Lanka’s Dumbara or Knuckles Mountain Range after years of waiting. |
Macron, Carney to visit French islands after Trump's map post
PARIS, France, 13 September 2026 (AFP) - The leaders of France and Canada will next week visit France's North Atlantic territory of Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon to underscore their support for national borders in the face of Donald Trump's territorial ambitions. |
Former Greek prison island of Gyaros becomes biodiversity haven
ATHENS, Greece, 13 September 2026 (LM) - In the heart of the Cyclades archipelago, this island, long used as a place of exile, has been transformed into a sanctuary for wildlife, especially Mediterranean monk seals. The marine area is now officially protected under a presidential decree. |
Despite population decline, Rishiri Island’s kombu harvest goes on
RISHIRI ISLAND, Japan, 13 September 2026 (JT) - Deciding on which day to harvest and dry their kombu is one of the highest-stakes choices the fishermen make all year. There are multiple harvest days, but once brought ashore, that day’s haul must be laid out to completely dry within hours in steady sunshine and dry air - a tall order for this remote island off Hokkaido’s northern coast where rain and shifting winds are part of the daily weather. |
PCNC11 ends with declaration committing to strengthened efforts
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 12 September 2026 (SPREP) - The 11th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas closed with an enhanced commitment, renewed purpose and a shared responsibility to carry the conservation work forward, together. |
Can AI save the Maldives’ coral reefs?
WASHINGTON, US, 11 September 2026 (Nat.Geog) - How can you protect what you don’t understand? In the Maldives, a pioneering coral-monitoring project is combining AI, 3D mapping and marine science to reveal the hidden lives of reefs and show travellers a new way to experience conservation. |
The communities adapting to a changing Bay of Bengal
GLAND, Switzerland, 11 September 2026 (IUCN) - Nijhum Dwip is a remote coastal island in the Meghna estuary of Bangladesh, where the boundaries between land and water shift with each monsoon season. In Mollagram village, 60-year-old Md. Mehraz Uddin has spent his adult life on this island, watching its shoreline change around him. Like many residents here, his experience reflects a pattern common across the Bay of Bengal: gradual land loss to riverbank erosion, reduced fish stocks, and the steady pressure these changes place on households that have long depended on the water for their livelihoods. |
Javan rhinos survive eruption in Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 11 September 2026 (Mongabay) - Indonesia’s critically endangered Javan rhinos appear to have weathered a recent volcanic eruption near their only remaining habitat, highlighting the precarious position of one of the world’s rarest large mammals. |
One in nine migratory birds threatened with extinction
LONDON, UK, 11 September 2026 (Guardian) - One in nine migratory birds are threatened with extinction and 45% of migratory species such as cuckoos, turtle doves and Arctic terns are in decline, according to a global report. The migratory slender-billed curlew was officially declared extinct last year, the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries. Worldwide, seven migratory bird species have been confirmed or are suspected to have become extinct over the last 150 years. |
A second island chain strategy for Asia
ARLINGTON, US, 10 September 2026 (DP) - The United States has two core interests in Asia worth protecting with military power: defending the U.S. homeland and safeguarding access to key economic markets and trade routes. The first priority requires little in the way of a forward military presence while the second benefits from a modest air and naval presence to hedge against outcomes that would threaten U.S. interests. A strategy that shifts U.S. military commitments and presence from the vulnerable “first island chain” toward a more defensible “second island chain” would reduce U.S. military requirements and the risk of a war with China while still protecting U.S. interests. |
Vanuatu’s fight against invasive species
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 11 September 2026 (SPREP) - From the sacred forests of North Tanna to community conservation areas across the provinces, Vanuatu is demonstrating that invasive species management is about far more than protecting biodiversity. It is also about strengthening cultural identity, building resilience and empowering local people to take ownership of their natural heritage. |
Community conservation success in Tonga heralded by birdsong
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 10 September 2026 (SPREP) - Birdsong from the Tongan Whistler, also known as the Hengehenga bird can now be heard signaling successful conservation efforts in Tonga from the Vava’u Environmental Protection Association (VEPA). One of its activities is to eradicate rats from the native lowland forest area of Mount Talau on Vava’u, a successful undertaking by VEPA Ambassadors and community members. Working to protect endemic species, this has resulted in an amazing comeback of the Hengehenga. |
Global Birdfair funding gives new hope to Sao Tome rarest birds
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 9 September 2026 (BirdLife) - In the forests of São Tomé, a small island rising from the Gulf of Guinea, hidden beneath the canopy are three birds found nowhere else on Earth: the Dwarf Ibis, Sao Tome Grosbeak ands Newton's Fiscal. All three are Critically Endangered. Two may number fewer than 250 individuals. One disappeared from scientific records for more than a century before being found again.?For birds this rare, every sighting matters. Every new nesting site, every better understanding of a threat, and every person who knows where to look can help build the knowledge needed to keep a species from disappearing. Now, a US$150,000 donation from Global Birdfair is giving the BirdLife São Tomé and Príncipe programme the opportunity to find out more and turn that knowledge into action.
|
Islands tap energy from oceans thermal layers
NEW YORK, US, 10 September 2026 (IEEE) - Construction underway on a remote island nearly 400 kilometers west of India’s mainland could demonstrate, for the first time, the commercial viability of a vast, untapped renewable resource: the ocean’s thermal layers. Here, on the Lakshadweep Archipelago, surface waters are more than 20 °C warmer than the depths below, and with the right equipment that temperature differential can be exploited to generate electricity. |
California officials allow plans for the country's biggest kelp farm
SANTA ANA, US, 10 September 2026 (AP) - California has long been farm country, and its oceans soon could be, too. State coastal officials voted to allow a plan to build the United States' largest kelp farm 6 miles off the Southern California coast to move forward as the Trump administration seeks to ramp up aquaculture in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean Rainforest, which is based in the Faroe Islands in Northern Europe, is planning to grow giant kelp on a roughly 3-square-mile stretch of federal waters to develop products to boost soil and plant health in California’s avocado farms and strawberry fields. Some environmentalists are concerned that the lines used to grow seaweed could tangle whales and that increased boat traffic will disrupt an expanse of ocean that has been wild. |
On Tangier Island, the waters keep rising
OAKLAND, US, 9 September 2026 (SC) - Tangier Island is a speck of land in the middle of Chesapeake Bay, with about 10 miles of water separating it from Maryland and Virginia. While small, the island is rich with natural beauty and a seafaring legacy that goes back generations. It is also on the front lines of climate change - rising seas pose an existential threat. |
This small island off Yemen is now a strategic prize
PERIM ISLAND, Yemen, 10 September 2026 (CNN) - Perim Island sits in the Strait of Bab al-Mandab, a geopolitical pinch-point that’s taken on an outsized importance since US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran effectively shuttered the Strait of Hormuz. To help keep global energy supplies flowing, and prices down, Saudi Arabia diverted its oil exports from Hormuz to the Red Sea. But now Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Iran’s most powerful regional proxy, have begun an offensive that could land them control of Perim – and with it the ability to prevent ships passing through this narrow gateway from the Red Sea. |
Iceland condemns Trump’s post showing island under American flag
LONDON, UK, 9 September 2026 (CNBC) - Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador after Trump posted a map showing Iceland under the American flag. Reykjavik said the image was unacceptable, while reaffirming its support for Greenland amid Trump’s annexation threats. Denmark and Mexico also objected, underscoring the diplomatic backlash to Trump’s territorial ambitions. |
Lawsuit challenges Mariana Islands deep-sea mining lease sale
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 8 September 2026 (EJ) - Conservation and community groups filed a lawsuit today challenging the Trump administration’s plan to kick-start deep-sea mining off the coast of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam in the western Pacific. The lawsuit contests the National Marine Fisheries Service’s conclusion that the deep-sea mining lease sale is unlikely to adversely affect imperiled species like humpback whales and giant manta rays. |
Denmark’s energy islands to become regional game changers
MADRID, Spain, 9 September 2026 (REM) - Offshore wind is becoming the backbone of Denmark’s clean energy future. The country plans to establish an artificial island in the North Sea with an initial capacity of 3GW and another island-based hub at Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. |
Jammertest is an open-air hacking festival set on Andoya island
LONDON, UK, 9 September 2026 (BBC) - Hosted annually by the Norwegian authorities, Jammertest is an open-air hacking festival set on remote Andoya island 300km north of the Arctic Circle. Its aim is simple but mind-bending: to use satellite signals to mess with time itself – and see if receivers in everything from clocks to drones can withstand the pressure. At the heart of this experiment is a technology that runs much of our modern digital world: Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). We tend to think of satellite networks such as GPS as tools for navigation. Yet they also do something else just as important: they transmit ultra-accurate time. |
Indonesian foragers may have sucked on mind-altering nuts
LONDON, UK, 9 September 2026 (Guardian) - What may be the earliest known evidence for human drug taking has been traced to ancient Indonesian foragers who sucked on mind-altering nuts as long as 25,000 years ago. Analysis of two exceptionally rare skeletons from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi revealed dramatic tooth wear and traces of a psychoactive substance in the individuals’ remaining teeth, suggesting they routinely sucked on hard, abrasive betel nuts. |
This Greek island solved its rubbish problem
LYON, France, 4 September 2026 (Euronews) - Most small islands have little choice but to bury their rubbish in a landfill. Tilos in Greece has found another way. Working with Greek circular economy company Polygreen and backed by the Region of South Aegean, the island removed its street bins entirely and replaced them with door-to-door collection. Every household and business received separate bags for recyclables and organic waste, each tagged with a QR code. As a result, Tilos is now the world's first island to hold the Zero Waste Cities Certification, with a recycling and composting rate of close to 90% - well above both the Greek national figure and the EU average. |
What 1.5°C overshoot means for small islands
CASTRIES, St Lucia, 8 September 2026 (IPS) - The world is now expected to breach the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that small island states have spent years defending as a threshold for survival. For people in the Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean, the consequences will not begin only when islands disappear beneath the sea. They include saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies and agricultural land, coral reef loss, more damaging coastal flooding and mounting pressure on already limited resources for recovery and adaptation. |
Japan's Northern Territories: The four islands explained
TOKYO, Japan, 8 September 2026 (JF) - The Northern Territories, which Russian President Vladimir Putin recently visited for the first time, comprise four islands stretching northeast of Hokkaido: Habomai, Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu. They are inherently Japanese territory, prized for their rich fishing grounds and scenic volcanic landscapes. Yet for more than 80 years since 1945, they have remained under unlawful Soviet, and later Russian, occupation. |
Drone survey reveals a severe penguin decline on South Shetlands
SANTIAGO, Chile, 8 September 2026 (PB) - Fourteen drone flights over a rocky finger of Antarctic coastline have delivered one of the starkest population counts yet recorded for chinstrap penguins. At Harmony Point, on Nelson Island in the South Shetland Islands, researchers counted 38,080 chinstrap nests in December 2024. The last comparable count, taken by hand in the mid-1990s, put the colony at nearly 90,000 breeding pairs. The new survey, published in the journal Polar Biology, puts the decline at 57 per cent over roughly three decades. |
Argentina says it will file criminal charges against Navitas Petroleum
LONDON, UK, 8 September 2026 (Guardian) - Argentina’s government said it will file criminal charges against the Israeli energy company Navitas Petroleum and its executives for operating in the Falkland Islands. The move follows remarks by the Argentina president who vowed to sanction oil companies drilling in the British overseas territory as he stepped up the South American nation’s sovereignty claims. |
Shetland spaceport secures £30m of UK government investment
LERWICK, UK, 8 September 2026 (BBC) - The UK government has announced investment of £30m in SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland as part of a new national space strategy. Several companies hope to use SaxaVord in Unst, the northernmost point in the UK, as a launch site for small commercial rockets. A spaceport spokesperson said the funding was a "hugely significant" vote of confidence and would unlock a further £30m of private investment. The company said the £60m public-private investment package would be used to design and build a second hangar and two more launchpads. |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands to go nuclear?
NEW DELHI, India, 7 September 2026 (ET) - India is exploring Small Modular Reactors for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) scientists inspect potential sites. The proposal comes amid major infrastructure plans, including the Great Nicobar transhipment terminal, airport and deep-water ports. The islands’ strategic location and growing defence infrastructure add significance to the proposed energy expansion. |
Jamaica to hand slavery reparations petition to King Charles
LONDON, UK, 6 September 2026 (BBC) - The Jamaican government will highlight to King Charles a petition over slavery reparations on Monday, the country's culture minister Olivia Grange has said. It will ask the King, who serves as Jamaica's head of state, to refer three questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the country's highest court, over the legality of the enslavement of Africans in Jamaica. |
Tourist tax: Norway's Lofoten Islands manages overtourism
BONN, Germany, 7 September 2026 (DW) - The Lofoten Islands in northern Norway attract more than 1 million visitors every year with their dramatic mountains, fjords and coastal scenery. But the tourism boom is putting pressure on local communities, with overcrowded roads, full parking areas, litter and unauthorized camping creating challenges for residents. To help fund infrastructure such as toilets, hiking trails and parking facilities, Norwegian municipalities will be allowed to introduce a tourist tax on overnight stays. |
Canadian fishing gear washing ashore on the Azores
HALIFAX, Canada, 7 September 2026 (CBC) - A recent study by researchers at the University of the Azores analyzed more than 1,500 pieces of plastic fishing gear debris that washed up on the Portuguese archipelago. They found that over a third originated in Canada - mostly traced to Lobster Fishing Area 34 in SW Nova Scotia - with US fisheries accounting for the rest. The items, including rubber bands, trap corners and escape vents, confirm that plastic debris from the East Coast has become a significant source of pollution across the ocean, according to the study |
Kanak Vision of the Ocean
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 7 September 2026 (SPREP) - Embracing Kanak knowledge and cultural values in the Coral Sea Nature Park Management practices has been the goal of the work for the Kanak Vision of the Ocean (KVO). Established in 2014, spanning 1.3 million square kilometers, the Coral Sea Nature Park protects a third of the world’s near-pristine coral reefs providing a safe home for humpback whales, sharks and sea turtles. It encompasses deep-sea basins, trenches and 149 seamounts. The KVO, on showcase during the 11th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in Noumea, New Caledonia this week, was initiated in 2022 by the Customary Senate and the eight customary areas with the support Conservation International and the Blue Nature Alliance. |
Penrhyn to serve as 'friendly port' for US
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 7 September 2026 (RNZ) - Penrhyn port will serve as a "friendly port" for the United States to help Pacific island nations combat "bad actors" while unlocking shared economic benefits such as critical minerals, according to the US Ambassador to the Cook Islands. Ambassador Jared Novelly made the comments following the announcement of a multi-million-dollar funding pledge to upgrade the Omoka port in Penrhyn, a former American military base.The United States and New Zealand intend to co-fund the total NZ$101 million project. The US will work with Congress to contribute US$50m (approximately NZ$84m), while New Zealand will contribute NZ$17.5m (approximately US$10m). |
Tjibaou Cultural Centre: Where culture, nature and biodiversity meet
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 6 September 2026 (SPREP) - As delegates from across the Pacific arrive in Nouméa for 11th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation, they will be welcomed into one of the Pacific's most iconic and inspiring landmarks, the Tjibaou Cultural Centre. Nestled on the Tina Peninsula and surrounded by the spectacular natural beauty of New Caledonia's lagoons, forests and coastal landscapes, the Centre provides far more than a venue for discussion and collaboration. |
German space rocket reaches orbit in Europe's first commercial launch
OSLO, Norway, 6 September 2026 (Reuters) - German startup Isar Aerospace said it would rapidly expand satellite deployments after the first orbital launch of its Spectrum rocket from Andoya island spaceport in Arctic Norway, a milestone for Europe's efforts to secure independent access to space. |
Extreme drought now covers 44% of Puerto Rico
WASHINGTON, US, 4 September 2026 (NASA) - Puerto Rico’s normally rainy season has instead brought a severe and fast-growing drought. By August 25, three-quarters of the territory was in at least moderate drought, with extreme drought covering 44 percent and some areas receiving less than 20 percent of their usual rainfall. Water shortages have forced rationing, while farmers are losing crops and ranchers are running low on hay. The situation has become serious enough to trigger both local and federal disaster declarations. |
Indonesia's most dangerous fires are burning underground
WASHINGTON, US, 6 September 2026 (NASA) - Indonesia’s dangerous peat fires are surging early in the 2026 fire season as a strengthening El Niño and severe drought dry out wetlands that can burn underground for months. These slow smoldering fires are especially destructive because they release far more fine particles and several pollutants than typical tropical forest fires, while thick smoke can make them difficult for satellites to detect. |
Water quality challenges to low-income communities in Colombo
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 5 September 2026 (Mongabay) - Most urban poor living in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, rely on pipe-borne water for their daily needs. Many fresh water sources have become contaminated over a period of 20-25 years due to human interventions and environmental factors. As extreme heat impacts the island, water scarcity may force city people to use alternative or less protected water sources. |
Marine conservation collides with mining in Sulawesi
SOUTH KONAWE, Indonesia, 4 September 2026 (Mongabay) - A marine protected area in Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi province is home to a critically depleted population of humphead wrasse. The species presence helped the area gain its protected status, but mining permits overlap parts of the conservation zone and line its coast. |
Illegal gold mining continues in Indonesia's Aceh
NAGAN RAYA, Indonesia, 4 September 2026 (Mongabay) - Residents in different districts across the Indonesian province of Aceh say gold mining activity in the interior of forest areas continues despite the province’s leaders agreeing a crackdown on illegal mining. Fuel shortages have been reported at local gas stations, which some attribute to demand from excavators working to unearth gold ore from inside forest areas. |
Contestants gather on island for world stone skimming championships
GLASGOW, UK, 4 September 2026 (BBC) - Contenders from around the world are converging on a tiny Scottish island for one of the country's most unlikely international sporting events - the world stone skimming championships. The annual contest on the isle of Easdale, in the Inner Hebrides, has attracted a record number of international entries, representing more than 30 nations, with some flying in from New Zealand and Canada. |
US hits Cuba with new sanctions as island's crises multiply
HAVANA, Cuba, 4 September 2026 (ABC) - The U.S. government on Thursday slapped new sanctions on Cuba in a fresh push to strangle the island’s economy and deepen its multiple crises. Among those hit with sanctions are Fidel Ernesto Castro, grandson of former President Raúl Castro, and Cuba’s Oil Industry Supply Import Company, known as Abapet. The company is responsible for importing special equipment and spare parts needed to sustain Cuba’s crumbling power grid. |
Judge rules 2,000 Catalina Island deer can be killed
LOS ANGELES, US, 4 September 2026 (Guardian) - A non-profit controlling 88% of Catalina island off the southern California coast has been trying for years to eliminate a non-native deer population. Experts statewide have expressed support for the Catalina Island Conservancy proposal, saying the deer’s consumption of a native shrub plant has led to a growth of an invasive grass species that ignites faster and spreads fire more easily. |
Argentine leader threatens to sanction oil firms
LONDON, UK, 4 September 2026 (BBC) - Argentina's president has heightened tensions with the UK over the Falkland Islands, warning he will impose economic sanctions on firms which exploit oil close to the British overseas territory. |
The Pacific's cocaine highway
KOROR, Palau, 3 September 2026 (Conversation) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a $600 million program to strengthen aerial and maritime surveillance across the Pacific, targeting the narco-submarines and small vessels used to move drugs through the region. |
Yeosu World Islands Expo opens
SEOUL, South Korea, 3 September 2026 (Chusan) - Yeosu World Islands Expo opens with the theme: 'Islands, Connecting Sea and Future' and it will run for 61 days until November 4. The main venue will feature eight exhibition halls, including the Theme Island showcasing the value and future of islands, the Marine Ecology Island, Future Island, Culture Island, Treasure Island, International Exchange Island, and the Restaurant and Market Island. |
Taste the spirit of the Azores on a food tour of its islands
WASHINGTON, US, 3 September 2026 (Nat.Geog) - Isolation has long demanded resourcefulness in the Azores. Across these far-flung Atlantic islands, generations of farmers, fisherfolk and winemakers have transformed maritime trade, local know-how and fertile, volcanic landscapes into one of Europe’s most distinctive food cultures. |
The Arctic habitat where global heating threatens more ice, not less
NUNAVUT, Canada, 3 September 2026 (Guardian) - It is an area of 85,000 sq km that goes by at least three names: 19th-century whalers called it the North Water; Kalaallit (Inuit of Greenland) call it Pikialasorsuaq, or “the great upwelling”; and to the Inuit of Nunavut, it is Sarvarjuaq, “the place that never freezes”. A stretch of year-round open water (known as a polynya) this far north is a boon to life of all kinds, from the algae that bloom in the summer and feed an entire web of other creatures to the whales that need access to the air in the depths of winter. |
Pacific risks becoming a ‘fortress’ under new security deals
KOROR, Palau, 2 September 2026 (PANG) - The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) has warned Pacific Islands Forum Leaders against approving negotiations on two proposed regional security agreements, arguing they could formalise an already expanding military architecture without sufficient political control or public oversight. In a new report, Fortress or Partner? Analysing Regional Insecurities and Pacific Militarisation Through Regional Compacts, PANG said the key question facing the region was not whether the Pacific needed security, but “who defines it, who controls it, and who bears its consequences.” |
Why Pacific Island states should seek collective security for the region
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand, 2 September 2026 (Conversation) - Many participants at the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau this week would like to talk about anything but great power rivalry: transnational crime, energy security, climate change, development finance, seabed minerals, transport links. Instead, the meeting has been pulled toward the question that now shadows every Pacific regional gathering: what happens when the world’s great powers decide your part of the world is strategically important? |
Taiwan's Bunun people fear for the future of their culture
TENGJHIH HAMLET, Taiwan, 2 September 2026 (Mongabay) - More than a hundred Bunun Indigenous people were forced to resettle in lowland areas after 2009’s Typhoon Morakot destroyed the only road leading to Tengjhih, their mountain settlement, in southern Taiwan. The Bunun, who believe the connection to their ancestors is a pillar of their identity, still wish to return to their ancestral land, saying it would allow them to preserve rituals and traditional knowledge. |
Pacific Islands Forum off to a decidedly shaky start
MELBOURNE, Australia, 1 September 2026 (Conversation) - The annual Pacific Islands Forum is underway in Palau, and already there has been controversy. First, it’s a leaders meeting with a distinct lack of leaders. Second, China is reportedly furious that Taiwan is represented at the meeting in its own right. The fact the leaders of five of the forum’s 18 members are absent – Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Solomon Islands – has raised questions about China’s role in their withdrawal. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the collective absence was “highly suspicious” but did not make any direct accusation. |
Trump says US position on Falkland Islands is under review
WASHINGTON, US, 1 September 2026 (Guardian) - Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering US support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, in a move likely to strain the “special relationship” between Washington and London. It follows reports last week that the US administration was prepared to oppose British rule of the overseas territory as an incentive to encourage Andy Burnham to increase defence spending, |
Why are we removing the scientists from Macquarie Island?
HOBART, Australia, 1 September 2026 (Conversation) - Scientists have worked at Macquarie Island for more than 70 years, and withdrawing all personnel will disrupt long-term wildlife, climate, atmospheric and geological monitoring, well beyond the bird flu response. |
Global coral reef coverage risks irreversible decline
SYDNEY, Australia, 31 August 2026 (Reuters) - Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching events so frequently that they no longer have time to recover before the next one strikes, scientists have warned. Global coral cover is now well below normal levels and at risk of irreversible decline, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) said in a report released on Monday. |
World leaders need to see rising oceans in Pacific
KOROR, Palau, 31 August 2026 (AFP) - A UN report published Monday showed a record pace of sea level rise driven by warming oceans and glacier melt. Up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050, with Pacific island countries experiencing sea level rise at twice the global average, it said. It also highlighted a financing gap, with developing countries needing $310-$365 billion to adapt, yet having only $26 billion in adaptation finance available in 2023. |
Pacific Islands Forum meeting in turmoil
LONDON, UK, 30 August 2026 (Guardian) - Several leaders have pulled out of a the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in Palau at the eleventh hour. Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, has cancelled his appearance after a no-confidence motion was lodged against him at home by the Solomon Islands home affairs minister, Manasseh Maelanga. Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, and his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, will also not be attending, with the Samoan leader, La’auli Leuatea Schmidt, another notable absence. |
Greenland says findings on genocide allegation not final
LONDON, UK, 28 August 2026 (BBC) - Greenland's justice minister has said the government cannot conclude whether genocide was committed against the Inuit community after experts examined the use of forced contraception in the 1960&70s. |
Islanders asked to report sightings of rare eel
GUERNSEY, Channel Islands, 29 August 2026 (BBC) - Islanders have been asked to record sightings of eels in a bid to help build a greater understanding of the fish. Guernsey Nature Commission said there had been a 95% decline in the European eel population since the 1980s due largely to freshwater habitat loss and barriers to inland feeding grounds. |
Iceland votes against restarting talks on joining EU
LONDON, UK, 30 August 2026 (BBC) - Iceland has voted against resuming talks on joining the European Union, according to public broadcaster RUV, 13 years after they were broken off. It reported that 52.8% of the 225,031 votes cast had rejected the government's proposal, while 47.2% had said yes. Some 12,600 votes separated them. |
Siraya language finds its voice again in Taiwan
TAINAN, Taiwan, 29 August 2026 (Mongabay) - A family of Siraya activists in Taiwan is a major driving force behind the revival of their ancestral language - more than a hundred years after it was last spoken. The work to revitalize the Siraya language, which began more than 20 years ago, helped secure the community’s legal recognition as Taiwan’s 17th Indigenous group. |
Iceland votes on its future with the EU
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, 29 August 2026 (BBC) - For a long time, the prospect of becoming the third generation to run his family farm was an exciting one, says Davíð Clausen Pétursson. Icelandic farmers were starting to get higher prices for their meat and milk, debt was no longer an occupational prerequisite and innovation was on the rise. Now the 29-year-old is anxiously awaiting the result of a referendum on Saturday, when Icelanders will be asked whether or not they want to restart accession talks with the EU. Davíð believes joining the bloc could have negative ramifications for farmers all over Iceland, slowing down progress made in the sector and reducing profits. |
Community programs linked to lower forest loss in Borneo
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 28 August 2026 (Mongabay) - As climate and economic shocks put pressure on tropical forests, a new study suggests support for rural communities could help protect forests while strengthening their ability to withstand crises. Forest loss in protected areas of West Kalimantan on the Indonesian part of Borneo fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a larger decline in villages receiving health and livelihood support, the study finds. |
Endemic species that only exist on specific Japanese islands
TOKYO, Japan, 28 August 2026 (Metropolis) - Roughly half of Japan’s mammal species are endemic. And the further south the archipelago reaches, the more singular its passengers become, each tied to the soil of one specific shore. Tourism, roads and feral cats are the modern threats; geological isolation is the ancient gift. Both, in their own way, are still doing their work. |
H5 threat forces Australia to pull researchers from Macquarie Island
CANBERRA, Australia, 28 August 2026 (AAP) - The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is temporarily withdrawing staff from Macquarie Island research station due to the psycho-social risk to expeditioners of a potential H5 avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak. Macquarie Island is home to large elephant seal populations close to station buildings. While H5 bird flu has not yet been detected there, expert assessments predict a high likelihood of a significant mortality event during the upcoming breeding season. |
Forum struggles with missile dilemma
KOROR, Palau, 28 August 2026 (PINA) - As they gather in Palau this week for the 55th Pacific Islands Forum, regional leaders want development partners to focus on their Blue Pacific agenda on climate, oceans and human security. However, they can’t escape entanglement in the strategic competition between the US and China, symbolised by an unresolved debate over missile testing in the region. |
NZ-backed climate mobility initiative launched across Pacific
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 28 August 2026 (RNZ) - The NZ$17.9 million Pacific Climate Mobility Partnerships Programme (PCMP) has been established to help Pacific Islands strengthen regional cooperation and implement practical, people-centred responses to climate mobility challenges. Climate mobility can be described as the movement of people, whether through migration, displacement or planned relocation, in response to the impacts of climate change. |
Kiribati considers constitutional change
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 27 August 2026 (RNZ) - Kiribati could be on the brink of amending its constitution to stop future governments from switching diplomatic recognition back to Taiwan, with its parliament set to vote on a bill declaring that maintaining ties with countries not recognised by the United Nations is "embarrassing" and like a poor marriage. The Pacific nation has switched diplomatic recognition between China and Taiwan three times, most recently in 2019 when it dumped Taipei and re-established diplomatic ties with Beijing. |
After decades of struggle, is Bougainville on the brink of statehood?
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 27 August 2026 (RNZ) - We could be about to find out whether a part of the Pacific Islands will become the world's newest nation. After a seven-year wait, Papua New Guinea's parliament is today expected to finally table the question of whether to approve of independence for the country's autonomous region of Bougainville. |
The Indian Ocean is sounding the alarm
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 26 August 2026 (IPS) - Across this vast ocean, the latest monitoring by Mercator Ocean International shows marine heatwave conditions ranging from moderate to severe. At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization expects a strong El Niño to intensify through August to October, with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole also likely to develop. These are not distant scientific signals. They are an urgent warning that the ocean system on which millions depend is under mounting stress. |
U.S., allies kick off drills at strategic Norwegian island
ANNAPOLIS, US, 26 August 2026 (USNI) - U.S., Norwegian and U.K. forces deployed Wednesday to Jan Mayen, a strategic island in the Norwegian Sea for a NATO Arctic Sentry enhanced Vigilance Activity. The trilateral operation is meant to strengthen NATO’s ability to operate jointly in challenging Arctic conditions and will integrate multinational sensors, command-and-control nodes and precision fires into a joint kill web in support of NATO and U.S. Homeland defense, according to a U.S. Marine Corps release. |
Iceland holds knife-edge referendum on EU
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, 27 August 2026 (BBC) - Inside a waterfront factory, workers in hairnets and blue overalls are sorting freshly caught cod and haddock, and machines process the fish into fillets, mostly bound for Europe. Visir fishing boss Pétur Pálsson, who fears joining the European Union would cost Iceland jobs and drive factories abroad, says: "If we are in the EU, they will be the ones who make the policy." On Saturday, voters in this island nation of almost 400,000 people will decide whether their country should resume talks on joining the EU. It is a referendum that polls suggest is too close to call. |
Raising a generation to protect the Blue Pacific
SUVA, Fiji, 26 August 2026 (IPS) - For generations, Pacific children have grown up with the ocean as part of everyday life. It is where families fish, where stories are passed down, where livelihoods begin and where cultures are rooted. Yet many young people are inheriting an ocean facing pressures unlike anything their ancestors experienced, from warming seas and coral bleaching to plastic pollution and declining marine ecosystems. Across Fiji, a quiet movement is helping change how the next generation sees the ocean. |
Only 1,325-1,648 wild elephants left in Indonesia, government says
DELISERDANG, Indonesia, 25 August 2026 (Mongabay) - A new 10-year plan for elephant conservation released by the Indonesian government places the country’s wild elephant population at an estimated 1,325-1,648 individuals. The previous figure, published in 2007, was 2,400-2,800 individuals, meaning the new estimate represents a decline of 41-45%. |
Minesto Dragon 4 sets tidal energy production record in Faroe Islands
STUART, US, 25 August 2026 (ECO) - Minesto has announced that the Dragon 4 power plant, upgraded with a new power-take-off (PTO) system that improves energy production throughout the tidal flow cycle, has delivered record-breaking electricity generation over the summer in Vestmannasund, Faroe Islands. |
Bodies found on S Korean holiday island
SEOUL, South Korea, 26 August 2026 (BBC) - Four missing people have been found dead on South Korean holiday island Jeju, as local police face mounting public criticism for allegedly mishandling missing persons cases. |
Can REDD+ deliver for Philippines’ Iraya Mangyan?
PUERTO GALERA, Philippines, 26 August 2026 (Mongabay) - The Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme combines Indigenous forest patrols, ancestral-domain support, carbon monitoring and livelihood projects to protect more than 40,000 hectares (nearly 99,000 acres) of Iraya Mangyan forest. Indigenous patrollers and local officials say the program has already strengthened monitoring and helped reduce timber poaching and small-scale mining, while surveys have documented hundreds of plant and animal species across the project area. |
Island could protect 30% of waters in marine plan
SARK, Channel Islands, 26 August 2026 (BBC) - An island wants to protect 30% of its waters under plans aimed at safeguarding marine life. The proposal would see about 50 sq miles (128.8 sq km) of sea around Sark in the Channel Islands receive additional protection under plans developed by the island's agriculture, environment and sea fisheries committee with support from the Blue Marine Foundation, local fishermen and marine experts. |
Singapore's island merger plan fuels nuclear power speculation
HONG KONG, 25 August 2026 (SCMP) - Singapore's plan to merge several islands off its southwest coast into a new hub for industry, defence and “new power generation infrastructure” has stirred speculation over whether the site could one day host a nuclear power plant. The city state is studying advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs), as part of its long-term planning for a net-zero power system, but the government has not decided whether to deploy nuclear energy, let alone where any future plant could be sited. |
ZDCs have not led to additional reductions in deforestation
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 25 August 2026 (Mongabay) - In the past decade, palm oil-producing countries, such as Indonesia, have introduced policies and company-level commitments to curb deforestation. In both concessions linked to companies with zero-deforestation commitments (ZDCs) and those not linked to ZDCs, data suggests annualized deforestation has dropped dramatically from the 2000s. Despite this drop, a new study suggests ZDCs have not, in fact, led to additional reductions in deforestation. |
Bomb fishing is reducing coral reefs to 'rubble'
LONDON, UK, 21 August 2026 (ICN) - Off the coast of Indonesia’s Spermonde Archipelago, underwater microphones captured over 3,500 explosions in just 3,600 hours of recording, according to researchers from the Zoological Society of London. The source? Blast fishing - a globally banned technique that uses plastic bottles packed with explosives to stun and kill everything in a 90-foot radius. The highly destructive practice has been documented in at least 34 countries, from Lebanon and Libya to Brazil and Ecuador. |
US territories hit out at Trump plan for Pacific deep sea exploration
HAGATNA, Guam, 24 August 2026 (Guardian) - A US government plan to lease out millions of hectares of seabed near the Mariana Trench for deep sea exploration has drawn opposition from US territories in the Pacific, as the Trump administration remains locked in a race with China for control of critical ocean minerals. On Tuesday, the Marine Mineral Administration (MMA), an agency under the US department of the interior, released a proposal to auction deep sea mining leases for 28m hectares (69m acres) of seafloor off the coast of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. |
Sri Lanka's long-delayed animal welfare law
KANDY, Sri Lanka, 24 August 2026 (Mongabay) - Sri Lanka’s government has greenlit the country’s long-delayed animal welfare bill, which proposes stringent penalties for cruelty to animals and would replace a century-old animal cruelty law. The draft law has reignited a fierce debate over the centuries-old practice of using domesticated elephants in religious processions. |
Norwegian company assesses subsea tunnel to Westman Islands
BODO, Norway, 24 August 2026 (HNN) - The newly established Eyjagöng has signed an agreement with Norwegian consulting firm Norconsult to carry out a comprehensive cost and feasibility assessment for the construction of a subsea tunnel between the Icelandic mainland and the Westman Islands. |
Australia's marine parks protect ‘places no one goes’
LONDON, UK, 23 August 2026 (Guardian) - The Australian government has been accused of leaving waters near the mainland largely unprotected by establishing the bulk of highly protected marine parks in remote areas. More than 270 leading marine scientists from 84 research institutes have written to the environment minister, Murray Watt, urging stronger protections for marine ecosystems, as a once-in-a decade view of marine parks gets under way. |
World's largest heavy lift vessel carries oil platform to Shetland
LERWICK, UK, 23 August 2026 (BBC) - The world's largest lifting vessel has arrived in Shetland carrying a giant North Sea oil platform to be broken up. Allseas's Pioneering Spirit is 1253ft (382m) long and 407ft (124m) wide, with a 5,000 tonne crane for lifting the topsides of platforms. The twin-hull vessel arrived in Lerwick Harbour early on Saturday morning with the North Cormorant platform on its deck. The platform was then placed on a barge to be brought ashore to the quayside at Dales Voe to be decommissioned. |
China opens new Arctic trade route
OXFORD, UK, 21 August 2026 (Conversation) - Sea Legend, a Chinese shipping line, recently announced it was launching a regular container service between China and Europe via the Arctic. The announcement follows a trial crossing in 2025 that saw a container ship travel from the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China to Felixstowe in the UK in 20 days. |
|
|
|
|
|
