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Zlarin Coral Centre wins top European award
ZAGREB, Croatia, 22 April 2026 (CW) - The Croatian Coral Centre Zlarin has been awarded one of Europe’s most prestigious cultural honours, the Europa Nostra Award 2026, in the category of citizen engagement and awareness-raising. Located on the island of Zlarin and managed by the Tvrdava kulture Šibenik, the centre is dedicated to preserving and promoting the island’s long-standing coral harvesting tradition. |
In the Strait of Hormuz, an intriguing portrait of its islanders
ATLANTA, US, 22 April 2026 (CNN) - Photographer Hoda Afshar has been returning to Iran’s southern islands of Hormuz and Qeshm since 2015, photographing the land, its residents and the invisible, esoteric forces that shape life there - the winds, which locals believe to be powerful entities. |
Maldives largest floating solar array at sea
MALE, Maldives, 22 April 2026 (BW) - Swimsol's 2.4 MW SolarSea PV array, floating at sea in the Maldives, runs the island of Cheval Blanc Randheli entirely on solar during daylight hours - saving an estimated USD 1.5 million per year in diesel costs as fuel prices climb worldwide. |
Glowing ring of plankton surrounding New Zealand islands
NEW YORK, US, 21 April 2026 (LS) - A recent satellite photo captured a gleaming halo of phytoplankton encircling the remote Chatham Islands. The stunning sight is the result of a hidden underwater structure, which has also helped kill hundreds of cetaceans. |
Push for solar park in Sri Lanka's elephant terrain raises concern
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka, 21 April 2026 (Mongabay) - A state-approved solar energy park in Hambantota in southern Sri Lanka is being developed on the edge of a managed elephant range, or MER, with some land clearances overlapping with elephant ranges. Local communities are protesting the clearing of shrub forests, which are key elephant habitats, a disruption of which can result in the fragmentation of traditional elephant corridors and intensify human-elephant conflict, driving the animals toward villages and farms. |
Arrests fuel fears among Madagascar's gen Z protesters
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 20 April 2026 (Guardian) - The arrest of several protesters in Madagascar has increased fears among young people that the military regime that took power last year after huge Gen Z demonstrations will be no better than the government it overthrew. |
Maui residents are rebuilding Lahaina for locals, not tourists
LONDON, UK, 19 April 2026 (Guardian) - In March, Hawaii was hit with two back-to-back storms, bringing the worst flooding it's seen in 20 years. In Lahaina, Maui, muddy flood waters turned streets into rivers and carved new paths through the barren landscape, breaking open roads and flooding houses. In their wake, sinkholes appeared, engulfing cars. |
Fire destroys 1,000 homes in a coastal village on Borneo Island
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, 20 April 2026 (AP ) - A fire that tore through a Malaysian coastal settlement on Borneo Island destroyed about 1,000 homes and displaced over 9,000 people, authorities said. The fire started early Sunday in the Sandakan district and spread rapidly through rows of wooden houses constructed on stilts above the sea, according to the fire and rescue department. |
Yukon island shows how thawing permafrost is transforming Arctic
WHITEHORSE, Canada, 19 April 2026 (CBC) - Thawing permafrost on a small island off the Yukon’s north coast is shedding light on how climate change could dramatically affect the Arctic landscape in years to come. On Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk, an island five kilometres off Yukon’s north coast, rapid changes to the landscape are driven largely by thawing permafrost which creates slumps, says Isla Myers-Smith, a professor at the University of British Columbia. |
Sea turtles emerge as reef defenders against invasive algae
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 19 April 2026 (UH) - An invasive algae already well-established in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is raising concern among researchers as it threatens to spread into the main Hawaiian Islands. Scientists from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have identified a potential ally in slowing its advance: green sea turtles. |
Park rangers unearth 200-year-old shipwreck on remote island
NEW YORK, US, 20 April 2026 (FN) - Park rangers in Canada have uncovered a centuries-old shipwreck in a region known for many maritime disasters. The shipwreck is believed to be the Swift, a civilian vessel which sank on Sept 27 in 1812 near Sable Island en route from Bermuda to Newfoundland. |
Pacific communities are reclaiming climate solutions through nature
NAIDIRI, Fiji, 17 April 2026 (IPS) - Climate change is no longer a distant threat. Across the Pacific, it is a daily reality reshaping coastlines, livelihoods, and the delicate balance between people and the environment. But in a region long defined by resilience, solutions are not being invented from scratch. They are being remembered, strengthened, and scaled. Nature-based solutions (NbS) approaches that use ecosystems to address climate, disaster, and development challenges have always existed in Pacific communities. For generations, villages have relied on mangroves, agroforestry, and customary practices to protect their land and sustain their people. But as climate impacts intensify, the scale and speed of change demand more. |
Madagascar's ancient baobabs store 700 years of climate secrets
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, 19 April 2026 (Conversation) - Madagascar is home to seven species of baobab trees, of which six are found nowhere else on the planet. Many of the trees have been alive for well over 1,000 years. The ancient trees have become symbols of Madagascar itself. They’re also gifts to climate science. |
Animals pay the price for overcrowding and speeding jeeps
YALA, Sri Lanka, 17 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Spotting a leopard at Yala National Park, Sri Lanka’s most famous wildlife park located in the deep south, tops the list of priorities for many local and foreign wildlife enthusiasts. Block 1 of Yala National Park attracts the most number of visitors, as it is known to have the highest density of leopards, with at least one leopard per square kilometer. Due to this pressure, many visitors flock to Yala Block I all year round, with the hope of spotting one or more leopards, resulting in overcrowding, “leopard jams” and speeding jeeps, posing significant threats to its wildlife. |
Energy crisis revives push to drill in Philippines largest intact wetland
MINDANAO, Philippines, 17 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Liguasan Marsh is the largest intact wetland in the Philippines, a key area for both resident and migratory birds, and a source of livelihood for the thousands of families who live there. Since the 1990s, the marsh has been known to hold vast reserves of oil and gas, but decades of armed conflict in the region prevented exploration from progressing. |
More than 15m oysters to be released in the North Sea
LONDON, UK, 17 April 2026 (Guardian) - More than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters. The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a “trophic cascade” of climate and ecological benefits. |
Puerto Rico's rainforest center reborn: in pictures
LONDON, UK, 16 April 2026 (Guardian) - Nearly a decade ago, Hurricanes Maria and Irma tore through Puerto Rico’s El Yunque national forest, stripping its mountainsides bare and destroying virtually every structure in their paths. In the wake of those disasters, Marvel Architects reimagined El Portal, the forest’s $18m visitor’s center, with resilience front of mind. The new structure is elevated about 10 meters off the forest floor to protect against flooding and can transform into an ‘incident command post’ during natural disasters and emergencies. |
Why didn't the green lobby stand up for the Chagos islands?
LONDON, UK, 15 April 2026 (Spectator) - The credit for defeating Sir Keir Starmer’s Chagos surrender bill goes to its political opponents who waged a relentless and diligent campaign. They got almost zero help from a group that should have been even more against the bill than anyone: environmentalists. When Starmer government suggested handing over the islands to Mauritius – a nation that had campaigned against the designation of the archipelago as one of the world’s largest marine protected areas (MPAs), had partly ruined its own coral reefs, and was proposing to allow ‘traditional’ fishing in the archipelago, possibly including European fleets – I expected howls of protest from environmentalists. Instead, silence. |
This is the friendliest small town in Alaska
QUEBEC, Canada, 17 April 2026 (WA) - Kodiak's population is around 5,800 residents, and many are connected to the fishing industry or Coast Guard. The community also includes people whose ancestors have lived on Kodiak Island for thousands of years. The town's welcoming atmosphere is shaped in part by the presence of the U.S. Coast Guard Base, one of the largest Coast Guard bases in the United States. Service members and their families move from all over the world to settle here, so the local community is used to new faces. |
Cuban president vows defense of island if US invades
BONN, Germany, 16 April 2026 (DW) - Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Thursday said, "We don't want that [confrontation] but it is our duty to be ready to avoid it… and if it were unavoidable, to win it." Diaz-Canel made the remarks in Cuba's capital Havana during a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the US's failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion - a CIA-backed operation launched after US-owned properties and businesses on the island were nationalized by Fidel Castro and his fellow revolutionaries. |
In Tasmania, the mines have closed but the rivers remember
STRAHAN, Tasmania, 16 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Legacy copper mining in Tasmania, carried out for more than 100 years, has left parts of the King River ecosystem severely degraded, with scientists describing sections as “biologically dead” due to acid mine drainage and metal contamination. |
EU deforestation law nudges timber trade
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 17 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Several European timber firms have cut ties with suppliers linked to deforestation in Indonesia following a 2025 investigation, suggesting that an upcoming European Union regulation is already influencing behavior ahead of its implementation at the end of 2026. |
Vanuatu communities unite against invasive species
TANNA ISLAND, Vanuatu, 17 April 2026 (SPREP) - Invasive species like weeds and predators, like rats, ferral pigs and cats, are not just nuisances, they threaten food gardens, water sources and the delicate ecosystems that sustain island life. For families in rural Vanuatu, the unchecked growth of invasive weeds can mean reduced harvests, compromised biodiversity and weakened resilience in the face of climate and environmental pressures. |
Japan to survey Pacific island for potential HLW repository
WESTMONT, US, 16 April 2026 (ANS) - Japan will study the possibility of siting a deep geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste on the remote island of Minamitorishima, about 1,200 miles southeast of Tokyo. Masaaki Shibuya, mayor of the village of Ogasawara, reportedly expressed his willingness to allow Japan’s government to proceed with a preliminary survey, called a literature survey, of the island, which is one of several within the Ogasawara Islands. |
Pacific islands face a connectivity shock as oil prices surge
SYDNEY, Australia, 15 April 2026 (Interpreter) - Spiking global oil prices and shipping insurance costs threaten to create a connectivity crisis for the Pacific Islands region. Higher fuel and freight rates will make shipping and aviation more expensive and less frequent, undermining the transport links that underpin trade, tourism and public services. This will be felt in day-to-day life. Pacific economies rely heavily on imported fuel and long?distance transport, with about 80% of their energy supply and most electricity generation coming from petroleum products. When oil and insurance costs rise, so do food and transport prices, utility charges, and the cost of all imported goods. |
Islandness: The case for a place-based approach to conservation
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 7 April 2026 (Earth.Org) - In ecology, islands have long been considered as perfect natural laboratories due to their distinctive features. Among them: their geographical isolation, their replicability, and, most interestingly, their disproportionate level of biodiversity. Indeed, whilst representing only 5.3% of Earth’s land area, islands host around 20% of its terrestrial species. But beyond their ecological features, islands are also socio-cultural laboratories, hosting 27% of human languages and a huge diversity of culture and practices. |
Cuba could beat US energy blockade
LONDON, UK, 15 April 2026 (Guardian) - Cuba could beat the US’s crippling energy blockade for ever with just an $8bn investment in renewable energy. And the rest of the world should pay for it. Those are the bold claims of a thinktank analysis of the embattled socialist republic’s energy policy, which claims that Cuba could show its Caribbean neighbours the way to a green energy future. |
Tuvalu to host world leaders before Cop31 summit
LONDON, UK, 15 April 2026 (Guardian) - Tuvalu, the Pacific nation at the forefront of the global climate crisis, will host a special meeting of world leaders before this year’s Cop31 summit, as the conference president expresses “complete faith” in Chris Bowen to lead tough negotiations. |
Marshall Islands lead new push to protect Pacific reefs
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 15 April 2026 (PMN) - In the clear waters of Ailuk Atoll in the Marshall Islands, underwater cameras are picking up something rare in today’s oceans: large numbers of sharks and Napoleon wrasse moving through healthy coral reefs. |
Bohol Island is home to one of the world’s smallest primates
LONDON, UK, 15 April 2026 (IFL) - A gathering of mysterious cones dots the horizon of Bohol Island in the Philippines. These natural geological features formed over millions of years and their appearance changes with the seasons, which is where their name “Chocolate Hills” comes from. There are thought to be between 1,200 to 1,700 Chocolate Hills spread across Bohol. Some of them stand at 120 meters (394 feet) tall, while others are a mere 30 meters (98 feet). Speaking of small things, Bohol is also home to tarsiers, one of the world’s smallest primates. |
Invasive ferrets removed from an island in a world-first
BELFAST, Northern Ireland, 15 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Rathlin Island off the north of Northern Ireland is now free from feral ferrets that were harming its native seabirds. Conservationists say this is the first time these nonnative animals, which were domesticated from polecats some 2,000 years ago, have been completely eradicated from any island. |
Stewart Island solar farm could be running by Christmas
INVERCARGILL, New Zealand, 8 April 2026 (WOI) - Stewart Island could have its long-awaited solar farm operational by Christmas, with construction potentially starting as early as June, officials say. The island's 480 residents currently rely entirely on diesel for electricity and are facing steep price increases due to Middle East conflicts driving up fuel costs. Southland Mayor Rob Scott said the council is exploring ways to fast-track the $15 million government-funded project by classifying it as emergency works under the Resource Management Act. |
'Rediscovered' species spotlight importance of Indigenous knowledge
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 15 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Two species of marsupial thought by scientists to be extinct for thousands of years still live in the forests of Indonesian Papua on the island of New Guinea, according to recently published research. One of the animals, the ring-tailed glider, is sacred to the Tambrauw people, and it’s part of a newly proposed genus, Tous, borrowing the Tambrauw name for the glider. The other animal, a pygmy long-fingered possum, was discovered during a mammal-watching trip on the Bird’s Head Peninsula. |
A reforestation corridor in Madagascar offers a future for lemurs and locals
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 14 April 2026 (Mongabay) - A reforestation corridor project aims to reconnect 150 hectares of fragmented forest between Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Special Reserve, home to a dozen lemur species and many other animals and plants that are found nowhere else on Earth. |
Philippines accuses Chinese fishermen of dumping cyanide
LONDON, UK, 13 April 2026 (BBC) - The Philippines has accused Chinese fishermen of dumping cyanide in waters around the Spratly Islands, a fiercely contested area in the South China Sea. Manila described the alleged poisoning as an act of "sabotage" on Monday, intended to "kill local fish populations" and deprive Filipino troops stationed at Second Thomas Shoal of a crucial food source. |
Cuban farmers bear the brunt of Trump's pressure campaign
ARTEMISA, Cuba, 13 April 2026 (Guardian) - In Artemisa, Cuba’s rural heartland just south of Havana, many farmers survive on scarce meals, unable to afford essentials, while cuts to the state procurement system – under which the government buys farmers’ products – leave crops to rot in the fields. The crisis, worsened by post-Covid inflation and US sanctions, drives some towards illegal charcoal trading or migration, as families split to survive. |
Scientists just debunked a 50-year myth about Hawaii's birds
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 14 April 2026 (SD) - A new study from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa is overturning a decades-old belief that Indigenous Hawaiians hunted native waterbirds to extinction. Instead, researchers found no scientific evidence supporting this claim and propose a more complex explanation involving climate change, invasive species, and shifts in land use - many occurring before Polynesian arrival or after traditional stewardship systems were disrupted. |
Solomons vanishing islands: Walande and Fanalei
SUVA, Fiji, 14 April 2026 (PINA) - At low tide, just off the coast of South Malaita in the Solomon Islands, a few wooden posts emerge from the waters. They aren’t easy to miss – although weathered, fragile, and half-submerged. But for the people of Walande, those posts are more than debris. They are the last visible remains of a once-thriving artificial island that over 800 people once called home. |
Why the Isle of Eigg hatched a plan to grow its own trees
GLASGOW, UK, 12 April 2026 (BBC) - A tiny Hebridean island is growing tens of thousands of trees to create a sustainable supply of wood for fuel and to support natural habitats. Eigg has no mains power and its population of about 80 people rely on small renewable electricity schemes and stoves to light and warm their homes. Over about the last five years, islanders have planted more than 50,000 trees grown from seeds collected from the island's woods and a forestry plantation. |
At least 30 feared dead in crush at Haitian tourist site
LONDON, UK, 12 April 2026 (BBC) - At least 30 people are feared to have been killed in a stampede at a popular tourist site in Haiti. The incident took place on Saturday during an annual Easter gathering at the Laferrière Citadel, a Unesco World Heritage site, Jean Henri Petit, head of civil protection for Haiti's Nord department, said, warning the death toll could yet rise. |
Informal settlements grapple with climate extremes in Pacific Islands
SYDNEY, Australia, 13 April 2026 (IPS) - A rising cycle of poverty and extreme weather threatens many towns and cities, especially those situated on coastlines, in the Pacific Islands. Urban centres in the Pacific have grown at an unprecedented rate this century, rapidly straining national resources for urban planning. But governments are now making progress on improving people’s lives in the informal settlements that dominate the urban sprawl in some of the region’s largest cities. |
Repeated failures expose gaps in nickel waste management
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 13 April 2026 (Mongabay) - A deadly 2026 landslide in Indonesia’s Morowali nickel hub highlights risks in “dry stack” waste systems, which can still liquefy under poor conditions. Indonesia’s booming nickel industry generates massive volumes of toxic waste, with dry stack or “filtered” tailings promoted as safer than the typical wet sludge, but often poorly implemented. Experts cite design flaws, weak oversight, and challenging local conditions, including rainfall and seism activity, as key factors behind repeated failures. |
Taiwan's return to Pacific Islands Forum
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 11 April 2026 (TN) - Taiwan’s return to the Pacific Islands Forum in 2026 should not be read as a simple diplomatic comeback. It is better understood as a rare inflection point in Pacific regionalism - one that gives Taipei a chance to reposition itself from a politically contentious presence to a consistently useful partner in the Blue Pacific’s long-term development agenda. |
Researchers look into island's health benefits
LONDON, UK, 8 April 2026 (BBC) - Scientists are to monitor people on the Isle of Wight to explore the potential health and wellbeing benefits of its parks, forests and beaches. The team aims to find out how people are using the spaces and what it is about them that makes them feel better. |
UK shelves Chagos deal after Trump opposition
LONDON, UK, 10 April 2026 (BBC) - Sir Keir Starmer has shelved his Chagos Islands deal amid worsening relations with Donald Trump after the US failed to formally confirm its approval. Trump had urged Starmer to scrap the deal despite earlier expressing support for the treaty. In January the president called the plan an "act of total weakness". UK government officials have said they are not entirely abandoning the agreement - which would hand sovereignty of the British territory to Mauritius - but have run out of time to pass legislation before Parliament is prorogued in the coming weeks. |
Cuba's doctors were a lifeline for the world
LONDON, UK, 11 April 2026 (Guardian) - Cuban doctors, emissaries of one of the world’s most besieged nations, are being expelled from host nations, contracts terminated, health programmes dismantled. And, in their absence, the poorest will pay – in untreated illnesses, unattended births, undiagnosed cancers. The region is, in effect, amputating its own lifeline – under pressure from the US. |
Plans to move residents off Cocos (Keeling) Islands walked back
CARNARVON, Australia, 11 April 2026 (ABC) - The federal government has released its final plan to combat sea level rise on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The document softens the draft recommendation of a "long-term managed retreat" and promises greater community consultation. |
China seized an island while the world is watching Iran
JERSEY CITY, US, 11 April 2026 (Forbes) - While the world watches islands in the Persian Gulf, China has seized an island in the South China Sea without firing a shot. Beijing's dredgers have been hard at work developing an artificial island 400 kilometers off Vietnam's coast with astonishing speed. Even more shocking is that the world has largely ignored China's blatant power grab. |
Mass drowning of chicks puts emperor penguins at risk of extinction
LONDON, UK, 9 April 2026 (BBC) - The mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks as sea ice is melted by the climate crisis has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to declare the species officially in danger of extinction. Emperor penguins rely on “fast” ice – sea ice that is firmly attached to the coast – for nine months of the year. It is where their fluffy chicks are hatched and grow until they have their waterproof feathers. Adults moult every year and also need a safe haven while their swimming feathers regrow. |
Little corellas are terrorising Kangaroo Island
SYDNEY, Australia, 9 April 2026 (Guardian) - Thousands of little corellas that have been terrorising the inhabitants of Kangaroo Island have been culled but it won’t be enough to fix the problem, authorities say. The birds, which are not native to the island, have covered a local school in faeces, torn up infrastructure, damaged crops and caused mental distress to residents with their screeching. |
Sulawesi vine used as medicine now signals ecological decline
SUMALATA, Indonesia, 9 April 2026 (Mongabay) - The beach morning glory vine is widely used as a traditional medicine in the north of Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island, and in many tropical coastal communities to treat common complaints, and by fishers to treat stings from venomous fish. In addition to its medicinal use, the plant, also known as bayhops, reinforces beaches by binding sand dunes, increasing the resilience of global coastlines to risks of abrasion and erosion. |
Falklands launches consultation on proposed NNRs
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 9 April 2026 (MercoPress) - The Falkland Islands Government has launched a public consultation to seek views on its proposal to designate or expand National Nature Reserves (NNRs). The proposal seeks to designate 10 new NNRs and expand 5 existing ones. |
Bali leaders crack down on pollution
DENPASAR, Bali, 8 April 2026 (Bali Sun) - Talk of trash is intense this week in Bali…more intense than usual. The island’s longstanding issues with waste management impact both local communities and visiting tourists, and it is an issue that has even hit international headlines. With the island’s biggest open landfill set to close in a matter of months, some big changes are necessary. It’s going to take a collective effort. |
Booklet aiming to explain island culture published
ST HELIER, Jersey, 7 April 2026 (BBC) - A new booklet has been published to help people understand Jersey's constitution, economy, culture and environment. The brochure, titled Jersey - a small island making big waves, was part of 48 recommendations from the Island Identity Report in 2021. The report said an informational guide could be used by visitors, travelling sports teams and officials representing the island overseas. |
This once-lawless UK island is now a place to disconnect
WASHINGTON, US, 7 April 2026 (Nat.Geog) - Lundy is three miles long, half a mile wide and 12 miles off the coast of England. It’s one of the UK’s most remote inhabited islands - continue west and the next land mass is Canada. There are no roads, no cars and therefore no pollution. There are no street lights and the electricity turns off at midnight, plunging the island into a kind of darkness that’s almost extinct on the mainland. |
Renewable energy economics of the San Juan Islands
FRIDAY HARBOUR, US, 6 April 2026 (The Journal) - Utility-scale solar energy installations are being proposed for the San Juan Islands in the northwest corner of Washington state. While renewable energy is generally desired among the islanders, it is important to recognize the economics of solar energy. |
Cyprus wants British sovereign bases deal remodeled
BRUSSELS, Belgium, 7 April 2026 (Euractiv) - Cyprus has the full weight of the EU behind its demand for talks to end British sovereign control over key strategic military bases at Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island. Spelling trouble ahead for Sir Keir Starmer and risking the ire of Donald Trump, Nicosia’s legal game plan is modelled on the controversial deal handing back control of Chagos Islands, and the Diego Garcia military base, from Britain to Mauritius. |
Oman tightens controls to protect Hallaniyat Islands
DHOFAR, Oman, 7 April 2026 ( Muscat Daily) - The Environment Authority has introduced new regulations governing activities around the Hallaniyat Islands, restricting fishing, diving and research in the surrounding maritime buffer zone as part of efforts to protect biodiversity and regulate access to the environmentally sensitive area. |
From dialogue to delivery: The Pacific's climate mobility moment
BANGKOK, Thailand, 7 April 2026 (IPS) - Rising seas, intensifying storms, saltwater intrusion and shifting coastlines are the lived realities of Pacific communities today. Families are making difficult decisions about whether to stay, adapt or move. Some communities have already relocated. Others are preparing for that possibility. Many are determined to stay for as long as possible on lands that hold ancestral meaning and identity. |
Guardians of Sao Tome's rarest birds
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 7 April 2026 (BirdLife) - Hidden within the lush forests of São Tomé lives a remarkable trio of birds found nowhere else on Earth. The Dwarf Ibis, the Sao Tome Grosbeak, and the Newton's Fiscal are among the island’s most iconic endemic species and are listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Restricted to the forests of this small Gulf of Guinea island, their survival now depends on urgent conservation action. |
Cruise ship caught on reef off tiny Fiji island
LONDON, UK, 6 April 2026 (Guardian) - Salvage crews in Fiji are working to prevent an oil spill after a cruise ship ran aground off the island on which the 2000 Tom Hanks film Cast Away was filmed. The Blue Lagoon Cruises vessel Fiji Princess grounded at a reef near the uninhabited Monuriki Island on Saturday, according to Fiji’s maritime rescue agency. |
Trump could make Rice's whales exctinct
LONDON, UK, 5 April 2026 (Guardian) - Last week, unbeknown to the cetaceans, an existential moment arrived when the Trump administration made the extraordinary decision to scrap all protections for the Rice’s whale, along with other endangered marine life in the Gulf of Mexico, in service of an industry that has facilitated the overheating of our oceans and our atmosphere. It may result in the first extinction of a whale species in North American waters in 300 years. |
Scientists estimate swift parrot population has slumped to about 750
LONDON, UK, 5 April 2026 (Guardian) - They are sounds from a section of forest that no longer exists. In December and January, scientists for the Bob Brown Foundation captured the call of the swift parrot, a critically endangered migratory species. The environment campaign group says it was recorded in an area marked for clear-felling in the Wielangta forest in Tasmania’s south-east. |
Cubans study oil tanker diplomacy for signs of progress
HAVANA, Cuba, 4 April 2026 (Guardian) - When a sanctioned Russian oil tanker, the Anatoly Kolodkin, docked at Cuba's Matanzas oil terminal on Tuesday, unloading 700,000 barrels of crude, it was not immediately clear why the ship had been allowed to pass through Donald Trump’s oil blockade. Then, on Thursday, came news that Cuba was releasing 2,010 prisoners. The government framed the move as a humanitarian gesture for Holy Week, but observers were quick to link the two events – and see both as evidence that negotiations between Washington and Havana are continuing. |
World reaches milestone for nature
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 2 April 2026 (IUCN) - The international community has reached an important global milestone, with 10.01% of the ocean now officially designated within protected and conserved areas. |
Cuba to pardon more than 2,000 prisoners
HAVANA, Cuba, 3 April 2026 (AFP) - Cuba has announced plans to pardon 2,010 prisoners as a “humanitarian” gesture during Holy Week, amid heightened US pressure on the government in Havana. The announcement came days after Donald Trump eased a de facto oil blockade of Cuba by allowing a Russian tanker to deliver crude oil to the nation. |
Taiwan to strengthen Pratas islands defences
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 2 April 2026 (Reuters) - Taiwan will strengthen its defences of the Pratas as China steps up its activities around the islands which lie at the top end of the South China Sea. The Pratas, an atoll which is also a Taiwanese national park, are only lightly defended by Taiwan, and its coastguard has that responsibility rather than the military. |
A disease-free island refuge is being tapped for a koala rescue mission
LONDON, UK, 3 April 2026 (BBC) - Kangaroo Island is thought to host the world's largest chlamydia-free koala population, offering something of a living insurance policy for the species. Still, these koalas are under a pressure of their own: more than a century of isolation has left them deeply inbred and genetically fragile. |
Falkland Islands on the April 2 anniversary of 1982 war, in photos
STANLEY, Falkland Islands, 2 April 2026 (AP) - Attention in Argentina returns each April 2 to the Falkland Island, a wind-swept South Atlantic archipelago whose sovereignty Argentina has long claimed. The islands’ ties with the mainland remain limited, decades after the 1982 war with the U.K. ended in a British victory. |
New Zealand signs defence pact with Cook Islands
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 2 April 2026 (Guardian) - New Zealand and the Cook Islands have signed a defence and security declaration, ending a year-long diplomatic row that erupted after the Cook Islands struck strategic agreements with China. |
How a seabird has adapted to life in Honolulu's concrete jungle
HONOLULU, Hawaii, 2 April 2026 (AP) - Ka'iulani Murphy is quick to spot white terns flapping their wings when she's guiding Polynesian voyaging canoes across the Pacific. The birds hunt for food at sea and lay eggs on land. So traditional navigators like her, who look to the stars, waves and other elements in nature to pilot across the ocean, see the bird's presence as a sign that land is near. These days voyagers returning to Honolulu have more white terns to track than at any other time in modern history. New data shows their numbers have jumped more than 50% in the past decade - evidence the seabirds are thriving amid the concrete towers, traffic-clogged roads and Waikiki hotels in the state’s largest metropolis. |
How fuel-reliant Pacific Islands are handling the Iran war crisis
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 2 April 2026 (RNZ) - Clean energy researchers say the Middle East fuel crisis underscores the need for Pacific countries to adopt renewable energy. A new report from Zero Carbon Analytics stated around 80 percent of Pacific Islands countries' energy relies on imported oil products. The report noted that the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu have all pledged to achieve 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2035; while Tonga and Solomon Islands have set a target of 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030, and complete renewable generation by 2050. |
The Danger Islands: A risky Antarctic science expedition
BERLIN, Germany, 1 April 2026 (DW) - The Malizia Explorer departs from Ushuaia in southern Argentina for Antarctica - with sailing pro Boris Herrmann, scientists and journalists on board. Their mission? To study the protected Danger Islands and the large Adélie penguin colony there. Along the way, the expedition gathers data on currents, temperatures and possible pollutants. Despite storms, dense ice and seasickness, the team manages to land on one of the seven islands. |
State fishing village plan in Indonesian Papua sparks opposition
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 1 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Indigenous leaders in Indonesia’s South Papua province have rejected a government plan to build a state-backed fishing settlement on their ancestral land, highlighting growing tensions between national development programs and customary land rights in the country’s easternmost island. |
Oil surge sharpens calls for Indonesia to shift away from fossil fuels
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 1 April 2026 (Mongabay) - As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay for the transition. |
An invasive guava is muscling out Madagascar’s forests
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 31 March 2026 (Mongabay) - Madagascar is renowned for its lemurs, which are threatened due to hunting and deforestation. Restoring native forests to ensure their survival is critical, but once damaged, forests in Madagascar are vulnerable to takeover by invasive guava trees - whose seeds the lemurs themselves are helping to spread. |
Norwegian archipelago is an adventure-seeker's paradise
VESTERALEN, Norway, 1 April 2026 (Nat.Geog) - Deep in the Arctic Circle, Vesterålen’s archipelago of 1,330 islands, should, by rights, be a frozen tundra. But, like the neighbouring islands of Lofoten, it’s warmed by the passing Gulf Stream, which thaws the archipelago into a landscape of green mountains, fields of meadowsweet and Arctic poppies, and bone-white beaches visited year-round by orcas and sperm whales. Unlike Lofoten, though, Vesterålen remains largely off the tourist radar, and its crowd-free character combines with a wide network of hiking trails and epic coastal and mountain scenery to justify its self-given nickname: ‘a hiker’s paradise’. |
Underwater turbines are gaining government support
OXFORD, UK, 31 March 2026 (Conversation) - The UK and France are investing in tidal stream energy and plan to install at least 400 megawatts of capacity over the next decade; enough to power a city like Leeds or Amsterdam. Other countries, including Canada, the US, China and Japan, are also exploring the technology, albeit with much smaller scale projects. Despite this growing interest, a basic question remains: how much electricity can tidal currents actually produce, and where is it located? I’ve teamed up with experts from around the world to help answer those questions. In our new research, we identified more than 400 potential tidal energy sites across 19 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia. |
How Taiwan came to dominate the global chip industry
LONDON, UK, 1 April 2026 (Conversation) - One firm, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), produces more than 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductor chips. These chips are essential for smartphones, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and cutting-edge military systems. |
Stoat cull credited with rise in Orkney vole activity
LONDON, UK, 31 March 2026 (BBC) - Efforts to remove invasive stoats from Orkney have given a boost to the islands' native voles and birds of prey, according to a new report. The Orkney Native Wildlife Project report shows vole activity in spring 2025 was the highest since 2019 when a project to protect native wildlife from not-native stoats began. It also revealed the number of breeding attempts by rare hen harriers and short-eared owls - which rely on the voles as a food source - were high compared with six years ago. |
30,000 trees planted to create temperate rainforest on Isle of Man
DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, 31 March 2026 (BBC) - Part of a wide-ranging tree planting scheme on the Isle of Man has been completed ahead of schedule, with the team behind it hoping to plant 333,000 more across the island. The Manx Wildlife Trust owns three areas of temperate rainforest on the island - seeking to improve its biodiversity, flood defence and water quality through planting native trees. |
Vanuatu Indigenous leaders raise concerns over plans to build resort
LONDON, UK, 31 March 2026 (Guardian) - Indigenous community leaders in Vanuatu have raised concerns over plans by the cruise operator Royal Caribbean to build a private beach club on the island of Lelepa, arguing environmental impact assessments by the company are “incomplete” and “misleading”. |
Japan is fortifying this string of islands close to China
TOKYO, Japan, 30 March 2026 (WSJ) - For years, defense planners in Japan have watched China’s rise with alarm. Beijing’s might, from military bases to missile arsenals, looks especially menacing from their country’s southwest. A string of Japanese islands stretches across the East China Sea and stops less than 70 miles from Taiwan. Beijing’s ambitions to absorb Taiwan - and its regular displays of power encircling the self-governing island with warships, aircraft, missiles and more - have become a core security challenge for Japan. |
Women leading conservation in Timor-Leste
SUVA, Fiji, 31 March 2026 (IB) - International Women’s Day is a global reminder of the important contributions women make to their communities and the planet. In Timor-Leste, the Reloka project, supported under the Kiwa Initiative, offers a powerful example of this in action. The project, Natural Dyes as a Pathway to Boost Biodiversity and Women’s Economic Empowerment, works with women’s groups in villages such as Hatali in Ermera and Nemun in Oecusse. These communities are known for traditional weaving, and the project connects this cultural practice with biodiversity conservation. |
Trump appears to relax de facto oil blockade on Cuba
LONDON, UK, 30 March 2026 (Guardian) - Donald Trump has signalled a new flexibility in allowing oil into Cuba, hours before a Russian oil tanker under US sanctions arrived in the Caribbean island amid a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington. |
Traditional protection proves more successful for clams
TUTUILA, American Samoa, 30 March 2026 (Mongabay) - A study found that on the most populated island in American Samoa, traditional village-based protections and remote sites had the highest density of giant clams - outperforming federally designated no-take zones in one case. |
Australia embedded in the national and regional institutions of Pacific
ADELAIDE, Australia, 30 March 2026 (Conversation) - Australia has been accused of "neglect" and "stupor" when it comes to the Pacific. Some even claim Australia has "lost" the Pacific to China. But these observations overlook the sophisticated ways the Pacific countries decide who they will partner with. While there is room for improvement, Australia does a lot more than China in the Pacific. This is demonstrated by five maps from a project we are conducting to examine Pacific maritime security cooperation. |
Three Pacific island countries secure grant financing from the GCF
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 29 March 2026 (SPC) - Climate change is a key contributor to food, nutrition and livelihood insecurities across the Pacific Island countries and territories. Agricultural production systems across Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu are under increasing pressure as impacts of climate change – rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and stronger cyclones - continue to disrupt crop production, soil health and water resources. In response to these urgent challenges, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu have secured USD 42.06 million in grant financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to transform agricultural production systems and strengthen long-term food, nutrition and livelihood security. |
Party leaders pledge to fix ferries chaos and blame 'incompetence'
LONDON, UK, 30 March 2026 (BBC) - The Scottish government has been accused of "waste and incompetence" as the ferry network faces a critical shortage of ships. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, and several other party leaders, took aim at ministers as CalMac confirmed further disruption to west coast routes. Four large ferries are unavailable due to technical issues, while four other ships are undergoing annual maintenance. |
Freshwater Project for the Falkland Islands community
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 28 March 2026 (MercoPress) - According to a SAERI report, freshwater is essential to life in the Falkland Islands, supporting farming, wildlife, and the wider environment. In recent years, however, many local communities have noticed ongoing drying and are increasingly concerned about changes in freshwater availability. The Freshwater Project was established to investigate these changes by combining farmers’ on the ground knowledge with satellite-derived data. The aim is to better understand how ponds, streams, and wetlands across the Islands are changing, and how they can be managed more effectively in the future. |
The nine year island mystery of the artist who disappeared
GLASGOW, UK, 29 March 2026 (BBC) - It began as a film about a maverick artist who'd established a winter arts festival on the tiny Scottish island of Papa Westray. But it became a much stranger, sadder story which almost a decade later is told onscreen in The Artist Who Disappeared. |
Hawaii's small farmers begin recovery after catastrophic flooding
LONDON, UK, 29 March 2026 (Guardian) - Eddie Oroyan’s farm was thriving when the storms hit. He and his wife had started LewaTerra Farm last year on a gorgeous stretch of land on the north shore of Oahu. They were delivering vegetables to customers in the community, selling at farmer’s markets and to local restaurants. |
Jamaicans living in hardship after Hurricane Melissa
KINGSTON, Jamaica, 29 March 2026 (Guardian) - “Before Hurricane Melissa I could have navigated life, figured things out. But since its passage, everything has just been turned upside down,” said Kerry-Ann Vickers. Vickers was three months pregnant when Hurricane Melissa demolished parts of her home in the coastal town of Black River, in St Elizabeth, west Jamaica, last October. Nearly six months on, Vickers, 25, is still struggling to get support to rebuild her house and is distraught that her baby will arrive in a home without a secure roof. |
Maldives tells UK it does not recognise Chagos Islands deal
LONDON, UK, 28 March 2026 (BBC) - The president of the Maldives has formally told the UK that it does not recognise the deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and is threatening international legal action to press its claim of sovereignty. |
Essex is home to more than 30 islands - here's where to go
WASHINGTON, US, 28 March 2026 (Nat.Geog) - Beyond the creeks and mudflats of England’s east coast, more than 30 islands fringe Essex in a ragged chain of marshland, shingle and tidal inlets. From Mersea to Wallasea, Osea to Horsey, they feel a world apart from the county’s commuter-belt towns - places shaped by brackish water, wide horizons and the pull of the tide. Some are home to beach huts, oyster shacks and storied pubs; others are given over to seabirds and grazing marsh. Together, they reveal a quieter, wilder side of Essex, best explored slowly and with the tide tables in mind. |
Scientists recorded a sperm whale birth up close for the first time
WASHINGTON, US, 26 March 2026 (Nat.Geog) - In July 2023, Shane Gero was on a sailboat off the coast of Dominica when he and his colleagues stumbled upon a whale in labor. Gero is the Biology Lead of Project CETI, a scientific initiative to decipher sperm whale communication. That day in the Caribbean, he and his team were equipped with cameras and hydrophones to capture the fortuitous moment. |
Antarctic whales remarkable comeback is threatened by krill fishing
LONDON, UK. 27 March 2026 (Guardian) - In Antarctica, one of our planet’s last great wildernesses, a remarkable comeback is taking place. In the very same waters of the Southern Ocean where whalers slaughtered more than 2 million whales during the 20th century, pushing a number of species to the brink of extinction, populations are recovering. Humpback whales have been the fastest to bounce back since commercial whaling was banned in 1986, and populations are nearly at pre-whaling levels. |
How risky would a US assault on Iran's Kharg Island be
ATLANTA, US, 26 March 2026 (CNN) - Even as US President Donald Trump has declared the “war has been won” with Iran, amphibious warships, landing craft and thousands of Marines and sailors are being deployed to the region. The deployment has caused speculation to swirl over whether the US plans to capture Kharg Island, a coral outcrop off Iran’s coast and an economic lifeline for Tehran that handles roughly 90% of the country’s crude oil exports. Even if Washington successfully took the tiny but strategic island, experts have questioned whether this would give the US enough leverage to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid a spiraling global energy crisis. |
The ongoing territorial dispute between Vanuatu and New Caledonia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, US, 26 March 2026 (Diplomat) - In November 2025, France and Vanuatu concluded their first round of new formal negotiations, a bid to solve their longstanding territorial dispute over Umaenupne (Matthew) and Umaeneg/Leka (Hunter) islands (collectively “the MHIs”), two islets located near Vanuatu and New Caledonia, a French territory. A second round of discussions is scheduled for the first half of 2026. |
Caribbean leaders prepare for global push on fossil fuel phase-out
CASTRIES, St Lucia, 27 March 2026 (IPS) - As the world edges closer to breaching key climate thresholds, Caribbean policymakers, scientists and civil society leaders gathered in Saint Lucia this month to coordinate the region’s position ahead of a landmark global meeting on transitioning away from fossil fuels. |
What Japan's missile plan for remote Pacific island reveals
HONG KONG, 26 March 2026 (SCMP) - Japan is reportedly planning to deploy advanced anti-ship missiles on Minamitorishima, the country’s easternmost island, as it moves to enhance its defence posture against what it perceives as rising Chinese military activity in the region. |
Faroe Islands vote as Greenland faces geopolitical crosswinds
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, 26 March 2026 (Euractiv) - The Faroe Islands elects its new legislature on Thursday as the small North Atlantic archipelago reconsiders its ties with Copenhagen. Home to around 55,000 people, most of North Germanic descent, the islands are, like Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory under Denmark. But despite its strategic location in the north of the British Isles, the election campaign in the island nation has had little to do with the stormy geopolitical weather otherwise troubling neighbouring Greenland. |
Palm oil clearing advances in Bornean orangutan habitat
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 26 March 2026 (Mongabay) - A palm oil firm has cleared more than 3,000 hectares (7,500 acres) of forest inside a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Indonesian Borneo, threatening areas identified as orangutan habitat. The concession overlaps with a wildlife corridor linking two national parks, raising concerns over habitat fragmentation and increased human-orangutan conflict. |
'Coral houses' are dotted throughout the Pacific
SYDNEY, Australia, 26 March 2026 (Conversation) - The Mangareva Islands are about 1,600 kilometres southeast of Tahiti in French Polynesia. They get their name (which means “floating mountains”) from the way the sea spray breaking on the surrounding coral atolls, or motu, causes the ancient volcanic peaks to appear as if they are floating above the waves. Today, the islands are home to about 2,000 people, many of whom work on the pearl farms in the idyllic turquoise lagoon. Dotted across the islands are the remains of dozens of remarkable pieces of architecture: homes built from coral. |
New Island could become a model for large-scale ecosystem recovery
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 26 March 2026 (MercoPress) - Falklands Conservation recently secured a £3m fund to help restore the natural ecosystem on New Island. The funding came through the Darwin Plus scheme, run by the UK Government to support biodiversity in British Overseas Territories. The ambitious restoration project on New Island, one of the region’s wildest western outposts is to remove invasive predators that have put the island’s native species at risk. |
Sri Lankans choke on bad air: authorities cite transboundary pollution
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 25 March 2026 (Mongabay) - On certain days, Colombo's skyline is barely visible. This is due to a thick haze that envelops Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, resulting in low air quality conditions. The fouled air is making people tear and cough more without knowing what causes such irritation. |
Marcos promises 'flow of oil' as Philippines declares energy emergency
MANILA, Philippines, 24 March 2026 (BBC) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos says he is working to secure new sources of oil after he placed the country under a state of national energy emergency in response to the war in Iran. Marcos told Filipinos in a televised address that the government would procure one million barrels of oil to add to the current stock, which is good for 45 days. The Philippines, which imports 98% of its oil from the gulf, became the first country to declare an energy emergency after local diesel and petrol prices more than doubled in the country since the war broke out on 28 February. |
Pacific islands resist Trump's push to mine their ocean
LONDON, UK, 24 March 2026 (DE) - The Northern Marianas, Guam and American Samoa share concerns that deep-sea mining could irreversibly damage their marine ecosystems, which are some of the world’s most biodiverse. Such fears are shared by several scientists and conservation groups. |
A tiny Caribbean island faces wildlife showdown
TERRE-DE-HAUT, France, 25 March 2026 (AFP) - There are as many goats as humans on the island and, while they charm the tourists as they roam on the beaches and graze in the gardens, there is a darker side to this uncontrolled feral herd. They ravage protected areas, munch through vegetation and destroy the habitats of other animals - some of which are endangered and endemic to Terre-de-Haut and other islands in Les Saintes archipelago. Officials on the island chain, which is part of the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, are now considering drastic action. |
China's deep-sea mining fleet may also track US submarines
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 24 March 2026 (Mongabay) - A Mongabay and CNN investigation found the eight Chinese state-owned ships that conduct deep-sea mining research in China’s mining areas allocated by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) actually spent little time in these exploration areas, while spending much of their remaining time operating in militarily strategic waters. |
At sea with the Antarctic's krill supertrawlers
LONDON, UK, 24 March 2026 (Guardian) - I am in the waters off Coronation Island in the South Orkney Islands, a glaciated 25-mile finger of jagged mountain slopes a day’s sail from the Antarctic peninsula. It is as isolated as a place can be. Yet Sea Shepherd contends that it is the site of one of the most inaccessible and environmentally ruinous industrial workplaces on Earth. |
Chile's endemic seals gain protection with new marine park
LONDON, UK, 23 March 2026 (Guardian) - Sixty years after the discovery of a small colony of 20 endemic fur seals, previously thought to be extinct, was confirmed on Robinson Crusoe Island, one of the Juan Fernández archipelagos’ three islands - named after Daniel Defoe’s fictionalised tale of the real-life sailor Alexander Selkirk, who was marooned there from 1704 to 1709 - a landmark agreement extends ‘no take’ zone around the wildlife-rich archipelago. |
Tonga PM welcomes US deal to explore deep-sea minerals
NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga, 24 March 2026 (Guardian) - The recently elected leader of Tonga, Lord Fakafanua, has described a deal to partner with the US on deep-sea mineral exploration as an “exciting development” amid concern in the small Pacific nation over the practice of seabed mining and the potential environmental impact. |
Songbird trade threatens lesser-known ‘master birds’ with secondary extinctions
OXFORD, UK, 23 March 2026 (Mongabay) - Master birds are used in songbird competitions in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world to “teach” competitors elements of their songs. This trade, largely unknown and under-researched, is pushing some species to the brink of extinction. A recent market study investigated the trade in crested jayshrikes, a popular master bird in Indonesia, and discovered rampant trade: This bird was sold openly across the country, despite its protected species status. The trade in master birds has driven serious declines of numerous species in the wild, including the Javan green magpie. |
Why Iona in the Inner Hebrides is the ultimate modern pilgrimage
WASHINGTON, US, 24 March 2026 (Nat.Geog) - People seeking a spiritual escape often instinctively make for far-flung places: to the ashrams of India, the ayahuasca retreats of the Amazon or the mossy gardens of the Balinese hills. But the British Isles also has its own deep history of spiritual retreats; of early Christian saints who withdrew to windswept places along the Atlantic shore. Foremost among them was Iona, a rocky, near-treeless landmass in the Inner Hebrides that served as a first foothold of Christianity in early medieval Britain. |
How an island became ferret free
BELFAST, NI, 23 March 2026 (BBC) - In a world-first, Rathlin Island has eradicated ferrets - and residents have a special conservation dog to thank. The non-native predator was introduced to the island in the 1980s and has wreaked havoc on the internationally-significant breeding seabird colony. More than 400 traps were laid across the island as part of a five-year, £4.5m Life Raft project, which has also targeted rats. But crucial to the fight to save the seabirds was Woody, the red fox labrador specially trained detect the species. |
Cyprus leader calls for frank discussion on 'colonial' UK bases
LIMASSOL, Cyprus, 19 March 2023 (BBC) - The UK's two military bases on Cyprus are a "colonial consequence" on the island and talks on their status and future need to take place, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said as he arrived for an EU leaders' summit in Brussels. |
Denmark planned to blow up Greenland runways if US invaded
LONDON, UK, 19 March 2026 (BBC) - Danish soldiers flown to Greenland in January were prepared to blow up key airport runways over fears that US President Donald Trump could invade the Arctic island, Denmark's public broadcaster DR says. Citing sources in the Danish government and military, and also among European allies, DR says blood supplies were also brought in to treat the wounded in the event of fighting. |
Barclay family legacy is an island of rack and ruin
SARK, Channel Islands, 22 March 2026 (Telegraph) - In the Channel Islands, 80 miles off the south coast of England, lies Sark. Three miles long, home to 550 people and free of street lights, cars and income tax, the island is a haven for the super-rich and escapists alike. It features a stunning coastline and is home to a tight-knit community. Yet the story of this island is inextricably linked to the legacy of its most infamous residents: the Barclays. Once one of Britain’s wealthiest families, led by brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick, the Barclays’ debt-fuelled bubble has now burst. And Sark is suffering. |
'Break the taboo' as cartels target island communities
AUCKLAND, New Zealand, 23 March 2026 (PMN) - The Pacific is facing a growing drug crisis and experts say silence is making it worse. As international cartels use the region as a "superhighway" to move drugs to New Zealand and Australia, communities across the islands are seeing the impact, especially among young people. Associate Minister for Police, Casey Costello, says the social harm caused by this illicit trade is estimated to cost New Zealand around NZ$1.5 billion. |
Wealth tax poses ‘existential threat’ to Channel Island
SARK, Channel Islands, 23 March 2026 (Telegraph) - Sark is considering watering down its status as a tax haven to safeguard its finances. The proposal has sparked an outcry from some of Sark’s wealthiest residents, fuelled by fears it could trigger an exodus of the super-rich. Chief Pleas, the government of Sark, is exploring the wealth tax as part of an effort to raise funds for public services. However, the island is also wrangling with the legacy left by the Barclay family, which still owns a fifth of the island and is scrambling to avoid bankruptcy. |
The ocean's enforcement gap
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 23 March 2026 (Mongabay) - Governments have designated vast marine protected areas and pledged to conserve 30% of the ocean by 2030, enforcement often lags behind these commitments. Research shows that the ecological benefits of marine protected areas depend less on their size than on whether rules are visible, monitored, and enforced. New tools - such as satellite imagery, vessel-tracking systems, and data analytics - are making it easier and cheaper to detect illegal fishing and focus enforcement efforts. As monitoring improves, the future of ocean conservation may depend less on creating new protected areas than on ensuring existing rules are consistently applied. |
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