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Plans for huge wind farm paused over 'unfair' grid charges
GLASGOW, UK, 20 January 2026 (BBC) - A huge wind farm planned off the north coast of Scotland will not be built unless "unfair" transmission charges are overhauled, the developer has warned. The 125-turbine West of Orkney wind farm had planned to generate enough electricity to power two million homes by 2029. |
Climate Security in the Pacific: Emerging trends, priorities and solutions
SUVA, Fiji, 19 January 2026 (UNDP) - Pacific Island countries are among those most affected by climate change. Rising sea levels, shifting rainfall patterns and increasing extreme weather events threaten land, livelihoods and cultural heritage across the region, which in turn is intensifying pressures on social cohesion – straining community relations, challenging livelihoods and way of living and posing key questions about the future. |
Shetland communities back call for faulty Viking gene screening
GLASGOW, UK, 20 January 2026 (BBC) - Every community in Shetland has backed calls for an islands-wide project to screen for a faulty gene which can increase the risk of a series of life-threatening conditions. Experts believe the gene - which has been linked to a number of cancers - was introduced to Shetland by a family living on the island of Whalsay before 1750. |
Why have so many dugongs gone missing from Thailand’s shores?
PHUKET, Thailand, 20 January 2026 (Thailand) - The dugongs living along Thailand’s Andaman Coast are now thought to be critical to the survival of the species. The region is one of only six locations in the world, outside Australia, with a population of more than 100 dugongs. In January 2025, an international team of 13 scientists assembled for a fact-finding mission along the Andaman Coast to determine what was killing the country’s dugongs and concluded that they were responding to a massive seagrass die-off. |
Antarctic penguins have radically shifted their breeding season
LONDON, UK, 20 January 2026 (Guardian) - Penguins in Antarctica have radically shifted their breeding season, apparently as a response to climate change, research has found. Dramatic shifts in behaviour were revealed by a decade-long study led by Penguin Watch at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University, with some penguins’ breeding period moving forward by more than three weeks. |
Chagos Islands – and why is the UK returning them to Mauritius?
LONDON, UK, 20 January 2026 (Guardian) - In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump has described the UK’s plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as “an act of great stupidity”. He claimed that it had made it all the more important for him to take Greenland from Denmark. |
Greece funds new desalination projects across key isIands
LOS ANGELES, US, 20 January 2026 (GR) - Greece is rolling out the new investments as part of a broader national effort to reinforce water resilience. The Ministry of Environment and Energy approved 42 projects costing €75.5 million aimed at building, expanding, and modernizing water supply infrastructure in response to drought-related pressures. For the first time, Greece’s Andros, Kea, and Meganisi will install desalination units, strengthening access to drinking water as drought continues to strain supplies in parts of the country. |
A Fijian negotiator’s reflection on COP3
SUVA, Fiji, 19 January 2026 (PINA) - For SIDS, climate change is not a distant or theoretical concern. It is already reshaping coastlines, undermining food security, and forcing communities to confront displacement. Fiji arrived in Belém for COP30 with a clear purpose: to defend ambition and protect the integrity of the 1.5°C goal. But for vulnerable countries, ambition is inseparable from delivery. Calls to accelerate mitigation or phase out fossil fuels have little meaning without predictable finance, accessible technology, and credible political commitment from those with the greatest responsibility and capacity to act. |
New Zealand and Kiribati sign statement of partnership agreement
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 19 January 2026 (RNZ) - New Zealand has renewed its partnership with Kiribati committing to more assistance in health, labour mobility and water security. New Zealand's foreign minister Winston Peters signed a statement of partnership in Tarawa today with Kiribati vice president Dr Teuea Toatu. It comes a year after Peters was snubbed by the Kiribati's president putting a strain on diplomatic relations and a prompting a review of New Zealand's aid to Kiribati. |
Another New Caledonia agreement signed in Paris
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 20 January 2026 (RNZ) - New Caledonia's politicians and French President Emmanuel Macron have signed a new political and financial agreement concerning the French Pacific territory. The Elysee-Oudinot Accord was signed by most of New Caledonia's political leaders represented at New Caledonia's local Parliament, the congress. |
How could Europe respond to Trump's Greenland tariffs?
LONDON, UK, 19 January 2026 (BBC) - Donald Trump's threat on Saturday to impose tariffs on eight European countries unless they support his plan to buy Greenland came as a shock. The US president said he would introduce a 10% levy on imports into the US on 1 February, rising to 25% from the summer if no deal is done. It is unclear whether these tariffs would be added to existing levies. |
Indonesia sues 6 companies over links to deadly floods & landslides
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 19 January 2026 (Mongabay) - In the wake of the deadly floods and landslides that struck Indonesia in late 2025, the nation’s environment ministry has sued six companies, seeking 4.8 trillion rupiah ($284 million) in environmental damages linked to the disasters. |
Sri Lanka's cricket dreams undermine fragile ecosystems
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 19 January 2026 (Mongabay) - Sri Lanka plans to construct an international cricket stadium and a sports complex on the northern island of Mandaitivu spanning more than 56 hectares to popularize the sport in the country’s Northern province. Mandaitivu overlaps with mangroves and coastal wetlands in the ecologically sensitive Jaffna lagoon, and environmental groups warn that a construction on the low-lying island could reduce flood retention and increase climate vulnerability. |
The Mediterranean wind-chaser: the Yelkouan Shearwater
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 19 January 2026 (BirdLife) - The Mediterranean Sea is home to many marine species, but few of its inhabitants are as captivating as the Yelkouan Shearwater. Its name derives from the Turkish word “Yelkovan”, meaning “wind chaser”, a fitting tribute to this graceful black-and-white seabird that glides effortlessly over the waves. Currently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, the Yelkouan Shearwater nests mainly on rocky coastal and offshore islands and islets scattered from southern France and eastern Algeria to Greece and Bulgaria. |
Gangland killing at a funeral shocks idyllic French island
LONDON, UK, 18 January 2026 (BBC) - The mourners had gathered in the small village of Vero, a half-hour drive from Ajaccio, the capital of the picture-postcard Mediterranean island of Corsica. In their midst was former nationalist leader Alain Orsoni, 71, who had flown in from exile in Nicaragua to bury his mother. Suddenly, with the ceremony under way, a single shot was fired from nearby scrubland, killing Orsoni instantly. |
Thousands march in Greenland to support Arctic island
NUUK, Greenland, 18 January 2026 (AP) - Thousands of Greenlanders carefully marched across snow and ice to take a stand against U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday. They held signs of protest, waved their national flag and chanted "Greenland is not for sale" in support of their own self-governance in the face of increasing threats of an American takeover. |
Andaman & Nicobar Islands to emerge as hub of India's Blue Economy
NEW DELHI, India, 18 January 2026 (DD News) - Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh, on Saturday said the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are being developed as a major hub of India’s Blue Economy, with a focus on harnessing marine resources to drive economic growth, employment and environmental sustainability. The Minister made the remarks during his visit to the Atal Centre for Ocean Science and Technology for Islands (ACOSTI) in Port Blair, where he launched and reviewed a series of marine technology initiatives, including open sea cage culture of marine fish and large-scale seaweed cultivation, aimed at strengthening livelihoods and boosting the Blue Economy in the island territory. |
The Hans Island Whisky War offers valuable lessons on Greenland
WASHINGTON, US, 16 January 2026 (The Hill) - Hans Island is little more than a limestone slab, uninhabited and of little economic value. It sits in the narrow channel between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Greenland. The island was the site of the so-called “Whisky War” (1984-2022). This was the theatrical combat between Canadian and Danish military patrols that involved the Canadians landing on the island, raising the Maple Leaf, leaving a bottle of whisky for the “enemy” then leaving; only to be followed by the Danes landing, raising the flag, leaving a bottle of schnapps for the Canucks and then also leaving. |
US to cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods after investment pledge
LONDON, UK, 15 January 2026 (BBC) - The US said it had agreed to cut the tariffs it charges on goods from Taiwan to 15%, in exchange for hundreds of billions of dollars in investment aimed at boosting domestic production of semiconductors. The Commerce Department said the island's semiconductor and technology enterprises had committed to "new, direct investments" worth at least $250bn (£187bn). The deal also provides carve-outs from tariffs for Taiwanese semiconductor companies investing in the US. |
Blooming seas around the Chatham Islands
WASHINGTON, US, 16 January 2026 (NASA) - At about 500 miles east of New Zealand, the sparsely populated Chatham Islands are rugged, remote, and often inconspicuous. In January 2026, however, a ring of bright green and blue swirls in the ocean put a natural spotlight on the far-flung specks of land. A bloom of phytoplankton - tiny photosynthetic organisms that become visible to satellites when their numbers explode - encircled the Chatham Islands in austral summer. |
Flores geothermal ambitions collide with local realities
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 16 January 2026 (Mongabay) - When Indonesia designated Flores a “geothermal island” in 2017, identifying up to 21 geothermal sites, the policy was framed as a cornerstone of the country’s renewable energy transition. Backed by international lenders and enshrined as a “national strategic project,” Flores was positioned as a global showcase for clean energy. Eight years later, key geothermal projects on the island remain suspended, derailed by sustained resistance from Manggarai communities who argue that the transition has come at the expense of justice, safety and cultural survival, |
The entry into force of the High Seas Agreement
GLAND, Switzerland, 15 January 2026 (IUCN) - With the entry into force of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), the international community has taken a decisive step toward protecting the ocean as a common heritage of humankind. For the first time, the High Seas - nearly half of our planet - will be governed by a comprehensive, legally binding framework that enables cooperation to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. |
A treasure trove of medical knowledge and oral tradition
SUZHOU, China, 15 January 2026 (Conversation) - This healing formula doesn’t come from a section of the 'Hippocratic Collection' or the 'Salernitan Guide to Health, two of the most famous collections of ancient and medieval medical knowledge. It is an Abui oral prescription from Alor, a small island from Eastern Indonesia. My team and I collected it and many others during our language documentation fieldwork. |
China matches US contribution to SPREP
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 15 January 2026 (RNZ) - Just over a week after the United States announced its withdrawal from the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) - China has stepped in to fill the funding gap. |
Greenlanders brace for summit that could shape the Arctic's future
NUUK, Greenland, 14 January 2026 (BBC) - It's crunch time. The US Vice-President, JD Vance, is hosting the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers, as well as their US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in the White House on Wednesday. The focus of the talks: the future of the world's biggest island, Greenland. Donald Trump says he wants this territory and he'll take it "the easy way or the hard way". After his recent controversial military action in Venezuela, people in Greenland are taking him at his word. |
Ceramics reveal ancient Samos had a largely self-sufficient economy
LOS ANGELES, US, 13 January 2026 (GR) - Surface ceramics from ancient Samos are reshaping what researchers thought they knew about the Greek island’s rural past. A four-year field survey in the island’s southwest found that everyday pottery came mostly from local makers, with few signs of long-distance imports. The evidence points to a countryside that relied heavily on its own production, even as Samos held a long-standing reputation as a maritime crossroads. |
Indonesia risks 'tragedy' of a deforestation spike
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 14 January 2026 (Mongabay) - Deforestation is accelerating, underscoring Indonesia’s reputation as a big greenhouse gas emitter and potentially inviting more scrutiny of its commodity exports. |
Indonesia says 4 million hectares of land reclaimed
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 14 January 2026 (Mongabay) - The Indonesian government says it has reclaimed more than 4 million hectares of land used for plantations, mining and other activities inside officially designated forest areas. This is part of a sweeping crackdown on illegal activities in forest areas, carried out by a year-old task force formed by President Prabowo Subianto. |
US military has a long history in Greenland
BURLINGTON, US, 14 January 2026 (Conversation) - President Trump’s insistence that the U.S. will acquire Greenland “whether they like it or not" is just the latest chapter in a co-dependent and often complicated relationship between America and the Arctic’s largest island – one that stretches back more than a century. |
Trump tells Cuba to 'make a deal' or face the consequences
LONDON, UK, 11 January 2026 (Guardian) - Donald Trump has told Cuba to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, adding that no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to the communist-run Caribbean island that has been a US foe for decades. |
Chagos deal to go ahead despite protests
LONDON, UK, 11 January 2026 (Guardian) - There will be no change in policy over the UK's decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a government minister has said. In May 2025 the British government agreed to give sovereignty over Chagos to Mauritius and lease back a key military base on the island of Diego Garcia for £101m a year. London-based Chagossians have protested against the plan, saying they are being shut out of decisions about the future of their homeland. |
3D map of Easter Island takes you places visitors aren’t allowed
NEW YORK, US, 11 January 2026 (PS) - As you might expect, visiting Easter Island isn’t easy. To combat overtourism to the small island, only a limited number of flights travel to Rapa Nui each week. That means flights can book up quickly, especially during the busy season between December and March. But now, thanks to the work of an intrepid team of geographers and researchers, you can view the impressive moai statues from the comfort of home. |
Saving the Falklands: The fight to reclaim a lost ecosystem
HONG KONG, 12 January 2026 (Earth.Org) - Falklands Conservation is leading an ambitious restoration project on New Island, one of the region’s wildest western outposts. The goal is to remove invasive predators - rats, mice, cats, and rabbits - that have put the island’s native species at risk. If successful, New Island could become a model for large-scale ecosystem recovery across the Falklands, where less than 0.15% of pristine habitat remains. |
Yemen completes evacuation of stranded foreign tourists from Socotra Island
LONDON, UK, 10 January 2026 (MEM) - The Yemeni Foreign Ministry said it has completed the evacuation of all foreign tourists who had been stranded on Socotra Island, after transferring 609 visitors of various nationalities to Saudi Arabia through four evacuation flights to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. |
Japan aims to dig deep-sea rare earths to reduce China dependence
TOKYO, Japan, 12 January 2026 (AFP) - A Japanese research vessel on Monday began a historic voyage to attempt to dig deep-sea rare earths at a depth of 6,000 metres to curb dependence on China. Scientific drilling boat called the Chikyu left Shimizu Port in Shizuoka for the remote island of Minami Torishima in the Pacific, where surrounding waters are believed to contain a rich trove of valuable minerals. |
Cuba edges closer to collapse amid mass exodus
HAVANA, Cuba, 10 January 2026 (Guardian) - Disillusioned with the revolution after 68 years of US sanctions and a shattered economy, one in four Cubans have left in four years. Can the regime, and country, survive the engulfing ‘polycrisis’? |
Greenlanders fear for future as island embroiled in geopolitical storm
NUUK, Greenland, 10 January 2026 (BBC) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Danish and Greenlandic officials next week to discuss the fate of Greenland - a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark that President Donald Trump says he needs for national security. The vast island finds itself in the eye of a geopolitical storm with Trump's name on it and people here are clearly unnerved. |
Trinidad and Tobago went all in with the US - a costly misjudgment
LONDON, UK, 10 January 2026 (Guardian) - There is a saying in Trinidad and Tobago: “Cockroach should stay out of fowl business.” It captures a hard truth. Small states that stray into great-power conflicts rarely emerge unscathed. They are not players; they are expendables. It’s a statement that frames the reality of where Trinidad and Tobago sits uneasily today. For small states, geopolitics is not a theatre for bravado but a discipline of diplomacy, restraint and survival. That discipline has now collapsed. Trinidad and Tobago will pay the price of auctioning off its sovereignty to its neocolonial master, the US. The nation now sits dangerously exposed, economically, diplomatically, and potentially militarily, after the US attack on Venezuels and the extraordinary kidnapping of its president, Nicolás Maduro. |
Uruguay: donated islands for environmental bilateral initiative
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 9 January 2026 (MercoPress) - Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi took delivery on Thursday of three islands in the Uruguay River purchased by US philanthropist Gilbert Butler to develop a binational “Peace Park” Project together with neighboring Argentina. |
Medieval discovery made on Norwegian island
OSLO, Norway, 9 January 2026 (NIKU) - Archaeologists working beside the ruins of Selja Monastery - a major medieval pilgrimage site on the island of Selja, off Norway’s western coast - have uncovered the remains of a previously undocumented stone structure just metres from the monastic complex. The discovery, made within the first days of a new research excavation, could add a fresh chapter to what scholars know about daily life and activity on the island during the monastic period. |
Longest underwater tunnel connecting 2 European islands to open
LONDON, UK, 10 January 2026 (Express) - The Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link is an immersed tunnel that will connect the island of Lolland, in Denmark, with the island of Fehmarn, in Germany. The incredible tunnel beneath the Baltic Sea, which is expected to be one of the longest underwater constructions, will be completed by 2029 and significantly cut travel time between Scandinavia and mainland Europe. |
Scientists study wildlife on Heard Island and McDonald Islands
HOBART, Australia, 9 January 2026 (AAP) - The Australian Antarctic Program has arrived at the World Heritage listed Heard Island and McDonald Islands and has completed the first round of field activities on shore. The marine science program is also underway, and collecting significant data. |
Greenlanders express fear and indignation as Trump eyes territory
LONDON, UK, 7 January 2026 (BBC) - "The people of Greenland do not want to become American," Mia Chemnitz tells the BBC. "We are not for sale." The 32-year-old business owner in the Greenlandic capital Nuuk reflects the sentiments of many who spoke to the BBC about how they felt about recent rhetoric from the Trump administration. |
SPREP says US must follow formal exit process
SYDNEY, Australia, 8 January 2026 (Reuters) - A decades-old Pacific organisation for environmental protection said the United States must go through a formal process to withdraw its support, after Donald Trump listed it among 66 entities the U.S. would leave because they "operate contrary to U.S. national interests". |
China launches Woody Island fresh food link
BEIJING, China, 8 January 2026 (SCMP) - China has launched a fresh food supply service for residents of Woody Island, part of the hotly contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Woody Island is the largest outcrop in the Paracels, which are called the Xisha Islands in China. The island hosts the government of Sansha, which was established to administer most of Beijing’s maritime and territorial claims in the South China Sea. Sansha is part of Hainan province and is China’s southernmost city. |
From energy outposts to green pioneers
BRUSSELS, Belgium, 7 January 2026 (ERMC) - Abundantly exposed to the wind and sun, Europe’s islands long neglected their clean natural resources and depended on costly fossil fuels. From the Canaries to Crete, today many are flipping the script — building citizen-led, renewable energy systems. As they test new models and technologies, could these “living labs” point the way for Europe’s mainland? |
The Caribbean island where locals can't access the beach
LONDON, UK, 8 January 2026 (BBC) - For many international travellers, Jamaica is synonymous with white-sand beaches and swaying palm trees. In 2024, a record 4.3 million tourists flocked to the island, and while many came to splash in its gin-clear waters, these same beaches are increasingly inaccessible to Jamaicans themselves. Of the island's 1,022km of shoreline, just 0.6% is public and freely accessible to local residents, according to the grassroots organisation Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement. |
$30 million invested. Hawai'i Island homeless population still grew
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 8 January 2026 (CB) - Nearly four years ago, the Hawai'i County Council tackled the local homeless population problem in a big way, earmarking the first funding of what would become $33 million. The results have been disappointing, and council support for the effort seems to be eroding. Last month a new request for another $6 million for outreach and other homeless programs barely made it through on a 5-4 council vote. |
Greenland is rich in natural resources – a geologist explains why
LONDON, UK, 8 January 2026 (Conversation) - Greenland, the largest island on Earth, possesses some of the richest stores of natural resources anywhere in the world. These include critical raw materials – resources such as lithium and rare earth elements (REEs) that are essential for green technologies, but whose production and sustainability are highly sensitive – plus other valuable minerals and metals, and a huge volume of hydrocarbons including oil and gas. |
Cook Islands rejects research saying deep sea mining not profitable
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 8 January 2026 (RNZ) - Research commissioned by Greenpeace, showing that deep sea mining in the Cook Islands is unlikely to make any money, is being rejected by the country's government. The research looked at the likelihood of generating profit through the two main ways of seabed nodule recovery - dredging and picking - both of which are yet to be used on a commercial mining scale. Taking into account available market data, the analysis found it was more likely than not that the ultimate economic return for Cook Islands nodules would be negative. |
Indonesia launches sweeping environmental audits
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 7 January 2026 (Mongabay) - After Cyclone Senyar killed more than 1,100 people across Sumatra, the Indonesian government has acknowledged that deforestation and land-use changes - not extreme weather alone - amplified the scale of floods and landslides. In a significant shift, authorities are now explicitly linking disaster impacts to development decisions and corporate activity, signaling that permits will not shield companies from accountability. |
Indonesia's illegal gold boom leaves a toxic legacy
MERANGIN, Indonesia, 7 January 2026 (Mongabay) - A nearly 70% rise in global gold prices has accelerated illegal gold mining across Indonesia, including in Bukit Gajah Berani, a forest buffer next to Kerinci Seblat National Park, threatening critical tiger habitat and protected forests nationwide. Despite decades of evidence and Indonesia’s commitments under the Minamata Convention, illegal gold mining remains the country’s largest source of mercury emissions, contaminating rivers, fish, crops and communities, with documented health impacts ranging from toxic exposure to malaria spikes. |
Greenland's oil and minerals Trump is eyeing dangerous to extract
BURLINGTON, US, 6 January 2026 (Conversation) - During a Congress hearing in 2025, senators and expert witnesses talked about Greenland’s importance to the U.S. They focused on the island’s strategic value and its natural resources: critical minerals, fossil fuels and hydropower. No one mentioned the hazards, many of them exacerbated by human-induced climate change, that those longing to possess and develop the island will inevitably encounter. That’s imprudent, because the Arctic’s climate is changing more rapidly than anywhere on Earth. |
Cuba defiant as it braces for post-Maduro era
LONDON, UK, 5 January 2026 (BBC) - After Venezuela, there is no nation in the Americas more affected by the events in Caracas than Cuba. The two nations have shared a political vision of state-led socialism since a fresh-faced Venezuelan presidential candidate, Hugo Chávez, met the aged leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, on the tarmac at Havana airport in 1999. For years, their mutual ties only deepened, as Venezuelan crude oil flowed to the communist-run island in exchange for Cuban doctors and medics travelling in the other direction. |
Anger in PNG after Starlink ordered to shut down internet services
PORT MORESBY, PNG, 6 January 2026 (Guardian) - Frustration is growing in Papua New Guinea weeks after the government ordered Starlink to shut down operations in the country as businesses, health providers and communities struggle without access to internet services. Starlink, owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a satellite internet company that provides internet to remote places. In mid-December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (Nicta) ordered the company to halt operations because it was not licensed in PNG. |
Dominica reach deal with US government to accept asylum-seekers
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, 5 January 2026 (ABC) - The United States has reached a deal with Dominica to start sending foreigners seeking U.S. asylum to the small Caribbean nation. Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit described the deal as “one of the primary areas of collaboration” after the country was recently hit with partial U.S. visa restrictions. Dominica’s government has been in talks with U.S. officials to try to resolve the U.S. entry limitations. |
China is building out another artificial island
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 6 January 2026 (Newsweek) - Satellites have revealed a flurry of new land reclamation activity at a disputed reef in the South China Sea’s Paracel Islands, suggesting China is expanding an outpost there. China claims sovereignty over more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway that serves as a conduit for up to one-third of global maritime trade. |
Hundreds of tourists stuck on Yemeni island
DOHA, Qatar, 5 January 2026 (Al Jazeera) - About 400 tourists are stuck on the Yemeni island of Socotra after flights were grounded because of clashes on the mainland between government troops backed by Saudi Arabia and secessionists with links to the United Arab Emirates. |
Indonesia probes whether development amplified scale of disaster
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 6 January 2026 (Mongabay) - Cyclone Senyar triggered catastrophic floods and landslides in northern Sumatra in late 2025, but scientists and activists say decades of deforestation and landscape alteration in upland watersheds largely determined the scale of the destruction. |
How distance shapes PNG food
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 6 January 2026 (RNZ) - Before it reaches the pot, food walks. It waits. It sweats. It rides on the back of a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle), balances in a dinghy, or sits patiently in a bilum while someone decides whether this trip was worth it. By the time it reaches your plate, it has already lived a small life worthy of a written tale. This is why food in PNG is treated with a certain seriousness. You don't rush it. You don't waste it. You don't jump over it. You don't complain too loudly unless you've forgotten how far it came. |
Petition against deep sea mining near Mariana Trench gaining support
SAIPAN, CNMI, 6 January 2026 (RNZ) - More than 3,000 people from U.S. territories have signed a petition opposing proposed deep seabed mining in waters near the Mariana Islands and American Samoa, warning of irreversible environmental damage and the exclusion of Indigenous communities from decision-making. |
Japan's sacred 'forbidden island' completely off limits to women
MELBOURNE, Australia, 5 January 2026 (ABC) - Bursting with colour, edged with mountainous cliffs and nestled between Japan and the Korean Peninsula sits a sacred, World Heritage-listed "forbidden" island. Okinoshima island is shrouded in taboos, rich in ancient treasures and boasts thousands of years of history. It's also completely off-limits to women. Deeply rooted in Shinto religious tradition, the 97-hectare island, about 60 kilometres from Munakata city in Kyushu's Fukuoka Prefecture, is one of the few locations in Japan that has been largely untouched since the ninth century. |
Okinawa, the island bulwark in China's shadow
TOKYO, Japan, 5 January 2026 (JF) - Okinawa, alongside Taiwan, has emerged as a bulwark of democracy in East Asia. But as China speaks more openly about its territorial ambitions toward Okinawa, Japan can no longer afford to treat Taiwan as a mere strategic buffer. The security of both is now deeply intertwined. |
The Chagos Islands deal is even worse than it looks
OXFORD, UK, 5 January 2026 (The Critic) - The parliamentary battle over the surrender of the Chagos Islands culminates in the House of Lords this week. If the government has its way, the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill will complete its remaining stages this week. If or when the Bill receives Royal Assent, the government will have authority to ratify the treaty it has agreed with Mauritius. If the treaty is ratified, sections 2-4 of the legislation will come into force, and the Chagos Islands will cease to be sovereign British territory both as a matter of international law and domestic law. The UK will lease the island of Diego Garcia from Mauritius and will pay handsomely for the privilege. |
Danish PM tells Trump to stop 'threats' against Greenland
LONDON, UK, 4 January 2026 (BBC) - Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said "it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland", adding: "The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom". Her remarks come after Katie Miller - the wife of one of Trump's aides, Stephen Miller - tweeted a map of Greenland in the colours of the American flag alongside the word "SOON". |
The uninhabited Japanese island that became a rabbit paradise
OKUNOSHIMA ISLAND, Japan, 2 January 2026 (Guardian) - The bunny-ear designs on the window aside, there is little to indicate that the ferry has arrived on an island teeming with rabbits. Then, moments after the passengers disembark, there is activity in the undergrowth. A single rabbit scampers out, wholly untroubled by its two-legged visitors. And then another. |
50,000 years of island-hopping pigs reveal ancient human migration
WILMINGTON, US,1 January 2026 (Discover) - Pigs have spread across some of the most formidable natural barriers on Earth, appearing on islands where most mammals never arrived. From Southeast Asia to remote Pacific islands, they exist on both sides of the famous Wallace Line - a biogeographic boundary that typically stops wildlife in its tracks. |
EIB commits €490M to Greek link
SCHIEDAM, The Netherlands, 2 January 2026 (OE) - The European Investment Bank has approved a €490 million financing for an interconnection project that will end the electrical isolation of Greek islands located in the Northeast Aegean Sea. |
Undersea internet cables to finally connect remote Catalina island
SAN FRANCISCO, US,1 January 2026 (SFGATE) - A new undersea cable is bringing one of California’s most remote communities further into the modern age. The high-tech underwater line, originating from Orange County, is set to bring fast, reliable internet to the island city of Avalon on Catalina Island, thanks to a multimillion-dollar state grant from the California Public Utilities Commission. |
Tourists see another side of Papua New Guinea's most troubled region
LONDON, UK, 2 January 2026 (Guardian) - In the lush hills of Papua New Guinea’s highlands, Ambua Lodge sits in picturesque but troubled surrounds. From this region – one of the country’s poorest and most dangerous – the hotel is attempting to carve another path for Hela province, which has long been beset by tribal fighting. Despite a history of conflict in the area, the hotel has welcomed tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world, and the country’s leaders want to attract even more tourists to this hard-to-access location. |
Why Scotland's islanders want tunnels instead of ferries
LONDON, UK, 2 January 2026 (Guardian) - For Alec Priest, an instrument technician at Sullom Voe oil terminal on Shetland, the case for digging tunnels under the narrow stretches of ocean that separate his home from work is clear-cut. As things stand, two ageing ferries crossing tidal sounds notorious for their powerful currents break up his commute. For a casual tourist, that adds to the mystique. For time-pressed islanders, care workers and businesses, it adds delays, stress and costs. |
The £3m race to save polar explorer Shackleton's villa
LONDON, UK, 31 December 2025 (BBC) - Work is under way on a South Atlantic island to preserve a key building in the story of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton famously reached the whaling station of Stromness on South Georgia in 1916 after spending 18 months stranded on Antarctica with his crew. The now-dilapidated Stromness Manager's Villa was used as a base by Shackleton while he orchestrated the rescue of his men. |
Often brutal, always beautiful: the sea hounds of the Frisian Islands
LONDON, UK,1 January 2026 (Guardian) - For 10 years, the scientist and photographer Jeroen Hoekendijk has been observing pinnipeds such as seals and walruses on the fragile North Sea archipelago stretching along the Dutch, German and Danish coastline. A remainder of the now-drowned Doggerland, left behind after the ice age, the low-lying islands are an advance warning sign of the warming and rising seas of the climate crisis |
Cyprus pledges 'different mindset' as it assumes EU presidency
NICOSIA, Cyprus, 31 December 2025 (Guardian) - Cyprus says it will bring “a new approach to the table” when it assumes the EU presidency on Thursday, as defence, migration and Ukraine continue to top the agenda at a time of acute geopolitical uncertainty. As one of the 27-member bloc’s smaller member states, Cyprus will tackle its six-month stint at the EU’s helm with discipline and dedication but also “a different mindset”, the Cypriot foreign minister said. |
Anger as small Pacific nation falls under Trump visa restrictions
NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga, 31 December 2025 (Guardian) - The small Pacific nation of Tonga is one of more than a dozen countries to be hit with visa and entry restrictions on 1 January as the Trump administration tightens its crackdown on immigration. Tonga – population 100,000 – is the only Pacific island country included in the list. The White House said the restrictions were justified by a high rate of Tongans overstaying their visas – more than 14% for some visa categories, the US government said. |
Cyclone-ravaged Sri Lanka set to apply for 'loss and damage' funding
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 31 December 2025 (Mongabay) - In the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah’s devastating impact, Sri Lanka plans to apply for payment from the U.N.’s newly implemented loss and damage fund, designed specifically to help climate-vulnerable developing countries cope with severe, unavoidable climate change impacts. |
Great white sharks face extinction in Mediterranean
LONDON, UK, 30 December 2025 (BBC) - Great white sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are in danger of disappearing, with illegal fishing contributing to their decline. This is according to research by US scientists, working in partnership with UK charity Blue Marine Foundation. They say some of the most threatened species - including great white sharks - are being sold in North African fish markets. |
Dramatic changes in store for island on edge of San Francisco Bay
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 28 December 2025 (SFC) - A small but significant island on the fringes of San Francisco Bay is entering a new chapter after a long and checkered history, which includes stints as a rumored rum-running outpost and a kitesurfing club for Silicon Valley elite. The 50-acre Point Buckler Island, an uninhabited land mass in Suisun Bay, is being restored to its natural, marshy state. The project follows the seizure of the property by local authorities over alleged unauthorized development and its subsequent sale through an auction to the nonprofit John Muir Land Trust. |
The Birdman of Atiu, has died, aged 67
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 29 December 2025 (Mongabay) - In small island states, conservation often hinges on daily vigilance rather than formal institutions, where routine tasks like watching harbors and checking traps determine whether endemic species survive invasive threats. Such work is repetitive, underfunded, and easily overlooked, yet decisive. George Teariki-Mataki Mateariki, known as Birdman George, embodied this approach by monitoring birds, trapping predators, and responding quickly to changes, helping establish Atiu as a refuge for the critically endangered kakerori and later the Rimatara lorikeet. |
Ecovillage tour showcases Big Island's sustainable communities
KONA, Hawaii, 29 December 2025 (BIN) - Twelve visitors are set to explore areas of the Big Island next week that most tourists don’t experience, including gardens, farms and a riverside ecosanctuary that all are helping to build a more sustainable future. |
How a community saved Mexico's Galapagos
MEXICO CITY, 30 December 2025 (Guardian) - On a clear day over the Sea of Cortez, Espíritu Santo looks untouchable. Turquoise water laps at the shores of the island’s rocky coves; whale sharks cruise past snorkellers; seabirds caw over ancient cliffs. The pristine island and its Unesco-protected surroundings are a cocoon of biodiversity. Yet an increase in tourist numbers has led to growing unease among the island’s longstanding stewards, as environmentalists report a decline in the area’s marine life and call for stricter regulations. |
Borneo community passes crucial public health milestone
SEKADAU, Indonesia, 29 December 2025 (Mongabay) - Sekadau is the largest settlement in a district of the same name on Indonesia’s longest river, the Kapuas River in Borneo. Historically, Sekadau has recorded higher rates of acute illness that local authorities suggested may be attributable to the widespread practice of open defecation in the river, a public health menace that exacts a range of costs from economic productivity to child stunting. This year, the district of Sekadau announced it had eliminated open defecation from all 94 villages in the district of 211,559 people, thanks in part to a campaign to build affordable toilets. |
Floods from Cyclone Ditwah devastate Sri Lanka’s wildlife
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 29 December 2025 (Mongabay) - Cyclone Ditwah caused extensive flooding across several protected areas in Sri Lanka in late November and early December, resulting in mass deaths of deer and other wildlife that perished largely unreported. Wildlife officers rescued several stranded elephant calves separated from their herds, including around five still dependent on milk, with fears that more may have perished. |
Sri Lanka looks to build disaster-resilient housing
ARANAYAKA, Sri Lanka, 27 December 2025 (Mongabay) - More than 1,200 landslides were recorded in two provinces in Sri Lanka following Cyclone Ditwah in late November, resulting in crisis evacuations to safeguard vulnerable populations. Most of the disaster-impacted people continue to live in high-risk regions due to the lack of alternative housing. The country’s mandated institution for landslide risk management, the National Building and Research Organisation (NBRO), says it’s working on the first national building code to establish minimum standards for the design, construction and maintenance of hazard-resilient housing. |
Hawaii's Big Island bans feeding feral cats
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii, 26 December 2025 (AP) - Throngs of feral cats emerge from the shade of parked trucks and bushes as soon as the familiar Subaru Forester pulls into a dump on Hawaii's Big Island. They run after the vehicle to a certain meal - a gravy train that might not be around much longer. A Hawaii County law set to take effect at the start of the new year bans feeding feral animals on county property. It's an effort to protect native species, such as an endangered goose called the nene, from a super predator introduced to the islands by Europeans in the 18th century. |
Philippines launches hydroponics training program
NEW YORK, US, 26 December 2025 (TTW) - A significant shift is taking place on Siargao Island, where a group of 13 tourism workers from various municipalities recently completed a groundbreaking 10-day hydroponics training programme. This initiative is a significant step towards assisting the island’s workers by providing them with long-term skills that will allow them to thrive in Siargao’s burgeoning tourism and agri-food industries. With tourism as a key pillar of the island’s economy, this training not only meets workers’ immediate needs but also lays the groundwork for long-term economic empowerment. |
Palau to take migrants from US in return for aid
LONDON, UK, 25 December 2025 (Guardian) - Palau will take up to 75 migrants from the US in return for additional aid, after the tiny Pacific Island nation signed MoU with Washington on transfer of third-country nationals. |
Climate risks to nature-based tourism in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 24 December 2025 (Mongabay) - In late November, Cyclone Ditwah triggered landslides and flooding across Sri Lanka’s biodiversity-rich hill country, disrupting nature-based tourism during the peak travel season. UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the Knuckles Conservation Forest, Horton Plains and Peak Wilderness, faced trail closures, access restrictions and infrastructure damage. Popular destinations faced cancellations and closures, hitting local families who depend on tourism for their livelihoods, though they remain hopeful of a swift recovery. |
Madagascar's fishers forced to find new ways to survive
LONDON, UK, 24 December 2025 (Guardian) - Along Madagascar’s south-west coast, the Vezo people, who have fished the Mozambique Channel for countless generations, are defined by a way of life sustained by the sea. Yet climate change and industrial exploitation are pushing this ocean-based culture to its limits. |
Hamilton Island deal sets precedent for Australian island resorts
MACKAY, Australia, 24 December 2025 (ABC) - Hamilton Island has been sold to US equity firm Blackstone for an estimated $1.2 billion, from the Oatley family who acquired it in 2003. The sale is expected to drive prices for island property in Australia and reduce interest from potential buyers. |
Tourism ambitions clash with local livelihoods on Lombok Island
LOMBOK, Indonesia, 23 December 2025 (Mongabay) - Residents of Tanjung Aan Beach on the Indonesian island of Lombok say they were evicted with little notice or compensation as the Mandalika tourism project advances, leaving many without livelihoods or alternatives. The government-controlled developer has defended its process, citing compensation paid in a different land zone, but locals say support didn’t reach the coastal community now being cleared. |
5,000-year-old wolves found on remote island
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, 23 December 2025 (SciTechDaily) - Ancient wolves found on a human-occupied Baltic island reveal unexpected and complex forms of prehistoric human-animal interaction. |
Jeju Island sees spike in tourist numbers after hit Netflix show
LONDON, UK, 22 December 2025 (Independent) - A South Korean resort island has seen a dramatic rise in overseas visitors this year after it featured in a popular Netflix original drama series. Foreign arrivals to Jeju Island rose 17.5 per cent year on year between January and September, reaching 1.74 million visitors, according to data from the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. Provincial authorities have largely attributed the recent surge to international attention surrounding the Netflix series When Life Gives You Tangerines, which was filmed across Jeju and portrays everyday life in its fishing villages. |
Trump says US 'has to have' Greenland after naming special envoy
LONDON, UK, 22 December 2025 (BBC) - Donald Trump has sparked a fresh row with Denmark after appointing a special envoy to Greenland, the vast Arctic island he has said he would like to annex. The move has angered Copenhagen, which said it would call the US ambassador for "an explanation". Greenland's prime minister said the island must "decide our own future" and its "territorial integrity must be respected". |
Fiji wrestles with plans to restore Indigenous rights
LONDON, UK, 23 December 2025 (Guardian) - In Fiji, babies know a connection to the sea from birth; their umbilical cords, or vicovico, are sometimes implanted in the reefs that frame the coastal Pacific nation, embedded among the coral. It’s an age-old practice among iTaukei, the Indigenous Fijian people – creating a lifeline to the ocean, a reminder of their roles as traditional custodians. Yet for decades, controversy over the rights to the Fijian seabed has cast a long cloud over the island nation, which sees a million tourists flock to its shores each year, many to surf the perfect, barrelling reef breaks. It has led to heartache and, at times, violence. |
Ferry firms working together 'to improve links'
LONDON, UK, 22 December 2025 (BBC) - A group of three ferry operators have said they are working together to "improve sea travel" between Guernsey and Jersey in 2026. Brittany Ferries, Manche-Iles Express and Islands Unlimited said they would be focusing on ensuring convenient sailing times for inter-island events and "supporting the community's ability to connect". |
Locals sound alarm as Bijagos Islands slowly swallowed by sea
BIJAGOS ARCHIPELAGO, Guinea-Bissau, 23 December 2025 (AFP) - Off the Atlantic coast of tropical Guinea-Bissau, the UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to colonies of sea turtles, hippos, sharks, manatees, and nearly 850,000 migratory birds. The archipelago hosts several sacred sites as well as artisanal fisheries relied upon by some 25,000 inhabitants. Made up of 88 islands and islets - of which only about 20 are permanently inhabited - the archipelago stretches more than 10,000 square kilometres."Every year, we lose up to 2 metres of the beach," said Antonio Honoria Joao, administrative assistant and community organiser at Guinea-Bissau's Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Marine Areas (IBAP). |
Study reveals human impact on whales, dolphins in Pacific Islands
HAWAII, US, 23 December 2025 (BIN) - From land-borne pathogens to high-speed vessel strikes, humans continue to threaten whales and dolphins in the Pacific Islands, according to a nearly two decades-long study. In the study, researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa provided insights into human-caused trauma and infectious diseases found in more than 65% of investigated strandings. Based on 272 stranding investigations of 20 cetacean species between 2006 and 2024, the study provides foundational data to better manage and conserve Hawaii’s whales and dolphins. |
Beetle battle, Hawaii Islands rally to save their palm trees
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 22 December 2025 (Hoodline) - Hawaii’s trademark palm trees are in trouble, and the culprit is a horned scarab with a taste for the islands’ green waste. The coconut rhinoceros beetle bores into palm crowns and breeds in mulch piles, slipping through long?standing green?waste defenses. From O?ahu to Kaua?i, community crews, nurseries and county teams are scrambling with traps, detection dogs, helicopter sweeps and pesticide treatments to stop the pest from jumping from island to island. The response blends muddy fieldwork, lab research and policy moves as officials work to protect yards, parks and culturally important groves. |
Taboo against harming strangler fig spirits protects forests
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 22 December 2025 (Mongabay) - The Iban community in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, says it believes large strangler fig trees are inhabited by dangerous spirits, leading community members to protect these trees from harm wherever they occur. When clearing land for farming, the community protects the fig tree as well as islands of vegetation around the tree, which together account for 1-2% of their farmland dedicated to protecting the strangler figs. |
France delays New Caledonia referendum
SUVA, Fiji, 22 December 2025 (PINA) - Bowing to reality, the French government has abandoned plans to hold a referendum on March 15 to consider a new political statute for New Caledonia. French President Emmanuel Macron has written to leading New Caledonian politicians, inviting them to Paris for a meeting on 16 January to discuss the way forward on a new political statute to replace the 1998 Noumea Accord. |
Okinawa's remote island villages battle acute depopulation
TOKYO, Japan, 22 December 2025 (JT) - In 2023, eight villages in Okinawa Prefecture had fewer than 10 childbirths, with Tonaki recording none, Tokashiki just one, and Izena and Tarama two each. Okinawa Prefecture has long held the nation’s record for having the highest total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime, boasting an image of “islands blessed with children.” However, that image appears increasingly illusory when it comes to the prefecture’s remote islands and isolated communities. The very children who could bear the next generation are disappearing from these regions. |
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