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On Adak Island you pay to keep buildings wired for obsolete internet
ADAK ISLAND, Alaska, 20 July 2026 (ADN) - On an island in the Bering Sea 1,200 miles from Anchorage sits an abandoned house on an abandoned Navy base. There is no furniture, and the wind blows through broken windows. The last people to live here moved away long ago. Yet a bright orange pipe with a black fiber-optic cable inside runs from the outer wall down into the surrounding soil. The cable was installed to connect the home to the internet after the base closed. It costs more than $340,000 per year to provide this building and hundreds of others - all but a few of them empty - with internet access no one says they use. |
Exploring Germany's East Frisian islands
LONDON, UK, 21 July 2026 (Guardian) - Norderney is one of the seven inhabited islands that make up the East Frisian islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) in Germany. The others are Borkum, Juist, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog and Wangerooge. Stretching more than 50 miles from west to east, they are a popular holiday destination, known for their unique coastal landscapes and diverse wildlife, from grey seals and migrating birds to the creatures found in the mud. |
U.S. Virgin Islands housing authority accused of corruption
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 20 July 2026 (PBS) - The U.S. government announced Monday it suspended funding for the U.S. Virgin Islands' housing authority after an investigation found widespread corruption, as residents still struggle to recover from two major hurricanes that hit nearly a decade ago. U.S. Housing Secretary Scott Turner said that nine years after the U.S. territory received $1.9 billion in disaster recovery funding, it has spent only $570,000, less than a third of the funds. |
Sri Lankan national parks are a concern amidst encroachment
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 21 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Around 14% of Sri Lanka’s total land area is dedicated to wildlife protected areas, which includes more than 20 national parks. However, due to natural and anthropogenic factors, protected species such as leopards and elephants living in these protected areas face continuous threats as their habitats continue to shrink. Wildlife authorities say they have worked hard to reduce encroachment of national parks and other protected areas but have had limited success. |
Sao Tome and Príncipe heads to polls in tense presidential election
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, 19 July 2026 (Guardian) - Voters in Sao Tome and Principe go to the polls for a presidential election on Sunday as one of Africa’s least populous countries seeks to burnish its democratic credentials. According to the National Election Commission, about 142,000 people are registered to vote in the tiny African state’s elections, approximately 15% of whom live in the diaspora. |
Moloka‘i growers feeding the island in wake of plant shipment bans
KAHULUI, Hawaii, 18 July 2026 (MN) - When the state banned the shipment of plants and gardening materials to prevent the spread of invasive pests to Moloka‘i last year, people started asking Patrick Rogers if he had any herbs and vegetables to sell. Rogers and his partner were farming on a small scale on his late father’s property on the outskirts of Kaunakakai town. Now his fledgling business grows more than 100 kinds of edible crops and ornamental plants out of Rogers’ backyard to sell and give away to people in the community. |
Cuba edges toward breakdown
HAVANA, Cuba, 18 July 2026 (Guardian) - When Cuba’s national grid collapses, as it did for the third time in 10 days on Tuesday, a collective groan spreads across its cities and people wonder, again, whether the island’s antiquated electricity system may soon become unrecoverable. |
Biodiversity fears as hybrid fish integrate into Philippines lake
LONDON, UK, 17 July 2026 (Guardian) - Escaped ornamental aquarium fish have integrated into a local ecosystem in the Philippines, but scientists say they may be threatening the native biodiversity of the lake. Flowerhorn cichlids – human-bred hybrid fish prized for their bright-gold colour and prominent head humps – are believed to have escaped from breeding facilities into Lake Sampaloc, which sits in a volcanic crater, during a typhoon. |
They escaped the slave trade to an island in the middle of the ocean
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, 17 July 2026 (UCSC) - Saint Helena is a tiny volcanic island more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Africa. Between 1840 and 1863, the British Royal Navy brought nearly 27,000 Africans from captured illegal slave ships to a “Liberated African Establishment” on Saint Helena. UC Santa Cruz researchers helped shed new light on the likely origins within Africa of some of those people who died and were buried on the island. |
Philippines condemns monkey video on Chinese media as racist
LONDON, UK, 17 July 2026 (BBC) - The Philippines has condemned the "dehumanising and racist" portrayal of the country as a timid monkey strong-armed by the US and Japan to take Beijing on over the South China Sea. Last week, China Daily posted an AI-generated video featuring a monkey in a Filipino shirt. It screams as arms bearing the Japanese and US flags shove it onto a rickety karaoke stage set up in a boat. After it gets scolded for singing the wrong song, it pulls out a sheet reading "South China Sea arbitration award". It is then flung into the sea and blasted by a water cannon. |
3 islands help control access to the Strait of Hormuz
DUBAI, UAE, 16 July 2026 (AP) - The expanding U.S. military campaign against Iran has put three small islands that sit at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in the crosshairs once again. The islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb - which were seized in 1971 by Iran from what would become the United Arab Emirates - have become a garrison for Iran, helping it exert significant control over the strait, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas passes in peacetime. U.S. strikes on two of the islands in recent days have renewed speculation about the fate of these small isles, whose ownership remains disputed. |
Can relationship between San Andres and mainland Colombia improve
SAN ANDRES, Colombia, 17 July 2026 (LAR) - On July 4, San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, the most far off of Colombia’s 32 departments, elected a new governor in special elections. The outgoing acting governor hopes that more attention will be brought to the needs of the community on the islands, and she remains hopeful that relations between the archipelago and Colombia’s national government will improve. |
Greek islands face drought as tourist season hits
ASTYPALAIA, Greece, 16 July 2026 (Reuters) - Seven Greek islands in the Aegean Sea have declared drought emergencies this year to preserve water as climate ?change makes summers hotter and rainfall more erratic. Now, authorities are wondering if it will rain next year to sustain the thousands of tourists who strain the supply of water just when locals need it most. |
Island nations call for packaging redesign to curb ocean plastic
ARNHEM, The Netherlands, 17 July 2026 (PI) - Ocean plastic pollution disproportionately affects island nations, which lack the infrastructure and investment to process large amounts of packaging waste. In one modeled scenario of no improvement to global waste management, the researchers estimate that by 2060, there will be 2.8 times more ocean plastic than in 2018. |
Tokelau and PNA react to New Zealand fisheries action
MAJURO, Marshall Islands, 17 July 2026 (RNZ) - Tokelau - made up of three atolls with a total population of about 1500 people - benefited hugely from joining a Pacific tuna cartel in 2012. The impact of being part of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) was so significant that revenue generated from its lucrative fishery quickly accounted for as much as 40 percent of the national budget for this non-self-governing territory of New Zealand. But all that came to a halt early this year, when the PNA terminated Tokelau's participation in PNA's Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) that manages the purse seine industry in Pacific waters, where over half the world's tuna is caught. |
UK says Falkland Islands 'definitely ours' after Argentina banner
LONDON, UK, 16 July 2026 (BBC) - The UK government has said "the World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are," after Argentina players celebrated their victory over England by waving a banner in support of their country's territorial claim. Speaking after England's 2-1 semi-final defeat in Atlanta, Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer wished both Argentina and Spain "well for the final, especially Spain". |
This Greek island has a dark past. Now it's covered in rare seals
LONDON, UK, 15 July 2026 (BBC) - For half a century, Gyaros was off-limits to the world as a military prison and naval firing range. Then, in 2004, an unexpected photograph focussed attention on this apparently desolate place once more, but for very different reasons. It turned out Gyaros had become a wildlife haven, offering a sanctuary for a rare seal which was, at the time, threatened with extinction. |
Ocean of peace requires one standard for all
SUVA, Fiji, 15 July 2026 (PINA) - Papua New Guinea PM James Marape’s call for the Pacific to remain “an Ocean of Peace” deserves widespread support. Few regions have suffered the strategic consequences of great power rivalry more profoundly than the Blue Pacific. The battlefields of World War Two, decades of nuclear testing and the return of geopolitical competition remind Pacific islanders that the costs of militarisation are often borne by those with least influence over it. |
Vanuatu to take dispute with France to international court
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 15 July 2026 (RNZ) - Vanuatu will escalate a decades-long dispute with France over two uninhabited islands to international arbitrators. The Matthew and Hunter Islands have been controlled by France for decades, even after Vanuatu became independent. But Vanuatu says it will never truly be independent without its Umaenupne and Umaeneag islands, sacred to the Aneityum people. |
Island business owners forced to plan around unreliable postal service
GLASGOW, UK, 13 July 2026 (BBC) - Business owners in Scotland's islands say they feel "forced" to plan around their unreliable postal service, which has left some worrying about their futures. The watchdog Consumer Scotland is calling on Royal Mail to improve standards and make prices fairer for island communities - who can face surcharges of up to £50. |
Who is 'stealing' Bali's water?
BALI, Indonesia, 14 July 2026 (Guardian) - According to the Bali national land agency, the island has lost more than 6,500 hectares (16,061 acres) of rice fields in the past five years, a decline of more than 9%. A 2018 Transnational Institute report estimated Bali had already shed nearly a quarter of its agricultural land as tourism grew by 330% in the previous 25 years. |
Puerto Ricans at breaking point after weeks without water
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 13 July 2026 (Guardian) - Jonathan Collazo owns two restaurants in a bustling section of San Juan, which has been plagued by water outages, severely disrupting the daily lives of residents and businesses alike. The water scarcity is part of an escalating frustration felt by thousands of customers of Puerto Rico’s water utility over the past several months, prompting the governor to activate the national guard to distribute drinking water across the US territory. |
Why Africa should link nutritional data with fisheries management
PENANG, Malaysia, 14 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Off the coast of Timor-Leste, fishers are building something many countries still lack: A clearer picture of how small-scale fishing nourishes people. For six years, fishers have logged their trips and recorded the gear used, the habitats visited and the catch brought home in a digital system built with the government of Timor-Leste. More than 77,000 trips later, that data has produced a study that urges governments to change how they think about fisheries management. |
Top threats to Tapanuli orangutan habitat
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 14 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Large infrastructure projects have long dominated debate over the future of Indonesia’s Batang Toru ecosystem, the main stronghold of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. But a new study suggests that while those projects have accelerated forest loss, the greatest direct threat to the ape’s habitat now comes from a much less visible source: the cumulative impact of small-scale agriculture and logging. |
The ocean wealth that keeps leaving Micronesia
SUVA, Fiji, 14 July 2026 (PINA) - More than 50 percent of the world’s tuna supply comes from the western and central Pacific Ocean, making it the most important tuna fishery on the planet. The waters surrounding the Federated States of Micronesia help feed the world. Every day, industrial fishing fleets harvest tuna from the FSM’s vast ocean territory, generating billions of dollars in global seafood markets. Yet only a small fraction of that wealth ever reaches Micronesian shores. |
Caribbean calls for return of British Virgin Islands
LONDON, UK, 14 July 2026 (Guardian) - The main reparations committee for Caribbean nations has called on the UK to return the British Virgin Islands and for King Charles to commit to decolonising Britain’s remaining overseas territories, warning of a “resurgence of colonisation” around the world. |
Life among the garbage mountains of the world's biggest city
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 13 July 2026 (Guardian) - On the outskirts of Jakarta, huge rolling peaks of rubbish stretch across more than 100 hectares (247 acres), towering over nearby villages. Each day a convoy of trucks plough in and dump more garbage into one of Asia’s largest landfills. Here, thousands of people live on the fringe of the site and make their income picking through the waste and salvaging scraps for resale. The work is dangerous – earlier this year seven people died after one of the massive trash mounds caved in, burying them alive. |
Is China's massive island-building push nearing the finish line?
HONG KONG, 13 July 2026 (SCMP) - New satellite images suggest China’s land reclamation at Antelope Reef in the South China Sea is nearly finished, according to researchers. One image taken on June 22 showed that dredgers within the lagoon of the teardrop-shaped coral atoll in the Paracel Islands had been replaced by cargo barges, an indication that land reclamation was near completion. |
$11-billion 'wellness island' is being built in Abu Dhabi
ATLANTA, US, 13 July 2026 (CNN) - At a time when there’s a growing focus on health and wellbeing, it is no surprise that wellness tourism is on the rise. On one small Gulf island, though, plans are in motion to make self-care not merely a temporary vacation, but a way of life. Slated to fully open in 2029, Fahid Island in Abu Dhabi is a development of more than 6,000 homes that promises future residents a coastal neighborhood that will be built from the ground up to enhance the physical and mental wellbeing of its occupants. |
Arctic seabed mission documents fragile marine life
LYON, France, 13 July 2026 (Euronews) - A month-long Arctic expedition has revealed deep-sea ecosystems in an area being considered for mining. For a month, a team of international scientists explored the Arctic seabed off the coast of Norway. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) roamed the ocean's seamounts and hydrothermal vents, plunging as deep as 3,000 metres. Their mission? To gather evidence on the rare and fragile marine life that could be threatened by plans to mine the seabed for critical minerals. |
New research into basking sharks around island
ISLE OF MAN, 11 July 2026 (BBC) - Researchers are hoping to build a clearer picture of how endangered basking sharks use and behave in Manx waters, as sightings of the species have risen this year. The Manx Shark Foundation has been created by shark scientist Gemma Scotts and fisheries officer Tom Morgan. Morgan said that while recent basking shark sightings have been encouraging, there was still a lot to learn about the animals and what influenced where they went. |
After 1,700 years, why did Polynesians suddenly sail east?
SOUTHAMPTON, UK, 9 July 2026 (Conversation) - The same question drives both the plot of Moana and decades of archaeological research: why, after centuries of relative stability, did Polynesian voyagers suddenly begin settling islands thousands of kilometres away across the Pacific? |
It's time for Australia to be a good neighbour to the Pacific
ADELAIDE, Australia, 10 July 2026 (Conversation) - In the past week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has signed security and defence agreements with Vanuatu and Fiji, visited Fiji and Solomon Islands, and hosted leaders from Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga in Brisbane. Against this flurry of Pacific diplomacy, China tested a ballistic missile in the region, reminding all players of its presence and its growing power. While the Albanese government has done much work in the Pacific and is generally on better terms with its leaders than the previous Morrison government, Australia can do more to be a good neighbour. |
SAERI launches new research projects across the Falklands
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 10 July 2026 (MercoPress) - The South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) has secured funding for a series of new scientific projects aimed at strengthening environmental monitoring, conservation science and evidence-based management across the Falklands and the wider South Atlantic. The projects span terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, and seek to answer four questions that guide the institute's work: what biodiversity the territory holds, how it is changing, what threats it faces and what management actions can be taken. |
Vanuatu's tourism sector advances plastic phase-out
PORT VILA, Vanuatu, 10 July 2026 (SPREP) - Vanuatu is accelerating efforts to reduce plastic pollution by embedding single-use plastic (SUP) phase-out measures into the future direction of its tourism industry. Vanuatu has long been recognised as a regional leader in tackling plastic pollution. In 2018, it became one of the first countries in the world, and the first in the Pacific, to legally ban single-use plastic bags, straws, and polystyrene takeaway containers. |
Trump says US ‘may take over Kharg Island'
DOHA, Qatar, 8 July 2026 (Al Jazeera) - US President Donald Trump has once again turned his focus to Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, after declaring an interim ceasefire with Iran “over” and warning the US was preparing more strikes. |
Eco-concrete and grass tech take top awards at PIF
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 9 July 2026 (RNZ) - A type of sustainable concrete and grass systems for soil stabilisation were the big winners of the first Wave Makers Pacific Innovation Forum (PIF) for Climate and Environment held in Vanuatu last week. |
Rocket test flight could be attempted from Shetland in August
LERWICK, UK, 7 July 2026 (BBC) - SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland has announced a "launch window" for a possible rocket test flight. The company said launch attempts could be made during a five-week period beginning on Monday 10 August, if conditions were right. It said restrictions would not be in place for the full five weeks, and residents would get 24 hours' advance notice of a test. |
Indonesian rubbish mountain has been on fire for more than a week
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 8 July 2026 (BBC) - For eight days, a fire has been burning at a waste mountain in Indonesia. The blaze at Jatiwaringin landfill, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, has spread across more than 15 hectares, smothering the area in thick, toxic smoke and displacing hundreds of local residents. |
Curacao highlights packaging design barriers to island recycling
ARNHEM, The Netherlands, 8 July 2026 (PI) - The TUI Care Foundation has expanded its recycling project in Curaçao to boost tourism's role in reducing plastic waste through design-for-recycling and packaging material choices. In collaboration with local organization Green Phenix, the second stage of Destination Zero Waste Curaçao is set to incorporate 100 tourism and hospitality businesses, with the aim of collecting, sorting, and recycling 25 metric tons of plastic waste and 30 metric tons of other waste materials. |
Island life changed how Brazil's Noronha skink reproduces
SAO PAULO, Brazil, 7 July 2026 (Conversation) - Visitors to the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, located about about 340 miles off the coast of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, soon notice a small lizard. Seemingly ubiquitous, it roams among rocks, trails, and urbanized areas, approaching people and stealing food in plain sight when it can, and rarely flees. This animal is the Noronha skink, a species found exclusively in this archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. |
This is Europe's most tourist-dense island
JERUSALEM, Israel, 8 July 2026 (JP) - While popular holiday destinations such as Mallorca, Tenerife, Santorini, and Barcelona are seeing protests against overtourism, one European country is choosing the opposite approach: Welcoming more visitors. A new study by travel website BookRetreats ranks Malta as Europe’s most tourist-dense island destination - but instead of slowing the flow, authorities are already planning to attract another half a million visitors over the next decade. |
Sunken wrecks, hot seas threaten fishermen on Italian isle
LAMPEDUSA, Italy, 8 July 2026 (AFP) - Once the beating heart of this Italian island community, fishermen on Lampedusa are under pressure on multiple fronts, from nets ripped by sunken migrant wrecks to a warming Mediterranean Sea. The semi-arid outcrop, closer to North Africa than Italy, is a port of call for people attempting the perilous crossing to Europe, and their capsized or abandoned boats dot its emerald depths. |
Rare tree seeds collected from Juan Fernández Archipelago off Chile
LONDON, UK, 7 July 2026 (Mongabay) - On Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island, in the South Pacific, a tree juts out precariously from the side of a steep cliff. It’s the last known wild individual of Dendroseris neriifolia. To prevent its total extinction in the wild, conservationists recently collected seeds from the tree and have begun trials to cultivate them. All 11 species of the genus Dendroseris are exclusive to the Juan Fernández Archipelago off Chile. The trees, with striking yellow, orange or white flowers, have been nearly wiped out by extensive habitat degradation, invasive plants, and damage by introduced mammals such as goats and rodents. |
Samoa Conservation Society joins as BirdLife's 125th Partner
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 7 July 2026 (BirdLife) - Located in the heart of Polynesia, Samoa is home to exceptional biodiversity including nine endemic bird species, globally significant seabird populations, and ecosystems that support both wildlife and local communities. Yet, like many Pacific island nations, Samoa faces growing environmental challenges, including habitat degradation, invasive alien species, climate change and biodiversity loss. |
IUCN secures GEF funding for major project in Mauritius
GLAND, Switzerland, 7 July 2026 (IUCN) - The Blue Carbon Horizons initiative will strengthen climate resilience for Mauritius’ coastal communities and ocean-dependent sectors by embedding ecosystem-based adaptation within a blue carbon framework. It will build a high-integrity blue carbon knowledge base and integrate mangroves, seagrasses, and other coastal ecosystems as natural infrastructure into national adaptation planning, coastal zone management, and marine spatial planning. The project addresses the interconnected challenges of climate change, coastal ecosystem degradation, and the persistent undervaluation of natural capital in decision-making. By assigning value to the carbon sequestration and coastal protection services these ecosystems deliver, the effort will sharpen Mauritius’ climate resilience planning while advancing global climate goals. |
Australia and Fiji sign surprise defence alliance
LONDON, UK, 6 July 2026 (Guardian) - Australia and Fiji have signed a major new defence alliance, further advancing the federal government’s strategy to limit China’s influence across the Pacific region. In a surprise move, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese and his Fijian counterpart, Sitiveni Rabuka, elevated Australia’s ties with Fiji to a formal treaty alliance. |
China tests long-range missile in South Pacific
LONDON, UK, 6 July 2026 (Guardian) - China has conducted a long-range missile test in the South Pacific just hours after Australia signed a defence agreement with Fiji, sparking condemnation from Canberra and regional leaders. |
5,000-year-old wolves found on remote island
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, 5 July 2026 (SD) - Scientists discovered ancient wolves on a tiny Baltic island where they could only have been brought by humans, suggesting an unexpectedly close relationship between people and wolves thousands of years ago. Evidence indicates the wolves were fed, possibly cared for, and may even have been managed or selectively bred long before modern ideas of domestication. |
Norfolk Island's unique corals under triple threat
LONDON, UK, 4 July 2026 (Guardian) - Scientists fear unique corals that fringe Australia’s remote Norfolk Island could disappear because of a triple threat of disease, El Nino and a federal government plan to dredge a neighbouring shipping channel. A failure to manage sediment and pollution washing into bays from cattle farming, cleared land along with wastewater has been blamed for widespread disease and outbreaks of algae over the corals. |
Farewell Cape Verde - the underdogs the World Cup will never forget
MIAMI, US, 4 July 2026 (BBC) - Cape Verde may have been the World Cup's second-smallest nation, but they certainly made a big impact on the 2026 tournament. Forget Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane - it is the tournament debutants who have become the centre of attention. |
Malta's 'trial of the century'
VALLETTA, Malta, 4 July 2026 (Guardian) - On the steps of the courts of justice in Valletta, there is a bronze statue of Malta’s late president. A bundle of papers in one hand, Guido de Marco stands on a plinth, looking out at passersby in the busy street below. Every morning since Wednesday this week, his daughter has walked up the steps of the same courthouse, in dark glasses and smart clothes, a bundle of papers in her hand. A sought-after criminal lawyer, Giannella de Marco is representing the man accused of ordering the 2017 murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, in a case that continues to dominate public debate nearly nine years after the event. |
US envoy says Cook Islands minerals are a top priority
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 3 July 2026 (Reuters) - The new U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and several Pacific island nations said on Friday that securing Cook Islands seabed minerals was a top priority, and that China's push for influence in the Pacific carried risks for small island states. |
Pope urges Europe to protect migrants in visit to island frontier
LAMPEDUSA, Italy, 4 July 2026 (AFP) - Pope Leo XIV on Saturday pressed Europe to do more to protect and integrate migrants as he visited Italy's Lampedusa island, a major port of call for those risking the perilous crossing from Africa. His trip to the migration frontline was a stark message to both EU and US leaders in a period of both growing intolerance and indifference. |
New theory of smallest human
TEL AVIV, Israel, 3 July 2026 (Haaretz) - Who exactly was Homo floresiensis, the strange miniature hominins that once lived on the Indonesian island of Flores? From whom did these humans, the smallest to ever exist, descend? The riddle of their origin has been driving archaeologists crazy since their fossil remains were discovered in 2003. Initially, they were assumed to have descended from modern humans who reached the Sahel say 60,000 years ago and experienced radical island dwarfism. Then they were suggested as descendants from Homo erectus who shrank. A lot. |
Abu Dhabi’s coral promise to the future
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 3 July 2026 (IPS) - In just the first half of this year, Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency has cultivated 302,415 new coral colonies, bringing the total under the Abu Dhabi Coral Gardens Project to around 1.8 million – a scale of restoration that demands global attention. |
Australia's seagrass meadows under pressure
GLADSTONE, Australia, 3 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Australia is a global stronghold for seagrasses, the flowering plants that grow in coastal waters and bays. Seagrasses are unsung but vital ecosystem engineers: They stabilize sediments, provide habitat and food for marine species, help cleanse the water column of pollutants and sequester vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Across Australia’s waters, these undersea meadows are suffering as coasts are developed, seas are polluted and climate change continues to raise water temperatures. |
Gannet colonies could take 15 years to recover from bird flu
GLASGOW, UK, 3 July 2026 (BBC) - Gannet populations at two of the world's largest colonies are not expected to recover from the impact of 2022's bird flu outbreak for almost two decades. A new study from the RSPB said seabirds on Bass Rock, off Scotland's east coast, and Grassholm, off the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales, had suffered an "unprecedented deadly blow" during the outbreak. It led to a fourfold increase in adult gannet deaths, resulting in a 26% decrease in the size of Bass Rock's colony and a 38% fall at Grassholm. |
The battle for access to Jamaica's billion-dollar beaches
LONDON, UK, 3 July 2026 (Guardian) - On beach access in Jamaica, the battle lines are drawn. Five simultaneous civil court cases are being brought against the government and private landowners in an effort to prevent privatisation of beaches in some of the country’s most popular tourist destinations. Already, at sprawling beach resorts across the country, locals are prohibited from accessing the coastline unless they pay to join hotel guests. |
Naoshima, the Experimental Island
TOKYO, Japan, 3 July 2026 (JF) - Once in decline, Naoshima has reinvented itself through bold art projects, transforming villages, museums and landscapes into a living cultural experiment. The island, host at one time to the exiled Emperor Sutoku according to oral tradition, was in deep trouble by the late 1980s. With its population dwindling to barely 3,000, it was best known for a copper refinery and waste recycling plant. The transformation of the island began in 1992 with the opening of the upmarket hotel Benesse House by Japanese education company Benesse. A series of well-funded and supported art projects followed. |
Over 40,000 seabirds now thriving on a rat-free island
NEW YORK, US, 2 July 2026 (People) - Lundy Island off England's southwest coast is celebrating a conservation milestone after its seabird population rebounded to levels not seen in nearly a century. The island is now home to more than 40,000 seabirds, marking the island's highest bird total recorded since the 1930s. The news comes 20 years after the island was declared free of invasive rats. Among the biggest beneficiaries have been puffins, whose population has grown from just 13 birds in 2000 to 1,335 in 2026 after teetering on the brink of local extinction. Manx shearwaters have also seen dramatic recoveries, with the island now hosting 95% of England's breeding population. |
Blueprint for a climate-resilient ocean future
PLYMOUTH, UK, 3 July 2026 (WM) - A major UK research project has brought together researchers and ocean practitioners to develop practical steps which marine planners and local communities can take to protect both nature and livelihoods. Initially the team developed the most detailed analysis yet of how climate change will affect the Orkney Islands – an archipelago north of Scotland’s mainland – its marine habitats, fishing grounds, aquaculture and the coastal communities that depend on them. |
Indonesia defends high number of military in Papua
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 3 July 2026 (RNZ) - Indonesia has defended the high number of military personnel it has deployed to West Papua, which dwarfs the size of deployments to other parts of the republic. Recent research says that 56,517 Indonesian military forces are deployed in Papua - at least six times more military per capita than any other region in Indonesia. The figures also note that Indonesia's military far outnumbers the amount of Papuan pro-independence fighters, estimated at 1438 members of various disparate, small groups with only 361 firearms. |
The Puerto Rican island poisoned by the US navy
VIEQUES, Puerto Rico, 1 July 2026 (Guardian) - For decades Vieques was a bombing range, leaving a legacy of cancer clusters and unexploded munitions. Now residents fear the US military wants to reopen its bases. |
Argentina angered by prospect of oil boom in Falklands
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, 2 July 2026 (FT) - For decades, the economy of the Falkland Islands has relied mainly on squid and sheep. Now, however, the prospect of an oil boom stands to transform the tiny overseas territory - and reignite sovereignty tensions between Argentina and the UK. Construction has begun on the infrastructure needed to drill Sea Lion, an oilfield 220km to the north of the Falklands. The first oil is expected in March 2028, reaching a maximum of 50,000 barrels per day in 2032. While relatively small among offshore oil projects, Sea Lion has the potential to triple the Falklands current GDP. |
New roadmap aims to protect Indigenous knowledge for biodiversity
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 2 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Indonesia is developing a roadmap to recognize and protect Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ (IPLCs) traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation, aligning with its commitments to international frameworks. |
Sri Lanka intensifies fight against dengue
DEMATAGODA, Sri Lanka, 2 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Sri Lanka has recorded more than 56,422 dengue cases from January to July 1, adding pressure to the country’s healthcare system as the caseload continues to increase. |
Cape Verde has repeatedly defied the odds
LONDON, UK, 1 July 2026 (Conversation) - For decades, the west African island nation of Cape Verde was perhaps best known for the music of late singer Cesaria Evora. This summer, however, the Atlantic archipelago has gained fame for a different reason: football. As one of the surprise stories of the 2026 Fifa World Cup, Cape Verde has captured the imagination of fans worldwide. |
Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 1 July 2026 (Mongabay) - Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. |
Cypriot natural gas could start flowing by 2033
NICOSIA, Cyprus, 30 June 2026 (AP) - Natural gas could start flowing by 2033 out of two undersea deposits discovered by ExxonMobil off Cyprus, a senior executive with the company said Tuesday, helping to turn the east Mediterranean island nation into a new European energy hub. |
Shetland set to back plan to connect islands with undersea tunnels
LERWICK, UK, 29 June 2026 (BBC) - Undersea tunnels connecting some of the UK's most northerly islands could be in place within eight years, under plans expected to be approved by Shetland Islands Council. A feasibility study for the council proposes replacing ageing ferries with tunnels from Shetland's mainland to Yell and from Yell to Unst, describing them as "economically transformative". Two more tunnels, to the islands of Whalsay and Bressay, could follow under the plans, which are estimated to cost £1.5bn. Council leaders say the tunnels would be cheaper than building new ferries and replacing harbours. |
Academic finds diverse algae on Antarctic mission
BRISTOL, UK, 30 June 2026 (BBC) - An academic has discovered "surprisingly rich" communities of microscopic algae in one of the most remote locations on Earth. Dr Emily Broadwell embarked on a three-month expedition to Signy Island in Antarctica to study the growth of rare snow and glacier algae for her PhD at the University of Bristol. The samples revealed "unique algal communities" on different ice and snow surfaces – challenging the assumption that Antarctic glacier ecosystems will respond uniformly to global warming. |
Grieving relatives still seeking answers as US normalises ‘drug boat’ strikes
CASTRIES, St Lucia, 30 June 2026 (Guardian) - It has been more than four months since Ricky Joseph left his home for the last time. His partner, Lucille Charles, and their chidren were still asleep at home on the Caribbean island of St Lucia, when Joseph, 35, set out to sea early in the morning on 13 February to fish for tuna, ballyhoo and snapper. When Joseph failed to return hours later, Charles grew increasingly worried, calling and messaging his phone with no answer. The truth emerged in bits and pieces: media reports, rumours of an explosion – and then the news that the boat he was on had been blown up in the Trump administration’s military campaign against vessels allegedly transporting drugs to the US. |
On Santorini island winemakers try to adapt to heat and drought
SANTORINI, Greece, 29 June 2026 (Reuters) - In a vineyard on the Greek island of Santorini, winemaker Yiannis Boutaris gestures to a dried-up ‘kouloura’ vine trained into the shape of a basket to protect the grapes from the gruelling summer sun. The plant endured for 90 years but was finally killed by heat and drought. Its fate highlights a growing problem on Santorini, where low rainfall and searing temperatures from 2023-2025 have increased the price of grapes, slashed wine production and intensified concerns over water supply - an issue blighting much of Greece as climate change makes summers hotter and rainfall more erratic. |
Loss of old-growth grasslands in the San Juan Islands
BELLINGHAM, US, 29 June 2026 (WWU) - Native grasslands have shaped the ecological and cultural landscapes of the San Juan Islands for millennia, but the extent of grassland ecosystems has shrunk dramatically since the 19th century. |
My journey through 50 years of Seychelles independence
VICTORIA, Seychelles, 29 June 2026 (IPS) - On the night of 29 June 1976, just before midnight, I stood among my fellow Seychellois at the heart of a moment that would change our history forever. We were waiting for the British flag to come down and for our own flag to rise for the first time over an independent Seychelles. The air was heavy with expectation, pride, and a certain quiet anxiety: we were stepping into the unknown. |
A coastal Philippine farm offers a blueprint for farming with wetlands
PITOGO, Philippines, 29 June 2026 (Mongabay) - The Glinoga Integrated Farm in the Philippines’ Quezon province uses permaculture techniques to grow crops in harmony with the surrounding coastal ecosystem. One study looking at permaculture farms across 11 provinces in the Philippines found that Glinoga had the highest level of crop diversity among the farms it surveyed. |
How a tiny Caribbean island made American independence possible
CHARLESTON, US, 30 June 2026 (Conversation) - I’m a historical archaeologist, and for eight years earlier in my career, I lived on St. Eustatius and served as island archaeologist and founding director of the St Eustatius Center for Archaeological Research. Barely 8 square miles in size, St. Eustatius – or as residents call it, Statia – sits to the northwest of St. Kitts and Nevis. This tiny Dutch colony provided the arms and supplies the 13 American colonies needed to fight the war for independence from Britain. |
Island rodent eradication sparks remarkable invertebrate comeback
SYDNEY, Australia, 28 June 2026 (STD) - The biggest winners from Lord Howe Island’s ambitious rodent eradication program may be some of its smallest residents. A new study has revealed a surge in insects and other invertebrates after invasive rats and mice were removed from the island, offering a rare glimpse into how ecosystems respond when a long-standing predator is eliminated. |
Australia and Vanuatu sign deal barring foreign military base
LYON, France, 29 June 2026 (Euronews) - Australia and Vanuatu have signed a sweeping economic and security agreement that bars the establishment of any foreign military base on the Pacific island. Vanuatu is at the centre of strategic rivalry between China and US allies in the South Pacific and Australia has expressed concern that Beijing is seeking a permanent security presence in the region. |
Climate change has caused one-fifth of Pine Island glacier retreat
LONDON, UK, 29 June 2026 (CB) - The Pine Island glacier in West Antarctica is one of the fastest-changing glaciers in the world. Alongside its neighbour, the Thwaites glacier, it is responsible for almost half the sea level rise caused by melting ice sheets in Antarctica. Scientists know the West Antarctic ice sheet – which includes Thwaites and Pine Island – is retreating because of warm water eroding the ice sheet from below. But the extent to which this process has been driven by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, as opposed to natural variations to the Earth’s climate, remains unknown. |
Cuba's last hand
MEXICO CITY, 29 June 2026 IPS) - Ever since the Berlin Wall fell 37 years ago and the communist Eastern Bloc collapsed, Cuba has been debating economic reforms to its socialist system. Essentially, the discussion always revolves around the same issues: less state planning, more personal responsibility. In other words, a strong dose of capitalism as an antidote to inefficient and corrupt state bureaucracy. |
The Silent Metamorphosis
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, 29 June 2026 (IPS) - There is a question that is never asked plainly enough in reports on Haiti: why, despite decades of analysis, billions in international aid, and an abundance of national strategies, does the potential of Haitian youth remain so consistently underutilized? This report, The Silent Transformation, is an attempt at an honest answer. |
Hawaii is turning ocean plastic and fishing nets into roads
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 28 June 2026 (SD) - Hawaii researchers are giving old fishing nets and recycled plastic a second life by mixing them into asphalt roads. Early tests found these roads didn't release more plastic particles than standard pavement, with tire wear overwhelming any plastic signal from the recycled material. If future studies confirm the roads are durable, the technology could help tackle both marine pollution and overflowing landfills. |
How Cape Verde stunned World Cup to set up Argentina tie
LONDON, UK, 27 June 2026 (BBC) - Cape Verde have made history by becoming the smallest nation to reach the knockout stage at the World Cup. The prize for a side representing a group of 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean will be to face defending champions Argentina in the last 32. |
Toadfish cause havoc for Greek islands as tourist season begins
LONDON, UK, 27 June 2026 (Independent) - Fishermen in Greece are being paid a bounty to catch a toxic fish migrating north into the Mediterranean Sea and causing chaos for crews. The silver-cheeked toadfish is a torpedo-shaped species with prominent, humanlike teeth. The skin and organs of the fish contain a powerful neurotoxin that can cause heart failure in humans if consumed. Public concern has been increased in Greece by online videos posted by fishing crews, showing the fish, known locally as lagokefalos, sinking their teeth into cans or pieces of wood. |
Women patrol Tanzania’s Pemba waters
PEMBA, Tanzania, 27 June 2026 (Mongabay) - Patrolling the sea is not the kind of work many women on Tanzania’s Pemba Island are traditionally expected to do. Yet, for Amina Gharib Issa, it has become part of her life recently. At 55 years old, Issa has spent years around the sea, including as a fisher. But when fish stocks began dwindling and communities in Pemba introduced temporary closures, periods during which fishing is suspended to allow marine life to recover, she took on the task of helping patrol the waters to ensure the rules were respected. |
How Kenya's small-scale fishers use data to save their ocean
WASINI, Kenya, 26 June 2026 (IPS) - As the afternoon sun casts a golden glow over Mukwiro village on Wasini Island on Kenya’s Indian Ocean South Coast, Mwanasiti Mwalola, 26 and Mzungu Mohammed Dhossa, 45, stand at the community fish landing site, carefully receiving baskets of freshly caught fish from returning fishers. A weighing scale hangs before them, with a pen and notebook in their hands; the two have one duty: to collect data on the stock being delivered by artisanal fishers. |
Protecting our seabird islands
EDINBURGH, UK, 25 June 2026 (RSPB) - Scotland’s islands are home to over two million seabirds. Iconic islands including Ailsa Craig, St Kilda and the Shiant Isles provide important breeding sites for nationally and internationally important populations of seabirds such as Gannets, Puffins and European Storm Petrels. |
Asia's shark and ray hotspots remain poorly protected
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 26 June 2026 (Mongabay) - A new regional assessment has identified 122 important shark and ray areas (ISRAs) across Asia, spanning more than 1 million square kilometers (386,102 square miles) and supporting 121 species, many of them threatened with extinction. Despite their ecological importance, only 5.4% of these habitats overlap with existing marine protected areas with only 2.8% falling within fully protected no-take zones, highlighting major conservation gaps. |
The loss of TPS is a major source of stress for Haitian migrants
BINGHAMTON, US, 26 June 2026 (Conversation) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 25, 2026, that the Trump administration may revoke the temporary protected status of 350,000 Haitians. Haitian families, who for years have lived under the uncertainty of their TPS renewal, now face a new and more immediate uncertainty: What losing TPS could mean for their ability to work, remain with their families and plan for the future. Research on migration-related stress suggests that these consequences may weigh especially heavily on Haitian women. |
Russia’s push to control Arctic waterway presents challenge to Europe
LONDON, UK, 24 June 2026 (Conversation) - Norway’s defence minister, Tore Sandvik, recently warned that Russia must not be allowed to control the Bear Gap. This is a stretch of water that runs roughly 400 miles between Bear Island in the southernmost portion of the Svalbard archipelago and Cape North on Norway’s northern mainland. It serves as the geographical boundary point where the shallow Barents Sea meets the much deeper Norwegian Sea. |
Why is St Lucia running out of water?
LONDON, UK, 25 June 2026 (Guardian) - When St Lucia’s rainy season began in May, Madeleine Solomon, 55, breathed a sigh of relief. For months, she had been feeling the squeeze of an intermittent water supply that disrupted normal hygiene and food preparation, forcing families like hers to rely on water tanks, rainwater harvesting and bottled water bought from private companies. |
PNG at risk of food shortages as El Niño brings frost and drought
PORT MORESBY, PNG, 25 June 2026 (Guardian) - Families across Papua New Guinea’s Highlands are facing depleted harvests and the threat of hunger after the El Niño weather pattern brought frost and prolonged dry conditions that have destroyed food gardens providing sustenance and income for thousands of households. |
Scientists alarmed after two wildfires hit Greenland within a week
LONDON, UK, 23 June 2026 (Guardian) - Scientists have expressed concern after two wildfires broke out within a week of each other on the Arctic island of Greenland earlier this month. Fires were burning close to Sisimiut, Greenland’s second largest town and a popular tourism centre, on 14 and 15 June, satellite imagery has shown, while a second blaze hit Kujalleq, on the island’s southern tip, on 17 June. |
The snake invasion threatening Ibiza and Mallorca
LYON, France, 22 June 2026 (Euronews) - The spread of the horseshoe whip snake in the Balearic Islands has become one of the biggest threats to the islands’ biodiversity. Accidentally introduced from mainland Spain along with ornamental olive trees, this invasive snake has colonised much of Ibiza and Formentera and is driving a decline in native lizard populations. |
Tiwi rangers eradicate invasive tropical fire ants on Melville Island
DERBY, Australia, 22 June 2026 (Mongabay) - Over the last two decades, Indigenous rangers in Australia’s Tiwi Islands came together with scientists, government actors, NGOs and private enterprise to eradicate the invasive tropical fire ant species from Melville Island. The species threatens small animals, vulnerable sea turtle hatchlings and nesting birds, according to some studies. The eradication program included locating the ant nests, poisoning them at small-scale with Amdro, an insecticide bait, and then monitoring sites to ensure the eradication was complete. |
Seabed damaged by fishing showing signs of recovery
GLASGOW, UK, 22 June 2026 (BBC) - Early signs of recovery have been found on an area of protected seabed which was destroyed by illegal fishing in the Summer Isles near Ullapool. Conservationists say it shows the marine ecosystem is able to repair itself if properly shielded from trawlers and dredgers which drag their gear along the seabed to scoop up catch. |
Tracking down Taiwan's tallest trees
LONDON, UK, 23 June 2026 (Guardian) - The country’s biggest tree that reaches 84.1 metres – named Heaven Sword of the Da’an River – is a carbon-storing behemoth hosting whole neighbourhoods of wildlife. But this and other giant trees are under threat. |
Royal support to tackle Scilly housing crisis
ISLES OF SCILLY, UK, 22 June 2026 (BBC) - People living on a remote island archipelago say the construction of 10 new homes for key workers is a "big step forward". Housing leaders on the Isles of Scilly say some healthcare and education workers have to live in tents over the summer because of sky-high house prices and lack of rental properties. |
One of World Cup's great stories - can Cape Verde become legends?
LONDON, UK, 22 June 2026 (BBC) - Cape Verde's World Cup campaign will go down in history - and they are now on the cusp of going a step further. They had already produced one of the biggest shocks of all time as they drew with Spain (who were 65 places higher in Fifa's world rankings) in their tournament debut. The Blue Sharks showed their class again on the game's biggest stage on Sunday by holding two-time winners Uruguay to a thrilling 2-2 draw, and are in serious contention for a place in the knockouts. |
Cocaine bricks wash up on remote Fiji island
SUVA, Fiji, 22 June 2026 (ABC) - Locals on Fiji's Komo Island have a saying: the place is so beautiful that every day is like Christmas day. The remote islands, a full three days' sail from the capital, Suva, are like a tropical postcard, with the small population of 200 people living a simple life. But even on these islands, so far from the bright lights of any city, the small population is being drawn into a dark world they know very little about. The ABC can confirm 27 1kg cocaine bricks with "Tesla" markings have been found washed ashore in and around Komo Island area over the past few weeks. |
Green sea turtles finding way back to Xisha Islands
BEIJING, China, 22 June 2026 (CD) - In the remote Xisha island group in the South China Sea, green sea turtles are returning to the beaches where they have traditionally nested. These scattered islands, administered by China's southernmost city of Sansha, represent the country's largest and most important remaining green turtle breeding grounds, supporting roughly 90 percent of its sea turtle resources. |
Curacao keeper Eloy Room makes 15 saves
KANSAS CITY, US, 21 June 2026 (AP) - Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room made 15 saves against a relentless Ecuador attack, allowing The Blue Wave to earn a 0-0 draw against the heavily favored La Tri on Saturday night and earn the tiny island nation its first-ever World Cup point. |
Visiting the Faroe Islands? Try its viral secret driving itineraries
NEW YORK, US, 20 June 2026 (Forbes) - Last summer, the Faroe Islands launched a pilot program of self-navigating ‘secret’ car adventures for visitors. Tapping into ‘surrender-seeking’ travel, Auto Odyssey encouraged drivers to trade meticulous planning for unexpected discovery–and it went viral. The experience has garnered over 3 billion media impressions and sparked strong demand, with 37,000 travelers having used the platform to-date. Now, Visit Faroe Islands has announced an expansion of its Auto Odyssey: Self-Navigating Car Adventures, with 15 new routes across the north Atlantic archipelago, bringing the total to 45 itineraries. |
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