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B.C. politicians push for ship recycling hub on Vancouver Island
VANCOUVER, Canada, 20 October 2025 (CBC) - With 900 vessels in British Columbia nearing the end of their service life, and limited ways to responsibly dispose of them on the West Coast, a team of experts is coming together to advocate for a ship recycling facility in Port Alberni, a community of about 26,000 people on Vancouver Island, 140 kilometres northwest of Victoria. |
The Bali-fication of a laidback surfers' island
LOMBOK, Indonesia, 18 October 2025 (BBC) - Just east of Bali, Lombok boasts the same azure beaches and stunning views as its famous neighbour, but without the exasperating crowds. Lombok's beaches are still a hidden gem among surfers, as is Mount Rinjani for hikers. Travel sites still liberally use the word "untouched" to describe the island as they offer reasons to venture beyond Bali. |
AI deployed to help save Orkney’s birds
GLASGOW, UK, 18 October 2025 (Guardian) - Aided by an artificial intelligence programme trained to detect a stoat’s sinuous shape and movement, trapping teams are dispatched with the explicit aim of finding and killing it. It is the most sophisticated technology deployed in one of the world’s largest mammal eradication projects, which has the aim of detecting the few stoats left on Orkney. |
Qeshm Island's Soheili village earns UNWTO title
NEW YORK, US, 18 October 2025 (TTW) - The charming village of Soheili located on Qeshm Island in Iran’s Hormozgan Province earned the title of the Worlds Best Tourism Village for 2025 by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and as such commends the village for “sustainable tourism, the preservation of cultural heritage, and the enticing local experiences that made Soheili attract the interest of international travelers.” |
Christmas Island wants more tourists but luggage is often left behind
KARRATHA, Australia, 18 October 2025 (ABC) - The promise of a rugged, tropical island paradise sprawling with unique wildlife attracts visitors from far and wide to Christmas Island, but many travellers are shocked when their checked luggage does not arrive with them. It is a regular occurrence on the remote Indian Ocean Territory, more than 1,500 kilometres off Western Australia's coast, and a challenge for the island as it looks to grow its tourism industry. |
The tolls that made criminals of islanders
GLASGOW, UK, 15 October 2025 (BBC) - When the Skye Bridge opened exactly 30 years ago today, motorists were charged £4.70 to drive their cars one way over the crossing. It led to high-profile and often ingenious protests by some islanders, with some even spending time in prison for failing to pay the fine for non-payment. Now, more than 20 years after the Scottish government bought the bridge and cancelled the tolls, campaigners are calling for their convictions to be scrapped. |
New frog and gecko species discovered on remote Australian island
LONDON, UK, 16 October 2025 (Guardian) - Three new animal species – two frogs and a gecko – have been discovered on a remote island in Australia’s north. The animals were found on Dauan Island, a 3 sq km island in the far northern Torres Strait that is dominated by boulder fields. |
Seychelles president-elect set to halt tourist development
LONDON, UK, 16 October 2025 (BBC) - Seychelles' president-elect says that once sworn in, he will halt the construction of a controversial Qatari-funded luxury resort on an environmentally sensitive island. Patrick Herminie, who will come to power in the Indian Ocean nation on 26 October, said his country had "got peanuts in that contract" and added that the current deal was "unacceptable". The resort's construction on Assumption Island was criticised by campaigners because of its potential ecological impact. |
Indonesia growth push sparks fight on deforestation, rights
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 17 October 2025 (AFP) - An "eco-city", a mining complex, and a massive project to grow food and fuel are all part of an Indonesian growth drive that activists allege is causing deforestation and dispossession. The projects have been sped by a deregulation campaign that began in 2020 with an "omnibus law" that reformed dozens of regulations at once to boost investment and create jobs in Southeast Asia's largest economy. But the law had to be revised just three years later after parts were ruled unconstitutional. Now it faces fresh legal jeopardy, with two challeges before the constitutional court brought by environmentalists and rights activists who say the drive does little to help ordinary people. |
WWII shipwrecks a 'ticking time bomb' for FSM
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 17 October 2025 (RNZ) - Swimming amid the shipwrecks of Micronesia's Chuuk Lagoon is like diving into a time machine. A ghost fleet of ships and aircraft, once part of a formidable Japanese naval base, dot the floor of the state of Chuuk's shallow waters. They lie amid an abundance of coral and sea life, creating a spectacular underwater realm for the tourists willing to travel the vast distance to see it. However, Chuuk's major tourism attraction is also a threat to its survival. Toxic oil is leaking from the rusted vessels. |
Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 16 October 2025 (Mongabay) - A new environmental report warns that expanding nickel mining is placing Raja Ampat’s coral reefs, forests and Indigenous communities under intensifying threat. Using geospatial mapping and field evidence, researchers document how mining concessions overlap with critical ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots within the UNESCO-designated geopark. |
Tuvalu and partners deliver landmark Coastal Adaptation Project
SUVA, FIji, 15 October 2025 (UNDP) - The people and Government of Tuvalu have marked a defining moment in their nation’s journey toward climate resilience with the completion of 8 hectares of newly reclaimed and elevated land on Fogafale - the largest and most populated of Funafuti’s islets in Tuvalu. The reclaimed land is designed to remain above projected sea levels beyond 2100. |
Madagascar military says it has seized power
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 14 October 2025 (BBC) - An elite military unit says it has seized power in Madagascar from President Andry Rajoelina following weeks of youth-led protests in the Indian Ocean island. Standing outside the presidential palace on Tuesday, CAPSAT chief Col Michael Randrianirina said the military would form a government and hold elections within two years. He also suspended key democratic institutions, like the electoral commission. Gen Z protesters will be part of the changes because "the movement was created in the streets so we have to respect their demands", he added. |
Filipinos rise up as outrage over corruption scandal grows
BULACAN, Philippines, 15 October 2025 (Guardian) - Philippine health worker Christina Padora's death in the province of Bulacan is one of dozens of recent flood-related fatalities in the Philippines, where allegations of corruption related to flood control projects have sparked widespread anger and street protests. Lawmakers, contractors and public works officials are accused of siphoning off billions allocated for flood mitigation through “ghost projects”, overpricing and kickbacks. |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands set to become a global hotspot
NEW YORK, US, 15 October 2025 (TTW) - The A&N Islands are experiencing an exceptional resurgence in tourism, quickly establishing themselves as one of India’s most dynamic travel destinations. Since 2022, domestic visitors have nearly tripled, while international tourist arrivals have seen an increase of more than 150 per cent. This growth reflects a renewed global interest in the islands, driven by their combination of pristine beaches, rich history, and unique adventure opportunities. |
Europe's largest cruise terminal opens in the Canary Islands
LOS PALMAS, Spain, 14 October 2025 (CH) - With more passengers arriving, Gran Canaria has proudly and officially opened the largest cruise terminal in Europe, welcoming the 2,910-passenger Celebrity Apex during an 11-night cruise as its first vessel to arrive at its new Las Palmas Cruise Port on October 2. |
Papua New Guinea's rainforest under major threat says new report
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, 14 October 2025 (AFP) - A new 56-page report by Malaysian-based forestry watchdog RimbaWatch, the Papua New Guinea Environment Alliance and the Bruno Manser Fund, states that at least 1.68 million hectares - an area larger than East Timor - have been potentially earmarked for deforestation under so-called Forest Clearing Authorities licensing. |
A new island erupted from the sea
LONDON, UK, 13 October 2025 (Guardian) - The volcanic island of Surtsey emerged in the 1960s, and scientists say studying its development offers hope for damaged ecosystems worldwide. |
Planet's first catastrophic climate tipping point reached
LONDON, UK, 13 October 2025 (Guardian) - The earth has reached its first catastrophic tipping point linked to greenhouse gas emissions, with warm water coral reefs now facing a long-term decline and risking the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, according to a new report. |
Seychelles opposition leader wins presidential poll
LONDON, UK, 12 October 2025 (BBC) - Seychelles' main opposition leader Patrick Herminie has won presidential elections, defeating incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan in a runoff vote, according to official results released by the electoral commission. |
Orange-bellied parrots face a new threat
LONDON, UK, 10 October 2025 (Guardian) - One of Australia’s most critically endangered bird species has started arriving at Melaleuca, in Tasmania’s south-western world heritage area. By late this week, six orange-bellied parrots had turned up at the remote outpost to breed, having made the weeks-long flight from the mainland, across Bass Strait and down the state’s wild west coast. For scientists and volunteers dedicated to saving the species, the next few weeks will be a nerve-racking wait to learn how many survived – and to consider what that might mean for a future that includes the development of a contentious new windfarm on its migratory path. |
Surge in Chagos arrivals prompts row over housing costs
LONDON, UK, 11 October 2025 (BBC) - The UK government is facing calls to support Chagos Islanders who need temporary housing after a surge of them arrived in the country to claim their right to British citizenship. Hillingdon Council said 152 Chagossians had arrived at Heathrow Airport in the borough this week so far, bringing the total to over 600 since last July. The Tory-run council says it expects to spend £2m this year on its legal duty to help homeless British-Chagossians, putting pressure on stretched housing resources and "breaking" its finances. |
Denmark to boost Arctic defence with new ships, jets and HQ
LONDON, UK, 11 October 2025 (BBC) - Denmark has announced $4.2bn (£3.2bn) of extra defence spending to boost security in the Arctic and North Atlantic regions, including Greenland. It will also spend $4.5bn buying 16 more F-35 fighter jets from the US, bringing its total fleet of such advanced planes to 43. |
The US sees Pacific Islands as 'tip of the spear'
KOROR, Palau, 9 October 2025 (ABC) - When the United States launched its historic military gambit against Iran's nuclear program, the world's gaze was trained thousands of kilometres away on a Pacific island. Officials made a decoy of the US territory of Guam when, before the strike on Iran in June, they announced stealth bombers had arrived at the island's air base. But it was a group of seven other B-2 bombers dispatched from Missouri that dropped the payload on Iranian nuclear facilities. |
How locally extinct seabirds returned to Mexico's islands
NAIROBI, Kenya, 10 October 2025 (UNEP) - Laysan albatrosses are thriving again on Guadalupe Island, a slab of volcanic rock about 240 kilometres off the western coast of Mexico. It is one of almost 100 Mexican islands where both people and wildlife are gaining from an initiative to restore their battered ecosystems. |
On Hilton Head Island, Gullah people fight for their land
MONTGOMERY, US, 10 October 2025 (SPLC) - Taiwan Scott eased off the gas as he turned onto Alfred Lane in the Spanish Wells community of South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island. Overhead, stout oak trees gave a tired impression, their armlike branches stretched outward, hollows yawning through beards heavy with Spanish moss. He let the car slowly creep forward, bouncing along the narrow, pockmarked road dotted with mobile homes. “You can tell when you’re in a Gullah community,” he said, surveying the quiet lane. |
Baby giant tortoises thrive in Seychelles
LONDON, UK, 10 October 2025 (Guardian) - The slow-motion pitter-patter of tiny giant tortoise feet has been worryingly rare in recent years, but that looks set to change thanks to the first successful hatching of the species with artificial incubation. One week after the intervention, the 13 babies are building up their strength on a diet of banana slices and leaves in Seychelles, which is home to one of the last remaining populations of the tortoise. |
Overtourism debate centre stage as Abta meets in Mallorca
MAGALUF, Spain, 10 October 2025 (Guardian) - The swish seafront hotels and freshly planted palms on the gleaming promenade might tempt any unwary holidaymaker to book in for Mallorca’s Calviá beach. But step out the back door and the resort is still firmly, as it is better known, Magaluf: boozed-up Britain in Spain, with cocktails by the pint. |
More than half of world’s bird species in decline
LONDON, UK, 10 October 2025 (Guardian) - More than half of all bird species are in decline, according to a new global assessment, with deforestation driving sharp falls in populations across the planet. On the eve of a key biodiversity summit in the UAE, scientists have issued a fresh warning about the health of bird populations, with 61% of assessed species now recording declines in their numbers. |
'Humanitarian' visa must be created for Pacific Islanders
LONDON, UK, 9 October 2025 (Guardian) - Climate and migration experts are calling for urgent action to create legal pathways for people displaced by the climate crisis, as a new report highlights the scale of the problem across the Pacific. Research by Amnesty International found current immigration systems are inadequate for Pacific Islanders seeking safety and stability, as rising seas threaten to make their homelands uninhabitable. |
Easter Island's statues actually 'walked' – and physics backs it up
BINGHAMTON, US, 7 October 2025 (BU) - For years, researchers have puzzled over how the ancient people of Rapa Nui did the seemingly impossible and moved their iconic moai statues. Using a combination of physics, 3D modeling and on-the-ground experiments, a team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has confirmed that the statues actually walked – with a little rope and remarkably few people. |
Introduced animals change how island plants spread
MANOA, Hawaii, 8 October 2025 (Phys.org) - On islands, many plants rely on animals such as birds, bats and reptiles to disperse their seeds and help them grow in new places. When native animals go extinct, this naturally reduces seed dispersal. However, a new global study has discovered that the impact of introduced, invasive animal species on how plant seeds are dispersed across island ecosystems is even greater than the impact of native animal extinctions. |
Metro Manila's last coastal frontier
MANILA, Philippines, 8 October 2025 (Mongabay) - Spanning the coasts of two cities in Metro Manila, and referred to as the capital region’s “last coastal frontier,” Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park is a critical site of both ecological and economic importance. Primarily made up of two interconnected artificial islands, Freedom Island and Long Island, this thriving wetland ecosystem along Manila Bay started out as an unintentionally formed patch of land, the product of accumulated debris from a massive expressway construction project that was completed in 1985. |
Organised crime may be infiltrating Timor-Leste's government
ADELAIDE, Australia, 8 October 2025 (Conversation) - Two decades after Timor-Leste gained its independence, the country is a complicated and qualified success story. Poverty and deep economic problems persist, but the country boasts a thriving democracy. Its ascension to the ASEAN regional bloc will come later this month. As this milestone approaches, however, a senior official with oversight over the national intelligence agency has gone public with explosive claims that Timorese institutions are allegedly being bought by organised crime. |
SIDS face outsized climate impacts and require US$12 billion a year
ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, 7 October 2025 (GCA) - The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) today launched State and Trends in Adaptation: SIDS, the most comprehensive assessment to date of climate risks, macro-economic impacts and practical solutions for the world’s 39 island economies. The report shows that, without accelerated adaptation, cumulative climate damages across SIDS could reach as high as US$476 billion by 2050 - equivalent to several years of national output in some countries - yet current international public adaptation finance to SIDS averages just over US$2 billion a year, or 0.2% of global climate finance. |
Remote Welsh island searching for new tenant family
CARDIFF, Wales, 8 October 2025 (BBC) - A tiny island off Gwynedd's Llyn Peninsula, with more sheep than humans, is looking for new nature-loving inhabitants to live and work there. Ynys Enlli, also known as Bardsey Island, is wind-whipped, sea-sprayed and most definitely off-grid, boasting - as it does - a current year-round population of just three people. In 2023, it also became the first international Dark Sky Sanctuary in Europe, meaning its unspoiled view of the night sky is protected for current and future generations. |
Scientists explored the northernmost island of Greenland
WASHINGTON, US, 8 October 2025 (NPR) - Two summers ago, NPR reporter followed an expedition of scientists to Greenland's Inuit Qeqertaat, or Kaffeeklubben ("Coffee Club") Island. The researchers with her were aiming to find what plants grew at the farthest north point of the island. Along the way, she had an adventure … and witnessed the good, the bad and the muddy realities of scientific expeditions. |
Indonesia eyes seagrass zoning for blue carbon
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 7 October 2025 (Mongabay) - Indonesia is moving to designate 17 seagrass habitats as national strategic areas for blue carbon, a plan that promises climate and community benefits but raises concerns over safeguards. The fisheries ministry says the zoning will help cut emissions, protect marine ecosystems and boost coastal livelihoods, with seagrass storing carbon far more effectively than rainforests. |
RSPO sparks NGO outrage for dismissing complaint
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 7 October 2025 (Mongabay) - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has dismissed allegations that Indonesian conglomerate First Resources Ltd controls a network of shadow companies, despite evidence presented by NGOs linking these firms to deforestation, peatland destruction, river pollution and labor abuses. |
Mediterranean Blue Natural Capital Facility to scale up
GLAND, Switzerland, 7 October 2025 (IUCN) - The Mediterranean’s Posidonia oceanica meadows and coastal wetlands are far more than natural defences or carbon sinks. They are the foundation of Mediterranean life, supporting biodiversity, driving local economies, and shaping the region’s identity. In the last five decades, nearly one third of the region’s seagrass cover has disappeared due to pollution, unsustainable coastal activities, and the accelerating effects of climate change. To help reverse this decline IUCN Med is establishing the Mediterranean Blue Natural Capital Facility which will begin operations shortly. |
Rethinking tourism in the Mediterranean
GLAND, Switzerland, 6 October 2025 (IUCN) - For over a decade, the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation has been working to promote sustainable tourism across the region. For example, on Djerba Island in Tunisia, fragile wetlands are being equipped with nature trails and interpretive panels, while hotels are learning to cut water waste, reduce plastics, and plant native vegetation. Iberostar, a global hospitality player, is among the partners testing how biodiversity standards can reshape the hotel industry on one of the Mediterranean’s most touristic islands. |
Pacific countries raise their voice on 1.5 to stay alive
APIA, Samoa, 7 October 2025 (SPREP) - Pacific countries at the forefront of the climate crisis, described as a “ticking time bomb”, have vowed that their One Pacific Voice on keeping 1.5 alive, is heard loud and clear at the Thirtieth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP30) in Belem, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025. |
The Mediterranean island that tourism didn't swallow whole
TABARCA, Spain, 7 October 2025 (CNN) - The flat, tiny island of Nueva Tabarca stretches 1,800 meters - just over a mile - and spans only 400 meters at its widest point. Around 50 people live on the island year-round, making it Spain’s smallest permanently inhabited island. What Tabarca lacks in size, it more than makes up for in natural and cultural heritage. Its insularity has shielded it from the reckless overdevelopment that has scarred much of the nearby Costa Blanca. |
NZ compensates Samoa over crashed naval ship
LONDON, UK, 6 October 2025 (BBC) - New Zealand's government has paid Samoa 10m Samoan Tala (NZD 6m; £2.6m) after one of its naval ships crashed into a reef in Samoan waters before catching fire and sinking last year. HMNZS Manawanui started leaking oil into the ocean after it sank, with reports of sea turtles dying and slicks appearing on nearby Samoan beaches. |
Australia signs key defence deal with Papua New Guinea
LONDON, UK, 6 October 2025 (BBC) - Australia will gain access to Papua New Guinea's military facilities and troops under a key deal that will see the nations come to each other's aid if either is attacked. Both governments say the deal was born from a yearslong alliance between the two Pacific neighbours, but experts say it is aimed at countering China's growing influence in the region. |
Greece's Nisyros island gains international recognition
NEW YORK, US, 6 October 2025 (TTW) - Greece’s Nisyros Island has earned international recognition by joining the prestigious UNESCO Global Geoparks Network, highlighting its exceptional volcanic landscape and geological significance. |
World War II weapons still threatening lives in the Solomon Islands
SYDNEY, Australia, 6 October 2025 (IPS) - Last century the remote Solomon Islands was the stage for some of the most intense battles fought during the Pacific campaign of the Second World War. But while Allied troops departed on the heels of victory, the military forces of both sides left a massive legacy of unexploded ordnance (UXO) which is still scattered across the country and others in the region. |
Indonesia risks missing Chinese renewables investment
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 6 October 2025 (Mongabay) - Chinese clean energy firms are investing in solar panel manufacturing in Indonesia as competition and policy changes squeeze their domestic market. Indonesia is an attractive but underdeveloped renewables market, with just 560 MW of total solar capacity installed, compared to 198 GW added in China in the first five months of 2025. Strict quotas set by Indonesia’s state-owned utility PLN limit rooftop solar installations, dampening investor enthusiasm despite the country’s vast potential. |
How HIV cases soared in Fiji
LONDON, UK, 5 October 2025 (BBC) - Ten: that's the age of the youngest person with HIV that Sesenieli Naitala has ever met. When she first started Fiji's Survivor Advocacy Network in 2013, that young boy was yet to be born. Now he is one of thousands of Fijians to have contracted the bloodborne virus in recent years – many of them aged 19 or younger, and many of them through intravenous drug use. |
What sparked the Gen Z protests in Madagascar
LONDON, UK, 3 October 2025 (BBC) - Thousands of people in Madagascar have taken to the streets in different parts of the country for the past week in the largest wave of protests the Indian Ocean island nation has witnessed in more than 15 years. What began as anger over shortages of basic necessities has rapidly escalated into one of the most serious challenges facing President Andry Rajoelina, who has been in power, for the second time, since 2018. On Monday, in response, he sacked his government but that did not placate the protesters. |
Cuba's tourism minister insists sector 'alive and kicking' amid crisis
LONDON, UK, 3 October 2025 (BBC) - When US President Barack Obama stepped off Air Force One onto Cuban soil in 2016, he was one of around four million visitors to the island that year. A record high at the time, Cuba's visitor numbers continued to grow until a high-water mark of almost five million people two years later. Since then, however, the fall in Cuban tourism has been precipitous. |
Hong Kong urged to protect Sai Kung islands from overtourism
HONG KONG, 3 October 2025 (SCMP) - Greenpeace has called for the Hong Kong government to put in place conservation-driven measures to protect outlying islands in Sai Kung from ecological damage caused by overtourism. The green group raised the alarm on Friday after it found a large number of visitors trampling corals and digging up marine organisms in the city’s Unesco Global Geopark area. |
Study warns up to a quarter of Philippine vertebrates risk extinction
MANILA, Philippines, 2 October 2025 (Mongabay) - A new study warns that 15-23% of the Philippines’ 1,294 terrestrial vertebrates face extinction, with amphibians and mammals at highest risk. Endemic species are most vulnerable, yet many lesser-known taxa like flying foxes, Cebu flowerpeckers and island frogs receive little research or funding compared to charismatic species such as the Philippine eagle and tamaraw dwarf buffalo. |
Indigenous-led protections spark Bali starling’s recovery in the wild
NUSA PENIDA, Indonesia, 2 October 2025 (Mongabay) - An Indonesian songbird once nearly extinct in the wild, the Bali starling, is making a comeback through community-led conservation on Nusa Penida and beyond. Strict law enforcement and captive breeding failed to reverse the bird’s decline; poaching and habitat loss continued despite decades of formal protections. |
COP climate talks are 'heartbreak' for Pacific Islands
SYDNEY, Australia, 3 October 2025 (ABC) - For the Pacific Islands, where the threat of climate change is existential, COP has come to feel like an annual date with conflict and disappointment. They have grown frustrated with the level of ambition among high-emitting nations in curbing carbon emissions - including Australia's - and they blame the influence of powerful fossil fuel interests. Papua New Guinea's government even withdrew from the talks altogether last year, calling them "a total waste of time". |
Fossil found on Skye is new species of fanged Jurassic reptile
LONDON, UK, 1 October 2025 (BBC) - The fossil of a previously unknown reptile that had snake-like fangs and lived about 167 million years ago has been discovered on Skye. Experts said their research had revealed it to be a new species and family of Jurassic animals linked to the origins of lizards and snakes. |
Urban appetite for lemur meat piles pressure on iconic primates
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 1 October 2025 (Mongabay) - Ninety-five percent of lemur species are threatened by habitat loss, hunting and climate change. The direct threat is often understood to result from the actions of poor rural communities, but a forthcoming study has found that thousands of threatened lemurs are being hunted and killed every year to feed a lucrative urban market for their meat in cities across Madagascar. |
UN must adapt to Blue Pacific, not the other way around
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 1 October 2025 (PMN) - Pacific Island leaders addressed the United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 80th session in New York, demanding urgent climate action, fairer finance, and reforms to give small states real power. From Palau to Kiribati, New Zealand to Tuvalu, representatives struck different tones, but one message was clear: climate change remains the region’s greatest existential threat, and the international community, through multilateral systems, must answer the call for help. |
Caribbean nations deal to let citizens work freely across borders
LONDON, UK, 1 October 2025 (Guardian) - A historic EU-style free movement agreement comes into force in four Caribbean countries on Wednesday, in a deal which officials hope will stem the flow of skilled professionals leaving the region for North America and Europe. |
UN security council approves new military force to fight Haiti gangs
LONDON, UK, 1 October 2025 (Guardian) - The UN has adopted a resolution to transform a security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a larger, fully fledged force with military troops. The new unit can now have a maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and soldiers, unlike the current mission, which is just law enforcement. |
Taiwan biggest importer of Russian naphtha despite being Ukraine ally
LONDON, UK, 1 October 2025 (Guardian) - Taiwan has become the world’s biggest importer of Russian naphtha, a petroleum derivative used to make chemicals needed for the semiconductor industry, despite the fact that it has joined other sanctions against Russia and considers itself an ally of Ukraine. |
My voyage to explore how Marshallese sailors find their way at sea
LONDON, UK, 1 October 2025 (Conversation) - One of the biggest navigation challenges is knowing where you are in the open ocean without tools or devices. This remarkable skill is exemplified by the ancient techniques once used by expert navigators of the Marshall Islands, a chain of low-lying coral islands and atolls situated between Hawaii and the Philippines. |
Madagascar president dissolves government after 'Gen Z' protests
LONDON, UK, 29 September 2025 (BBC) - Madagascar's president has said he will dissolve his government, following days of youth-led protests over longstanding water and power cuts. The so-called Gen-Z protests have seen thousands of predominantly young demonstrators take to the streets in cities across Madagascar since Thursday, under the rallying cry: "We want to live, not survive". |
Kayaking in Sweden's new marine national park
LONDON, UK, 30 September 2025 (Guardian) - In Namdoskargarden, in the Stockholm archipelago, low-impact tourism is helping visitors appreciate the region’s fragile ecology and ocean conservation efforts |
A billion-dollar drug was found in Easter Island soil
DAVIS, US, 29 September 2025 (Conversation) - An antibiotic discovered on Easter Island in 1964 sparked a billion-dollar pharmaceutical success story. Yet the history told about this “miracle drug” has completely left out the people and politics that made its discovery possible. Named after the island’s Indigenous name, Rapa Nui, the drug rapamycin was initially developed as an immunosuppressant to prevent organ transplant rejection and to improve the efficacy of stents to treat coronary artery disease. |
Indonesia aims to redraw UNESCO site boundaries
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 30 September 2025 (Mongabay) - Indonesia is seeking to redraw the boundaries of a UNESCO World Heritage rainforest to pave the way for geothermal projects - part of its renewable energy push but a move environmentalists warn could devastate biodiversity and tarnish the country’s green reputation. |
Nature restored in the Marshall Islands
MAJURO, Marshall Islands, 30 September 2025 (SPREP) - Native forests are regenerating, and seabird populations are thriving once again on Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, following the 2024 removal of invasive rats through the Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS) Predator Free Pacific (PFP) programme. |
New call to stop Soay sheep starving to death on St Kilda
GLASGOW, UK, 29 September 2025 (BBC) - Two vets have renewed their appeal for greater protection for a rare breed of sheep that lives on a remote Scottish archipelago. Soay roam wild on St Kilda and are descended from animals first brought to the group of small islands and rocky sea stacks thousands of years ago. |
Bali is becoming a victim of its own success
BALI, Indonesia, 27 September 2025 (BBC) - Millions flock to Bali every year in search of the spiritual Shangri-La promised in the noughties memoir and film Eat, Pray, Love. What they're greeted by instead are crowds, traffic and the cacophony of construction, which has ramped up alongside a post-pandemic boom in tourism. The growing strain on the island had produced plenty of eye-rolls and grumbles, but this month events took a sombre turn. |
Vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks identified off West Papua
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 28 September 2025 (Mongabay) - A new study reports that the Bird’s Head Seascape off West Papua serves as a vital habitat for juvenile male whale sharks, but lift-net fisheries, tourism boats and emerging mining activities in the region underscore the urgent need for stronger protection and management. |
Tonga marks conservation victory
HA'APAI, Tonga, 26 September 2025 (SPREP) - The Government of Tonga, in partnership with the Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service (PRISMSS) and Island Conservation, has confirmed the successful eradication of invasive rats and feral pigs from Kelefesia and Tonumea in the Ha’apai Group marking another milestone in Tonga’s ongoing efforts to restore island ecosystems and build climate resilience. |
Galapagos Islands, wildlife haven, faces a sexual violence epidemic
LONDON, UK, 27 September 2025 (Guardian) - Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands are a protected national park and Unesco World Heritage site, whose rich, unusual fauna played a pivotal role in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. It is a haven for wildlife, but for the human population of some 33,000 – and especially the women and girls among them – it is not a place of safety. |
Not-for-profit group buys islands to save them from development
SALE, Australia, 27 September 2025 (ABC) - Bullock Island and Little Dog Island are saltmarsh islands on the South Gippsland coast. Not-for-profit group Nooramunga Land and Sea (NL&S) has purchased the islands so they will never be farmed or developed again. |
Indonesian island's traditional residents face relocation
RIAU, Indonesia, 26 September (DE) - Rempang Eco City, a large-scale development project in Indonesia’s western Riau Islands, has been touted by the provincial government as a “new economic engine for Indonesia". It will comprise industrial, residential, tourism and wildlife reserve zones, all with an intended focus on environmental sustainability, and aims to create 35,000 jobs. For the thousands of residents of Rempang Island, the site of the project, this ambitious undertaking is a source of worry. It will involve the clearance of the island’s existing settlements, including traditional villages that have been inhabited mostly by families of several Indigenous seafaring groups for generations. They fear this will come with the loss of their heritage and established livelihoods. |
Experience sustainable tourism in the Solomon Islands
NEW YORK, US, 27 September 2025 (TTW) - Titiru Eco Lodge, established in 2014, was built on a vision of sustainable tourism that supports the local economy, conserves the environment, and preserves cultural traditions. The lodge is located in the untouched wilderness of Ughele, offering visitors an immersive experience that combines relaxation with active participation in environmental and cultural preservation. |
This plant stops islands from disappearing forever
NEW YORK, US, 26 September 2025 (ST) - The Îles-de-la-Madeleine in Quebec are turning to the native myrique des îles plant in a bid to combat severe coastal erosion exacerbated by climate change, highlighting the potential of nature-based solutions in environmental conservation. |
A documentary reckons with the Outer Banks' past, present and future
HATTERAS ISLAND, US, 27 September 2025 (IFP) - Living on the Edge: The Outer Banks Odyssey is an ambitious documentary currently in production that treats North Carolina’s barrier islands as both subject and character - a fragile, shifting ribbon of sand where centuries of human history intersect with dramatic environmental challenges. |
Tasmania will compensate people for historical LGBTQIA+ convictions
HOBART, Australia, 24 September 2025 (Conversation) - In the coming week, the Tasmanian parliament will consider two bills that will cement Tasmania as the Rainbow Isle. The laws, which have bipartisan support, will provide compensation for those historically convicted of homosexuality and cross-dressing offences. They also expand hate crime provisions to LGBTQIA+ people. |
Assumption Island could decide Seychelles' next president
MAHE, Seychelles, 26 September 2025 (BBC) - A tiny, almost barren island in the Indian Ocean has become a battleground in this weekend's elections in Seychelles, prompting global environmental concern. Assumption Island lies close to this century's Silk Road – the busy commercial shipping lanes carrying manufactured goods and materials from East Asia to Africa and beyond. India was keen to build a military base on Assumption but was rebuffed. |
China aid and investment returns to Solomon Islands Malaita province
AUKI, Solomon Islands, 26 September 2025 (ABC) - Eric George has seen decades of broken promises on his home island, Malaita. From bridges that have never been fixed, building projects that never came, or just the pot-holed roads in a perpetual state of disrepair. But now, Mr George said, things were changing rapidly. "This road construction work here is funded by the People's Republic of China," he told the ABC, pointing to a conga line of local workers in China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation hard hats, digging a trench. "We hope that early next year, around March, April, they will start to do the tar sealing." |
How Dorona and the islands revive Venice's golden age of wine
VENICE, Italy, 25 September 2025 (Forbes) - Though Venice’s role as wine broker largely ended with Napoleon, its identity as a wine-growing place never vanished. During centuries of dominance as a maritime power importing barrels from Crete, Cyprus, Dalmatia, and beyond, Venice also grew grapevines in cloistered monasteries, lagoon island patches, and family gardens. The most common varieties? Malvasia and Dorona di Venezia. |
Financing the transformation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
NEW DELHI, India, 26 September 2025 (ORF) - The Andaman and Nicobar Islands act as gateways into Southeast Asian countries. The strait facilitates the movement of over 90,000 vessels per annum, constituting about 30 percent of global trade - and this is only set to grow. The smallest radial distance between ports in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and ports in the Southeast Asian region is about 50 km. This gives India an edge in establishing formidable trade relations with these countries. Creating and augmenting world-class supply chain infrastructure can put these islands and the country on a path to prosperity, provided clean energy is adopted while biodiversity is protected. |
Chagos Islands ‘pristine ocean’ must be protected
LONDON, UK, 25 September 2025 (PA) - Senior Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry has urged the Government to ensure the “pristine ocean” around the Chagos Islands is protected after the handover to Mauritius. She said the Chagos Islands are a crucial resting point for wildlife, including the critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle, and that the area has an unusually healthy coral reef that acts as a “reseeder” for other reefs in the Indian Ocean. |
Greenland contraception scandal victims hear Danish PM's apology
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, 24 September 2025 (BBC) - Dozens of women in Greenland have heard Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, formally apologise for a scandal that involved thousands of Inuit women being given contraceptive coils, as part of a controversial birth control programme during the 1960s and 70s. |
Shy albatross now in battle to survive
LONDON, UK, 24 September 2025 (Guardian) - The shy albatross is the only one of the world’s 22 albatross species to breed in Australia: on the fittingly named Albatross Island, off north-west Tasmania, and Pedra Branca and Mewstone, two stacks off the island’s south coast. All three spots are remote; the last two are impossible to access. |
The Caribbean islands struggling with managing waste
LONDON, UK, 25 September 2025 (BBC) - The smell hits you first. Then there is the assault of flies, the swirling dust, the grit that gets in your eyes. And finally, you see the vast expanse of trash. Antigua's landfill site is one place that is not listed in the tourism brochures. And it has been overcapacity for more than a decade. |
Channel Islands and French leaders renew ties
JERSEY, Channel Islands, 25 September 2025 (BBC) - Energy and the environment, maritime links and a renewal of a three-year commitment to one another have been discussed at the latest annual summit of political leaders from the Channel Islands and parts of France. |
They help preserve America’s dominance in the Pacific
EBEYE, Marshall Islands, 24 September 2025 (Reuters) - The Pacific isle of Ebeye and its 10,000 people support a nearby U.S. military base that serves as a bulwark against a Chinese or Russian missile attack. But conditions are harsh: Diabetes is rampant, fish in the surrounding waters are contaminated, and lifespans are short. The island’s neglect may provide an opening for Beijing. |
Greece’s port infrastructure overhaul
NEW YORK, US, 25 September 2025 (TTW) - The Greek Maritime Ministry has announced a major €585 million investment plan to revamp and expand the nation’s port facilities. This initiative is focused on tightening the connection between the islands and the mainland, increasing the islands’ competitive edge, and steering the sector toward greener maritime operations. By directly enhancing access to Greece’s most sought-after and distant islands, the program is anticipated to drive tourism growth, while also promoting forward-looking, sustainable travel practices that benefit the environment. |
Saving the Ocean – Act Now!
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 24 September 2025 (IPS) - James Alix Michel, Former President of the Republic of Seychelles, argues that the key to saving the ocean may be found in a bottom-up approach - sustainable practices, growing local action and making elected officials accountable. |
Singapore firm rejects paying $1bn Sri Lankan pollution damages
SINGAPORE, 23 September 2025 (AFP) - A Singapore shipping company refuse to pay Sri Lankan court-ordered damages of US$1 billion for causing that country's worst case of environmental pollution. In an exclusive interview, X-Press Feeders chief executive Shmuel Yoskovitz said he believed paying would have wide-ranging implications on global shipping and "set a dangerous precedent". The company operated the MV X-Press Pearl that sank off Colombo Port in June 2021 after a fire - believed caused by a nitric acid leak - that raged for nearly two weeks. |
New species of gecko described from Madagascar's sacred forests
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 24 September 2025 (Mongabay) - An international team of biologists has discovered a new species of gecko in small forest fragments in southeastern Madagascar. Due to its extremely limited range, researchers say it should be classified as critically endangered. |
These Indonesian coral reefs are considered sacred - here's why
WASHINGTON, US, 24 September 2025 (Nat.Geog) - Raja Ampat, a remote region of Southwest Papua in far eastern Indonesia, comprises around 1,500 islands over 15,000sq miles and sits at the heart of an area known as the Coral Triangle. Raja’s marine stats are mind-boggling: some 75% of the planet’s corals are found here - 10 times the number of species in the Caribbean and more than is found at the Great Barrier Reef - and these forests of the ocean support more than 1,500 fish species. Some areas of Raja Ampat have 100% coral cover on the seabed. More than half the region is ring-fenced via a network of marine protected areas (MPAs). |
Hobbits of Flores evolved to be small by slowing down growth
BELLINGHAM, US, 24 September 2025 (Conversation) - Until Homo floresiensis was discovered, scientists assumed that the evolution of the human lineage was defined by bigger and bigger brains. Via a process called encephalization, human brains evolved to be relatively more massive than would be expected based on corresponding body size. |
Exploring Vanuatu's vibrant seascape in support of ocean protection
PORT VILA, Vanuatu, 24 September 2025 (Nat.Geog) - National Geographic Pristine Seas today launched a month-long expedition to study Vanuatu’s ocean, which is under threat from frequent cyclones, warming temperatures, and overfishing. By invitation from the Government of Vanuatu, the expedition will document the ocean’s stunning biodiversity and geology, providing data for the nation’s marine spatial planning efforts. |
Vanuatu plans UN resolution on landmark climate ruling
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 24 September 2025 (RNZ) - Vanuatu's Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu says the country is drafting a UN resolution to turn a landmark climate ruling from the world's top court from words into "political action". Regenvanu said the resolution will likely come after COP30 in November, once governments' responses to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling have become clearer. The court found in July that countries can be held legally responsible for their greenhouse gas emissions]. |
A teenager's fight to end single use plastics on her Scottish island
LONDON, UK, 24 September 2025 (Guardian) - Tabby Fletcher, a 17-year-old from the Isle of Jura, off the west coast of Scotland, lives in what many people would probably assume is a pristine wilderness. Yet she regularly sees dead birds, their bodies entangled in plastic, among piles of waste washed up on the island’s beaches after powerful storms. She decided to start a petition calling on the Scottish government to ban all single-use plastics. This has now received more than 26,000 signatures and the backing of MSPs in the Highlands and Islands. |
Tangier Island could be underwater before the next century
WASHINGTON, US, 22 September 2025 (NPR) - Tangier Island - off the mainland coast of Virginia - is one of the last inhabited islands in the Chesapeake Bay. Since 1850, the island has lost two-thirds of its landmass to erosion and sea level rise and could be almost entirely underwater in the next 50 years. |
Camping on the world's largest island of ice
LONDON, UK, 22 September 2025 (BBC) - There aren't many places that are still almost unknown, but the Greenland Ice Sheet is one of them. Covering 80% of the world's largest island, it's one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Yet, as Greenland starts to open to tourism, with new flights linking the Danish-administered island to the world, a few adventurous visitors like me are venturing onto the ice. |
EV trial among Bali east coast fishers shows promise amid headwinds
KLUNGKUNG, Indonesia, 22 September 2025 (Mongabay) - A social enterprise initiative to equip traditional fishing boats in east Bali with battery-powered engines has shown some encouraging responses among the trial cohort. More than 90% of the world’s 40 million fishers are small-scale operations working from small boats, which policymakers say are better suited to adopt electric vehicles compared with larger vessels. |
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