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K'gari’s unique ancient lakes once dried out. Could this happen again?
ADELAIDE, Australia, 3 December 2025 (Conversation) - The lakes on the world’s biggest sand island, K'gari, are famous. Pivotal to the World Heritage Listing of the Queensland island formerly known as Fraser Island, their turquoise waters feature in international tourism campaigns and social media posts. |
Chinese and Japanese boats face off near disputed islands
LONDON, UK, 2 December 2025 (BBC) - China's Coast Guard said on Tuesday that a Japanese fishing vessel had illegally entered the waters of the Diaoyu Islands - which Tokyo calls the Senkaku Islands. China claims them as their territory, despite the islands being administered by Japan. Japan's Coast Guard, meanwhile, said it intercepted and expelled two Chinese Coast Guard ships as they approached the fishing vessel. |
What happened after 131 cats were removed from a Japanese island
NEW DELHI, India, 2 December 2025 (IDR) - In the Ogasawara Islands, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, scientists carried out a bold experiment. They removed 131 feral cats in an urgent attempt to save one of Japan’s rarest birds - the red-headed wood pigeon. Within three years, the birds’ numbers surged. But that was only the start. What happened next shook decades of assumptions in conservation biology. Instead of succumbing to inbreeding depression, the critically endangered pigeon began a dramatic recovery from fewer than 80 individuals. |
Danish port exploring large-scale maritime electrification
BORNHOLM, Denmark, 2 December 2025 (OW) - The study, Energy Island Bornholm Powering Maritime Electrification, examines how renewable power production and future grid capacity can support charging solutions for electric ferries, cargo vessels and offshore service vessels, with an aim to help shipowners invest in battery-powered fleets and advance the decarbonisation of European transport beyond road electrification, according to Stillstrom. |
Palm oil firm razes orangutan habitat in Borneo
KAPUAS HULU, Indonesia, 2 December 2025 (Mongabay) - Indigenous Dayak communities report wildlife encroaching into villages, land grabbing, and loss of cultural and livelihood resources as a palm oil company begins clearing forests on their customary lands - in some cases without consent or even prior notification. PT Equator Sumber Rezeki (ESR) has already cleared nearly 1,500 hectares (3,700 hectares) of rainforest inside this region that’s designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and orangutan habitat, with much of the deforestation occurring this year and signaling far more destruction to come. |
Is AI a threat or an opportunity for small islands?
LONDON, UK, 1 December 2025 (ODI) - The boom in Artificial Intelligence provides countless opportunities for SIDS to leapfrog previous development challenges - with nations like Trinidad and Tobago, the Maldives, Mauritius and more already innovating on unprecedented scales. Small islands need to take full advantage of the opportunities on offer as quickly as possible - but could this so-called digital utopia lead to more harm than good? |
Death toll in Indonesia floods passes 500
LONDON, UK, 1 December 2025 (BBC) - The death toll in the floods which struck Indonesia last week has now climbed to more than 500, with rescue workers still battling to reach affected areas. The floods, which were caused by a rare cyclone that had formed over the Malacca Strait, have hit three provinces and impacted some 1.4 million people, according to the government's disaster agency. |
St Lucia votes in election
CASTRIES, St Lucia, 1 December 2025 (Guardian) - Voters in St Lucia have gone to the polls to elect a new legislature and choose their prime minister, in a race dominated by debates over economic management, violent crime and passport sales. |
How the Maldives became (surprisingly) accessible
LONDON, UK, 1 December 2025 (BBC) - Over the past decade, a quiet revolution has unfolded across the Maldives. Government reforms have allowed Maldivians to open guesthouses on inhabited islands, breaking a long-standing rule that once confined tourism to unpopulated resort enclaves. The result has been transformative: more than 1,200 guesthouses now operate across 90 local islands, according to the Maldives' Ministry of Tourism. Travellers can experience the country's everyday culture, and, for the first time, local families can earn directly from the industry that powers their economy. |
COP30 fails the Caribbean's most vulnerable, leaders say
CASTRIES, St Lucia, 1 December 2025 (IPS) - Caribbean small island states say this year’s UN climate conference has once again failed to deliver the urgency and ambition needed to tackle escalating climate devastation across the region. From slow-moving climate finance to frustrating political gridlock, leaders say COP30 did not reflect the realities that small islands are living through every day. |
UKOTs wildlife hotspots to benefit under new strategy
LONDON, UK, 1 December 2025 (UKOT) - For first time UK government and all our Overseas Territories unite behind a joint ambitious and actionable biodiversity strategy. This strategy is published as leaders from the UK Overseas Territories and UK Ministers gathered in London for the Joint Ministerial Council. UK’s Overseas Territories are home to 94% of the UK’s unique species and a quarter of the world’s penguins. In total over 1,800 endemic species live in the Overseas Territories. |
First Nations threaten to end Carney's pipe dream
TORONTO, Canada, 28 November 2025 (Guardian) - The Canadian PM’s breakthrough oil deal with Alberta cost him a cabinet minister and will still face stiff opposition. When the people of the Haida nation won a decades-long battle for recognition that an archipelago off the coast of British Columbia in Canada was rightfully theirs, it was a long overdue victory. The unprecedented deal with the provincial and the federal governments meant the Haida no longer had to prove that they had Aboriginal title to the land of Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai, "the islands at the boundary of the world." |
The world's longest cable car is 5 miles long across beautiful island
LONDON, UK, 29 November 2025 (Express) - Imagine a view of beautiful blue seas and lush greenery from above, that's exactly what you get when travelling across the world's longest cable car. The incredible car takes passengers five miles across some of Asia's most beautiful scenery, allowing them to admire the idyllic paradise that Vietnam has to offer. The journey starts at An Thoi, Phu Quoc Island, and travels over smaller islands such as Hon Dua and Hon Roi before landing on Hom Thom Island, located off the southern coast of Phu Quoc. |
PPC installs new dual-fuel gas turbines across the Greek islands
BUDAPEST, Hungary, 28 November 2025 (CEENERGYNEWS) - Five new flexible gas turbine units were commissioned in the PPC Group’s power plants on Rhodes and Crete during the summer. Additionally, another gas turbine is scheduled to begin operation on Chios before the end of the year, increasing the total additional installed capacity of the new units to over 220 megawatts (MW). |
Sri Lankan island fights back against the threat of mineral extraction
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 28 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Mannar Island, home to seagrass beds, migratory bird pathways, and diverse ecosystems is facing risk from deep sand mining that could destabilize its low-lying terrain and mineral-rich soil. Around 70,000 residents, including more than 22,000 fishers, live on the island, which has swathes of paddy and coconut plantations. Locals fear sand mining would disrupt livelihoods and offer minimal economic benefits. |
The battle for Truwana
LAUNCESTON, Australia, 29 November 2025 (ABC) - It’s March 2005. Denise Gardner sits in Tasmania’s Parliament House, awaiting the fate of her island home. The “pollies” are debating whether to return the Tasmanian outposts of Cape Barren and Clarke islands to the Aboriginal community. “Your heart’s just thumping all the time,” Denise says now. The debate draws impassioned arguments from both sides. Those against argue land return is divisive, promoting “reverse discrimination”. Those in favour push for a “small but incredibly important step in the healing and reconciliation process”. |
The Indonesian island that supplies hundreds of priests for the world
ALABAMA, US, 29 November 2025 (EWTN) - Roughly 500 miles east of Bali lies the island of Flores, a vocational powerhouse that supplies seminarians not only to Indonesia but also to Catholic communities around the world. Catholicism first arrived here in the 16th century, when Portuguese spice traders brought missionaries to the rugged, mountainous island. Today, the faith is deeply rooted, with more than 80% of the island’s 2 million people being Catholic. |
Potential fixed link to Vancouver Island
VICTORIA, Canada, 24 November 2025 (GBC) - We often get asked about the possibility of a fixed link between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Several preliminary studies of this concept were conducted during the 1980s, however no comprehensive engineering studies have been done that confirm the feasibility of a fixed link. The studies identified a number of potential crossing locations, connecting the Lower Mainland to the Nanaimo or Duncan areas of Vancouver Island. |
Solar-lit fishing nets cut sea turtle bycatch by 63%
BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico, 28 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Researchers from U.S. and fishers from Mexico’s Gulf of California have developed solar-powered LED buoys that attach to gill nets to help reduce sea turtle bycatch by 63%. The floating devices recharge in sunlight and can operate for over five days without light, addressing cost and waste concerns associated with traditional battery-powered lights and single-use chemical light sticks. |
For generations, Manggarai farmers on Flores practiced agroforestry
FLORES, Indonesia, 28 November 2025 (Mongabay) - In Indonesia’s Flores highlands, the Manggarai people once practiced diverse agroforestry that blended farming with forest care - traditions carried in hundreds of specialized words for crops, tools and rituals. A new study recorded 253 of these agroforestry terms now at risk of disappearing as monoculture farming, tourism and forest loss reshape Manggarai’s landscapes and livelihoods. |
St Vincent opposition party celebrates historic election win
LONDON, UK, 28 November 2025 (Guardian) - The New Democratic party (NDP) in the Caribbean country of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is celebrating a historic landslide victory, taking 14 of 15 seats, according to preliminary results. The decisive vote was a crushing defeat for the Unity Labour party (ULP), which has been in power since 2001. |
Aruba to dismantle historic San Nicolas oil refinery
SAN NICOLAS, Aruba,10 November 2025 (CC) - The oil refinery in San Nicolas - once the largest in the world - will be dismantled and redeveloped into a sustainable and inclusive zone after full environmental remediation. The announcement was made today by Prime Minister Mike Eman in the presence of Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. The refinery played a crucial role during World War II, serving as one of the main fuel suppliers for the Allied forces. |
Scientists are racing to save Madagascar's iconic chameleons
CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, Madagascar, 18 November 2025 (Vox) - The flames were close. Moving like lava across the rolling hills, just a few miles away, a wildfire lit up the night sky with orange smoke. I watched the fire from the edge of a dense forest in central Madagascar, a few hours northwest of Antananarivo, the country’s capital. It’s a special spot. This is one of the last remaining forests in the highlands of central Madagascar - a region devastated by decades of deforestation - and home to a raft of rare animals, including several species of chameleons. |
Indonesian islanders plant mangroves, seek justice as seas rise
PARI ISLAND, Indonesia, 25 November 2025 (|Context) - Under the scorching midday sun, Asmania and several women from Indonesia's Pari Island walk toward Rengge Beach, a shoreline slowly receding from the rising sea, to plant dozens of young mangrove seedlings. The Women's Group hopes the mangroves, which also absorb planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions, will protect the coastline from worsening tidal floods, rising sea levels and stronger waves. |
Behind Sri Lanka’s 'fish rain' lies a web of migrations
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 27 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Sri Lanka recently reported a “fish rain,” where fish were found far from water bodies after heavy rains; but rather than falling from the sky, experts say these were amphibious fish that “walked” overland after the rains, making a rare but real phenomenon appear mysterious. |
Lelu Ruins: A legacy written in stone
KOSRAE, FSM, 28 November 2025 (SPREP) - On the island of Kosrae, in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), lies one of the Pacific’s most extraordinary heritage sites, the Lelu Ruins, often called the “stone city.” For centuries, it has stood as a silent witness to Kosrae’s history, culture, and resilience, which is not only a treasure for the people of Kosrae, but also a beacon for preserving cultural and ecological heritage and where conservation is not optional, it is essential. |
Three men fined in Tonga for poaching nearly 30,000 sea cucumbers
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 28 November 2025 (RNZ) - Three men in Tonga have been fined $7300 each after poaching nearly 30,000 sea cucumbers for commercial purposes during a fishing ban on the invertebrates. Beche-de-mer (cooked sea cucumbers) are a highly sought after delicacy, particularly in Asia, consisting of dried sea cucumbers that are gutted, boiled, salted and or smoked. The echinoderms are mainly harvested from coral reefs and serve a useful role in the marine ecosystem as detritivores, feeding on dead organic material, especially plant debris. |
The story behind the scramble for Greenland's rare earths
QAQORTOQ, Greenland, 5 November 2025 (BBC) - As the US and the West races to break China's stranglehold over rare earths production – crucial for everything from smart phones to electric vehicles to military hardware – some firms are betting that Greenland will become a new mining frontier. Its mineral riches remain largely untapped, but operating in this remote northerly region is challenging. |
'Glow-in-the-dark' snails reintroduced to French Polynesia
LONDON, UK,18 November 2025 (BM) - The team behind a decades-long London zoo project has celebrated a major milestone in the recovery of ‘extinct’ snails. They have successfully reintroduced thousands of ‘glow-in-the-dark’ snails to French Polynesia as part of a global conservation program to save the species from extinction. |
'Extraordinary discovery' at Orkney Neolithic site
LONDON, UK, 26 November 2025 (BBC) - Archaeologists are to resume digging at the Ness of Brodgar on Orkney after 3D radar technology led to an "extraordinary discovery". The dig team at the Ness, one of the most important Neolithic sites in the British Isles, are not revealing what they believe the find to be until more work is done. But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic. |
Jakarta overtakes Tokyo as world's most populous city
TOKYO, Japan, 27 November 2025 (Guardian) - Jakarta has overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most populous city, according to a UN study that uses new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities. The Indonesian capital is home to 42 million people, according to an estimate by the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its World Urbanisation Prospects 2025 report published this month. |
St Vincent prime minister seeks record sixth term in tight election
LONDON, UK, 27 November 2025 (Guardian) - Voters in St Vincent and the Grenadines will go to the polls on Thursday with Ralph Gonsalves seeking a record sixth consecutive term as prime minister. The elections are expected to be a tight contest between the ruling Unity Labour party, which has been in power since 2001, and the opposition New Democratic party. In the last election, ULP won nine of 15 seats, but the NDP won the popular vote. |
Island's birds thriving decade after railway project
WALLASEA ISLAND, UK, 27 November 2025 (BBC) - An island transformed into a nature haven thanks to excavations from a major engineering project is thriving with record numbers of birds. RSPB Wallasea Island, a 740-hectare reserve at Rochford in Essex, was created using more than three million tonnes of earth, brought by boat from the tunnels and shafts created by the Crossrail scheme. Before work began more than a decade ago there were just a small number of birds present - but almost 40,000 arrived last winter. |
Entrepreneur harvests sea salt from local barrier islands
SARASOTA, US, 27 November 2025 (Observer) - What’s a Thanksgiving meal - or a meal any time of the year - without the flavor that comes from a few pinches of salt? Tim Norwood will tell you that he’s a salt-aholic - but also notes all salts are not equal. He says he’s confident that he can put the salts of his business, Sea Salt Florida, which are created using all-natural methods and locally harvested water, up against any others. Unlike the salts typically found at dinner tables, they originate not in mines but from places beloved by local residents: the barrier islands of Siesta Key, Lido Key, Longboat Key, Anna Maria Island and Casey Key. |
Pacific islands students fighting climate change
ENSKEDE, Sweden, 27 November 2025 (RL) - The Pacific Islands are among the regions least responsible for the climate crisis - yet among the first to feel its full force. For generations, these islands have lived gently with the sea. Now, that same sea is rising - claiming land, livelihoods, and lives - driven by emissions from faraway nations. Growing up seeing water levels rising and the shores you called home slowly getting swallowed by the sea, 27 young law students from around the Pacific were faced with a growing frustration. They saw the impacts, but they were powerless to stop it. Because they weren't causing it. |
Marshall Islands nuclear contamination fears
MAJURO, Marshall Islands, 27 November 2025 (KN) - Rising sea levels are amplifying long-standing concerns about nuclear contamination in the Marshall Islands, prompting renewed appeals from local leaders for major emitting nations to do their part to address climate change. The small independent Pacific state, consisting of 29 low-lying atolls and more than 1,000 islands, is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to rising seas. Scientists predict that by 2100, sea levels could rise by about 2 meters, bringing longer periods of flooding and accelerating the erosion already reshaping the coastline. |
Remote Pacific islands are shark strongholds
WASHINGTON, US, 26 November 2025 (Nat.Geog) - One of the most comprehensive surveys to date of shark and other large predator fish in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) ocean finds that remote marine protected areas (MPAs) - including the Galapagos, Malpelo, Clipperton, and Revillagigedo islands - support some of the largest numbers of sharks reported globally, including the critically endangered scalloped hammerhead, while coastal MPAs are showing signs of severe depletion. |
UNESCO and Sint Maarten plan for island's first MAB reserve
KINGSTON, Jamaica, 26 November 2025 (UNESCO) - Dozens of local, regional, and international experts gathered in Sint Maarten for a workshop organized by the UNESCO Regional Office for the Caribbean and the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure, marking a significant step toward establishing the island’s first Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Reserve. |
UK accused of caving-in to BVI over access to companies register
LONDON, UK, 25 November 2025 (Guardian) - The UK government has been accused of caving-in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands by allowing it to limit access to a register of company share ownership to only those deemed to have a legitimate interest. |
Nauru president accused of corruptly siphoning off millions
LONDON, UK, 25 November 2025 Guardian) - Nauru’s President David Adeang, a predecessor and other individuals have been accused in the Senate of corruptly siphoning off millions of dollars of Australian taxpayer money intended for the island’s arcane offshore processing regime. |
Taiwan plans extra $40bn in defence spending
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 26 November 2025 (Guardian) - Beijing’s threats to Taiwan are “intensifying” and its preparations to invade are speeding up, Taiwan’s government has said while announcing a $40bn special defence budget and a swathe of measures to counter Chinese attacks. |
Island-confined reptiles face high extinction risk
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 26 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Reptile species found only on islands are significantly more vulnerable to extinction than their mainland counterparts, yet remain vastly overlooked by researchers, according to a recent study. |
Mauritius vision for vast Marine Protected Area in Chagos Islands
LONDON, UK, 25 November 2025 (Oceanographic) - Plans to establish one of the planet’s largest marine protected areas are taking shape in the central Indian Ocean, where Mauritius is preparing for the potential return of the long-disputed Chagos Archipelago. It’s a move that marks a pivotal step toward both ecological stewardship and the sustainable resettlement of the Chagossian people. |
Island bird counts reveal mixed picture
LONDON, UK, 26 November 2025 (BBC) - The number of puffin breeding pairs on the Farne Islands in Northumberland has dropped by 23% in a year from 50,103 to 38,500 breeding pairs, the National Trust said. However, it cautioned against interpreting the drop as a sudden population decline after the island was hit by bird flu and storms in recent years which killed thousands. The annual count also revealed Arctic terns had increased by more than 26% from 410 to 519 pairs. |
Sri Lanka continues new elephant drive
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 26 November 2025 (Mongabay) - In Sri Lanka’s southern district of Hambantota, authorities have launched a large-scale elephant drive, mobilizing wildlife officers, armed forces and villagers to push herds from villages into what is known as the Managed Elephant Reserve (MER). Conservationists warn the Hambantota operation could mirror past failed drives, such as the 2006 drive in the south and the 2024 operation in north-central Sri Lanka that left elephant herds stranded. |
Wolves on remote Baltic Sea island reveal link to prehistoric humans
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, 24 November 2025 (Phys.org) - The discovery of the 3,000–5,000 year-old wolf remains was made in the Stora Förvar cave on the Swedish island of Stora Karlsö, a site known for its intensive use by seal hunters and fishers during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The island, which covers only 2.5 square kilometers, has no native land mammals, meaning that any such animals must have been brought there by people. |
Zanzibar's battle to save endangered turtles intensifies
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, 25 November 2025 (IPS) - Zanzibar’s coastline attracts tourists to its blue waters and coral reefs. But the ecosystem beneath is strained by pollution, habitat loss, and unregulated fishing. Matemwe, long known for its pristine beaches, is now emerging as an unexpected frontline in marine conservation. Central to this work is a community-driven project supported by International Volunteer HQ, where volunteers work with local marine biologists to protect endangered sea turtles and bolster marine life. |
Climate services could secure the future of Vanuatu's cattle industry
APIA, Samoa. 25 November 2025 (SPREP) - For generations, cattle farmers in Vanuatu have read the seasons like a well-worn book. They've known when the rains would green the pastures, when to rotate their herds, and when to expect good weight gains. But lately, that book seems to have been rewritten in a language nobody quite understands. |
COP30 ends with 'extremely weak' outcomes, Pacific campaigner says
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 25 November 2025 (RNZ) - Shiva Gounden, the head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia, said the multilateral process is currently being attacked, which is making it hard to reach a meaningful consensus on decisions. He said the outcomes of this COP and previous ones mean global temperature rise will not be limited to 1.5C - the threshold climate scientists say is needed to ensure a healthy planet. |
Japan's high-stakes gamble to turn island into global chip hub
HOKKAIDO, Japan, 23 November 2025 (BBC) - The island of Hokkaido has long been an agricultural powerhouse – now Japan is investing billions to turn it into a global hub for advanced semiconductors. More than half of Japan's dairy produce comes from Hokkaido, the northernmost of its main islands. In winter, it's a wonderland of ski resorts and ice-sculpture festivals; in summer, fields bloom with bands of lavender, poppies and sunflowers. |
The geopolitics rattling a tiny Pacific nation
KOROR, Palau, 24 November 2025 (BBC) - The air above Palau's pristine waters smells of salt and breadfruit, and on calm mornings in Koror, Palau's commercial centre, the whirr of dive boat engines echoes across the bay. A few years ago, those boats were filled with tourists – many from China – drawn to Palau's lagoons and limestone caves. Hotels were full, restaurants bustling, and fishermen could barely keep up with demand. But that is no more. |
How the US pressure campaign against Venezuela has unfolded
LONDON, UK, 24 November 2025 (Guardian) - Amid growing tensions between Washington and Caracas, the US has gathered its largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama. Donald Trump’s administration has steadily increased pressure on Venezuela’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of running the “Cartel of the Suns” drug-trafficking organization, and placing a $50m bounty on his head. |
Andaman and Nicobar Islands record major tourism surge
NEW YORK, US, 24 November 2025 (TTW) - The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are undergoing a significant shift in how tourism is developed and managed. Long admired for their calm lagoons, white-sand beaches, dense tropical forests and rich marine ecosystems, the islands are now receiving unprecedented attention from domestic travelers. |
A South Atlantic marine treasure in need of protection
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 24 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Located off the south coast of Bahia state and the north coast of Espírito Santo state in Brazil, the Abrolhos Seascape is known for its rich concentration of marine biodiversity, which is among the largest in the southern Atlantic. But the long-term well-being of this natural heritage may be at risk if gaps in the legal protection of its main ecosystems are not addressed. These are the conclusions of a recent study identifying the region’s biodiversity hotspots and highlighting the need to protect them. |
Malta's mysterious 'fat ladies' lure a new generation of pilgrims
WASHINGTON, US, 24 November 2025 (Nat.Geog) - Long before Stonehenge or the pyramids, the people of Malta carved elaborate, free-standing structures from the sun-baked stone. Across the archipelago they hauled massive stone slabs, some weighing more than 50 tons. Dating from roughly 3800 to 2400 B.C.E., Malta’s temple culture ranks among the world’s earliest examples of monumental architecture. |
COP30: Five key takeaways from a deeply divisive climate summit
BELEM, Brazil, 23 November 2025 (BBC) - In three decades of these meetings aimed at forging global consensus on how to prevent and deal with global warming, this will go down as among the most divisive. Many countries were livid when COP30 ended on Saturday with no mention of the fossil fuels that have heated up the atmosphere. Other nations - particularly those with most to gain from their continued production - felt vindicated. The summit was a reality check on just how much global consensus has broken down over what to do about climate change. |
UN climate talks fail to secure new fossil fuel promises
BELEM, Brazil. 22 November 2025 (BBC) - Following bitter rows, the UN climate summit COP30 in Belém, Brazil has ended with a deal that contains no direct reference to the fossil fuels that are heating up the planet. It is a frustrating end for more than 80 countries including the UK and EU that wanted the meeting to commit the world to stop using using oil, coal and gas at a faster pace. But oil-producing nations held the line that they should be allowed to use their fossil fuel resources to grow their economies. |
Laser weapons system takes down high-speed drones in landmark trial
GLASGOW, UK, 20 November 2025 (STV) - Scotland’s defence sector has received a major boost after the UK Government confirmed a £316m contract for a laser weapon system, a project that will support 200 jobs across Scotland. It comes after the ground-breaking laser weapon system DragonFire successfully shot down high-speed drones in trials at the MoD’s Hebrides range, marking a UK first. The system tracked and destroyed targets travelling at speeds of up to 650km/h, demonstrating above-the-horizon capability in one of the most advanced tests of its kind. |
Turkey set to host COP31 after reaching compromise with Australia
BELEM, Brazil, 20 November 2025 (BBC) - The COP31 climate meeting is now expected to be held in Turkey after Australia dropped its bid to host the annual event. Under the UN rules, the right to host the COP in 2026 falls to a group of countries made up of Western Europe, Australia and others. A consensus must be reached but neither country had been willing to concede. Australia has now agreed to support the Turkish bid in return for their minister chairing the talks following negotiations at COP30, currently being held in Brazil. |
From seabirds to sea turtles: the fatal toll of plastic revealed
LONDON, UK, 17 November 2025 (BBC) - Scientists have analysed 10,000 marine animal autopsies to understand how plastic ingestion leads to death. The study found seabirds face extreme risk after swallowing just 23 pieces of plastic, giving them a 90% chance of dying. Marine mammals reach similar danger at 29 pieces, while sea turtles need to ingest around 405 pieces to hit the same threshold. |
Scientists reveal what triggered Santorini 'earthquake swarm'
LONDON, UK, 21 November 2025 (BBC) - The "swarm" of tens of thousands of earthquakes near the Greek island of Santorini earlier this year was triggered by molten rock pumping through an underground channel over three months, scientists have discovered. They used physics and artificial intelligence to work out exactly what caused the more than 25,000 earthquakes, which travelled about 20km (12 miles) horizontally through the Earth's crust. |
Our babies were taken after 'biased' parenting test
LONDON, UK, 22 November 2025 (BBC) - When Keira's daughter was born last November, she was given two hours with her before the baby was taken into care. Now Keira is one of many Greenlandic families living on the Danish mainland who are fighting to get their children returned to them after they were removed by social services. In such cases, babies and children were taken away after parental competency tests - known in Denmark as FKUs - were used to help assess whether they were fit to be parents. In May this year the Danish government banned the use of these tests on Greenlandic families after decades of criticism, although they continue to be used on other families in Denmark. |
Cop30 delegates 'far apart' on phasing out fossil fuels
BELEM, Brazil, 21 November 2025 (Guardian) - Climate crisis talks look likely to stretch well into the weekend in Brazil, with countries still far apart on the crucial issues of phasing out fossil fuels and cutting carbon. The Cop30 president, André Corrêa do Lago, urged ministers and high-ranking officials from more than 190 countries to find common ground: “We need to preserve this regime [of the Paris climate agreement] with the spirit of cooperation, not in the spirit of who is going to win or is willing to lose’” he said. “Because we know if we don’t strengthen this, everyone will lose.” No agreement looked likely, however, on the core issue of a "transition away from fossil fuels", with the conference split into two large blocs. |
Can a wildlife paradise on a Colombian island survive?
GORGONA ISLAND, Colombia, 22 November 2025 (Guardian) - It took 40 years to turn Gorgona into a biodiversity haven and model marine protected area. Now a new coastguard station has sparked fears of militarisation and ecological ruin. |
The sailor reviving the lost art of canoe building in New Caledonia
NOUMEA, New Caledonia, 22 November 2025 (Guardian) - In October in Lifou island, a double-hulled canoe was pushed into the lagoon - a small act that marked a deeply symbolic moment. It was the first launch of a traditional canoe on Lifou in generations, an event that brought together the island’s three chiefly clans in a rare show of unity. Activist and sailor Aile Tikoure was behind the launch. For the past eight years, he has led a project that aims to revive traditional boat making in New Caledonia, a territory of France in the Pacific ocean. |
China is building the world’s first floating artificial island
BEIJING, China, 20 November 2025 (SCMP) - China is building a mega science infrastructure that could add fuel to the global maritime power race: a floating artificial island engineered to withstand nuclear blasts. This 78,000-tonne, semi-submersible twin-hull platform is the world’s first mobile, self-sustaining artificial island. |
Iberdrola unveils world's first 100% renewable island
BELEM, Brazil, 10 November 2025 (Sustainability) - Ignacio Galán, Chair of Iberdrola, was one of just 10 corporate leaders invited to opening discussions at COP30, where he spoke about Fernando de Noronha. This project sees Iberdrola investing US$55m into Brazil's territory Fernando de Noronha. The island, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will become the first inhabited oceanic island in Latin America operating on a completely sustainable energy model. The project will see the installation of solar energy and battery storage systems with the aim of completely eliminating the island's dependence on fossil fuels. |
Makassar women press for water as taps and wells run dry
MAKASSAR, Indonesia, 20 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Located on the coast of Sulawesi Island’s largest city, Makassar, Tallo ward endures high water stress and contamination of local sources with heavy metals and other pollutants. Water stress is a well-documented driver of gender-based violence around the world, with extensive correlation established by numerous research studies, and causation in many circumstances. |
Indigenous Dayak resist new southern Borneo national park
BANJARMASIN, Indonesia, 19 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Indigenous peoples and student protesters staged several demonstrations in Indonesian Borneo in August in a bid to pressure local authorities to cancel plans for a 119,779-hectare (295,980-acre) national park in the Meratus mountain range. |
Indonesia labeled 'Fossil of the Day'
BELEM, Brazil, 18 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Indonesia has been publicly rebuked at COP30 with a “Fossil of the Day” award after civil society groups accused its delegation of echoing fossil fuel and carbon industry lobbyists during negotiations on Article 6.4, the U.N.’s new carbon market mechanism. |
Scientists thought Great Barrier Reef doomed
LONDON, UK, 5 November 2025 (Guardian) - The Great Barrier Reef will undergo “rapid coral decline” until 2050 but could recover if global heating is kept below 2C, according to the most detailed modelling so far of the future of the world’s biggest coral reef. The finding contradicts a widely held view that the decline of the oceanic gem would become irreversible as global temperatures rise above 1.5C, with one report last month suggesting the world’s tropical corals had already reached a tipping point of long-term decline. |
Indonesia's latest Indigenous forest promise draws skepticism
BELEM, Brazil, 7 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Indonesia has pledged to recognize the rights of Indigenous and customary communities to 1.4 million hectares, about 3.5 million acres, of forests by 2029. It’s a move the government says will help curb deforestation and protect Indigenous rights. |
Expedition charts Cook Islands seafloor
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 6 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Thousands of meters below the ocean’s surface, a camera attached to a remotely operated vehicle captured a ghostly white creature gliding above a plain of polymetallic nodules — mineral-rich rocks that resemble blackened potatoes. The animal’s orchid-shaped fins undulated as it cruised through the water, while its spindly tentacles trailed behind. This otherworldly creature was a bigfin squid, an organism that scientists have spotted fewer than two dozen times, and one that has never been physically captured. |
Antarctic conservation summit closes with stalemate
HOBART, Australia, 4 November 2024 (Mongabay) - The annual meeting of the international body responsible for the conservation of Southern Ocean marine ecosystems concluded Friday with no progress on two contentious issues before it: the creation of new marine protected areas and the strengthening of regulations governing the fishery for krill, a species on which numerous iconic species of Antarctic wildlife depend. |
Indonesia pledges energy transition
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 4 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has made bold pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters might finally embark on a genuine energy transition - pivotal if the world is to have any chance of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit). Yet Indonesia’s newly submitted climate plan tells a different story. |
Holding on to home, as the ocean engulfs the Solomon Islands
NEW YORK, US, 8 November 2025 (UN News) - Sikaiana, less than two square kilometres, is encircled by the sea and is home to just 300 people. It is also more than 200 kilometres from the main island of the Solomon archipelago. Most homes lie steps from the shore, where high tides flood the tree line and seep into wells, making freshwater scarce. Still, life continues with a sense of routine. Children walk barefoot to school, fishermen prepare their nets, and families tend to their gardens as they always have. |
Ecological refuges or traps? Mapping a future for Australia's islands
BRISBANE, Australia, 5 November 2025 (UQ) - University of Queensland researchers have completed the first comprehensive studies of recent fire history and koala populations across Australia’s 9,300 islands. The research fills vital knowledge gaps about islands, which have a key role in conservation as safe havens for endangered species when managed well but may become ecological traps. |
The remote Arctic island, saved by an unshakeable community spirit
MANCHESTER, UK, 7 November 2025 (PN) - I’m on the last leg of a journey that began in London, took me via the Norwegian capital of Oslo, to the northern city of Bodø, on two ferries and more than five hours to reach Myken – one of the most remote inhabited communities in Europe. The island measures just 400 metres wide and 1.2 miles long and lies north of the Arctic Circle off the west coast of Norway. A scattering of rock and grass, buffeted by the Norwegian Sea. I first heard of this island because it is home to the world’s most remote whisky distillery – an improbable venture, producing a spirit that critics claim rivals its Scottish cousins. |
Rats and the fall of Rapa Nui's forests
LONDON, UK, 9 November 2025 (AN) - A new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, reexamines the causes of Rapa Nui’s dramatic deforestation and highlights the role of the introduced Polynesian rat (Rattus exulans). Long framed as a cautionary tale of human “ecocide,” the island’s transformation may instead reflect a powerful interaction between people and an invasive species. |
Revered and reviled, cats in the crosshairs on Christmas Island
CARNARVON, Australia, 7 November 2025 (ABC) - About 63 per cent of Christmas Island is a jungle-choked conservation zone. Many of the species that live here cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. But a predator has stalked this Garden of Eden since the first humans arrived more than 130 years ago. Already, some endemic species have been lost forever, eaten into extinction by the same feral cat scourge that kills an estimated 1.5 billion native animals on the mainland each year. Here, on this remote island of just 135 square kilometres, frontline warriors clad in hi-vis and khaki are determined to win the war. |
Rabbit numbers on Phillip Island reach 'plague proportions'
LONDON, UK, 8 November 2025 (Guardian) - Peter Bradley’s daily routine of sweeping up displaced mulch and wire and filling holes has become a grim ritual shared across the picturesque coastal region south-east of Melbourne, where rabbit numbers have exploded to what locals describe as plague proportions. |
Why hurricanes rarely kill in Cuba
GOTHENBURG, Sweden, 6 November 2025 (Conversation) - Hours before Hurricane Melissa roared towards Cuba’s second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba, the island’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, announced that 735,000 people had been evacuated – one in every 15 Cubans. The storm had already smashed into Jamaica, the most powerful to ever strike the island, causing landslides, power failures and deaths. |
COP30: Pacific nations call for world to act as 1.5C threshold nears
BELEM, Brazil, 10 November 2025 (RNZ) - Pacific nations head to the world's biggest climate talks making the familiar plea to keep global warming under 1.5C to stay alive, as scientists say the world will now certainly surpass the limit, at least temporarily. At the opening of the COP30 climate summit in Belém Brazil, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres made the same call that Pacific nations have for years. |
Shetland islanders accuse Game of Wool of cultural appropriation
GLASGOW, UK, 10 November 2025 (Guardian) - The group chat for Shetland knitters was popping off, says one member, as they settled down to watch the first episode of Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter. But their enthusiasm for the Channel 4 elimination show hosted by the former Olympian and crafts enthusiast Tom Daley quickly unravelled. It became clear to the seasoned knitters that the Sunday primetime programme, which focused on Shetland’s Fair Isle technique, was littered with errors, prompting bitter disappointment, claims of cultural appropriation and demands for a correction from the broadcaster. |
China sharpens its language on Taiwan
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 12 November 2025 (Guardian) - In recent weeks China has released a series of statements, articles and photos, that analysts say signal an escalation in the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s approach to Taiwan. Beijing claims Taiwan as a province and has vowed to annex it under what it terms “reunification”. China’s military is not believed to be capable of a full invasion yet, but senior officials have recently started using sharper language. |
Turkey, The Islands and Buyukada
ANKARA, Turkey, 12 November 2025 (ER) - Climate change mitigation and adaptation are not only global imperatives but also demand action at regional and local scales. Turkey has taken an increasingly prominent role at COP30 Brasil, aligning its energy transition, climate finance and sustainable development efforts with the broader international agenda. This article explores Turkey’s contributions, with a particular focus on the Islands and Büyükada, within the frameworks of World Heritage and children’s rights. |
Macronesia sanctuary to protect waters of 4 Atlantic islands
MANASSAS, US, 11 November 2025 (GNN) - Governments and conservation NGOs celebrated the passing of a resolution to create the world’s most ambitious marine sanctuary. Cleverly named “Macronesia,” the area in the northeastern Atlantic would protect 32 species of whales and dolphins, making it one of the most significant migratory routes on Earth. |
Cook Islands delays seabed mining decision
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, 13 November 2025 (RNZ) - Cook Islands will extend seabed minerals exploration for a further five years, pushing the decision on whether to mine its polymetallic nodules-rich seafloor to at least 2032. |
Cook Islands tourism industry concerned by NZ funding pause
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, 13 November 2025 (RNZ) - The tourism industry is calling for transparency from the Cook Islands government after New Zealand quietly extended its funding freeze to $29.8 million in the latest twist to the diplomatic fallout between the two governments. |
Deep sea mining plumes threaten ocean food web
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 12 November 2025 (RNZ) - A new deep sea mining study says sediment plumes caused by the industry could disturb the food web which could impact bigger fish, like tuna. The study by researchers at the University of Hawai'i at M?noa shows sediment waste discharged from deep sea mining could disrupt marine life in the mid-water, between 200-1500 meters deep, known as the "twilight zone". It is home to tiny animals, like zooplankton, that serve as the ocean's basic food building blocks. |
Gibbon trafficking pushes rehabilitation centers to the max
MEDAN, Indonesia, 12 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Famed for their free-flow swinging through the forest canopy, gibbons are being relentlessly shot, stolen and incarcerated to supply an escalating illegal pet trade that targets babies in particular. |
Sicily deserves better than the looming prospect of a giant bridge
LONDON, UK, 13 November 2025 (Guardian) - A dozen or so times each day, as Italy’s southbound Intercity rail service arrives in the Calabrian town of Villa San Giovanni, the journey makes a dramatic switch. The train is split into smaller sections which are shunted on rail tracks on to the deck of a ferry. The entire cargo then eases out into the Strait of Messina en route to Sicily. |
No quick fix for soaring child obesity in Polynesia
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 13 November 2025 (RNZ) - Child and adolescent obesity is soaring in Polynesia and there is no quick fix, according to an eminent Pacific health leader. The most obese 5-19-year-olds globally live in three Pacific Island nations, a UNICEF report found. It eveals that Niue - with a population of 1600 - tops the lot, with nearly 40 percent of children and youth being obese. The Cook Islands came second with 37 percent and Nauru followed with 33 percent. The report said 2025 marks an historic turning point as it is the first time global obesity has surpassed those who are underweight in the 5-19-year-old age group. |
US advances offshore mineral plans in American Samoa, CNMI
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 13 November 2025 (RNZ) - The United States has taken major steps toward offshore critical minerals exploration in the Pacific, completing Area Identification for American Samoa and launching a Request for Information and Interest for the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. |
Green energy transition leaves a dirty trail in the Philippines
MINDANAO, Philippines, 14 November 2025 (Mongabay) - Communities living near mining operations in the southern Philippines’ Caraga region are feeling the toll of the global energy transition, with nickel mining driving deforestation and pollution, according to a recent report. |
Zanzibar's 'solar mamas' are trained to help light up communities
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, 13 November 2025 (AP) - When darkness came, so did the smoke. Hamna Silima Nyange, like half of the 2 million people in Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, did not have a house connected to the electricity grid. After sunset, she would turn to smoky oil lamps that provided the only light for her eight children to study. |
Fears for elephant seals as bird flu kills half of population
LONDON, UK, 13 November 2025 (Guardian) - Bird flu has wiped out half of South Georgia’s breeding elephant seals, according to a study that warns of “serious implications” for the future of the species. The remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean is home to the world’s largest southern elephant seal population. Researchers estimate 53,000 females died after bird flu hit in 2023. |
New forecasts of remote islands' vulnerability to sea level rise
PLYMOUTH, UK, 13 November 2025 (Phys.org) - In the summer of 2022, 20 islands in the Maldives were flooded when a distant swell event in the Indian Ocean coincided with an extremely high tide level. A new and detailed analysis of that incident, compiled using fieldwork and computer modeling, has shown it to be a relatively rare occurrence with the worst flooding seen in the region since the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. |
Yas Island’s green future
NEW YORK, US, 14 November 2025 (TTW) - Yas Island is transforming from a premier tourist destination into a beacon of sustainable development in the heart of Abu Dhabi, UAE. As global tourism faces increasing pressure to be environmentally responsible, Yas Island is leading the charge by embedding sustainability into every decision it makes. From innovative energy-saving practices to marine conservation efforts, Yas Island is setting a new standard for sustainable tourism. |
Drugs disguised as tea keep washing up on South Korean island
LONDON, UK, 13 November 2025 (BBC) - Since September, residents on South Korea's Jeju island have been spotting small packs of what appear to be bags of Chinese tea washed ashore. Upon closer inspection, however, they were found to contain ketamine. Ketamine is used as an anaesthetic in medical procedures, but its recreational use is illegal in South Korea. It can cause severe physical and mental damage, including to the heart and lungs, when misused. |
The scientist who helped win the fight to protect Tetepare Island
HONIARA, Solomon Islands, 14 November 2025 (Guardian) - Scientist Katy Soapi’s earliest memories are of the sea. She grew up on Rendova, a lush island in western Solomon Islands, and life centred around the ocean. In the mid-1990s, the sound of chainsaws echoed through the forests of Solomon Islands as commercial logging swept across the country. Soapi had watched Rendova fall to the axes of loggers. Rivers once crystal clear turned brown with silt, and the forest songs of birds and insects faded into silence. When whispers began that Tetepare might be next, the people of Western Province felt they were facing more than an environmental threat. Tetepare was tabu – sacred ground, home to ancestral gardens, burial sites, and memories etched deep into the soil. |
The Maldives' dramatic underwater meeting
LONDON, UK, 14 November 2025 (BBC) - The photo shaped the world's perception of the existential threat climate change poses to low-lying island nations. It was a plan that made Shauna Aminath and her team extremely nervous. Aminath, who has formerly served as a Maldivian politician, was planning an underwater photoshoot in October 2009. They were to sink a enough tables and chairs for 11 of the Maldives' top government officials, to the seabed for a cabinet meeting that would be photographed, filmed and broadcast across the world. Most of the ministers did not know how to dive, some had health problems and none were spring chickens. |
On the frontlines of the fight to clean up pollution in Bali
LONDON, UK, 15 November 2025 (Guardian) - In January the island’s beaches were inundated with waves of plastic pollution, a phenomenon that has been getting worse by the year. Photographer and film-maker Sean Gallagher travelled to Bali to document the increasing tide of rubbish washing up on beaches and riverbanks, and the people facing the monumental challenge of cleaning up. |
I stayed on a tiny Greek island where EVs take charge
ASTYPALEA, Greece, 15 November 2025 (CNBC) - Astypalea, in the Aegean Sea, has a population of 1,400. Around 32,000 to 36,000 tourists visit each year. Some of Astypalea’s popular beaches and tourist destinations are reachable by a fleet of electric VW minibuses, ordered on-demand via an app. The island’s mayor, Nikolaos Komineas, wants to avoid the overtourism problems other Greek islands have faced. “We don’t want to spoil the island at all. We want to keep the nature as it is,” he told CNBC. |
Aerial footage reveals alarming phenomenon on Heard Island
MELBOURNE, Australia, 14 November 2025 (Yahoo) - Cruising high over a remote sub-Antarctic island, drones have captured a situation unfolding that has scientists alarmed. The vision has revealed one of the world’s four main southern elephant seal breeding colonies has rapidly declined, with the number of females dropping by 47 per cent between 2022 and 2024. |
Zanzibar women turn to sponge farming as oceans heat up
ZANZIBAR, Tanzania, 13 November 2025 (AFP) - At about 10 o'clock every morning, women in hijabs and loose long dresses wade through Zanzibar's turquoise shallow tides to tend their sponge farms - a new lifeline after climate change upended their former work. Rising ocean temperatures, overfishing and pollution have steadily degraded marine ecosystems around the island, undermining a key source of income for locals in Jambiani village who long depended on farming seaweed. Instead, they have turned to sponge cultivation under a project set up by Swiss NGO Marine Cultures. |
China sends coast guard to Senkaku islands amid row with Japan
TAIPEI, Taiwan, 16 November 2025 (Guardian) - China has sent its coast guard through the waters of the Senkaku islands and military drones past outlying Japanese territory as Beijing ramps up tensions over the Japanese prime minister’s remarks on Taiwan. |
Tuvalu rebukes Trump's 'shameful disregard' at Cop30
BELEM, Brazil, 16 November 2025 (Guardian) - Of all the representatives from 193 countries present at the crucial UN climate talks in Belém, Brazil, only one has summoned the courage to take the stage and publicly denounce the absent and hostile Trump administration: the climate minister of tiny Tuvalu. |
Lewis Hub energy project secures planning consent
LONDON, UK, 19 November 2025 (BBC) - Councillors have granted planning permission in principle for a major energy project on Lewis in the Western Isles. The Lewis Hub forms part of SSEN Transmission's proposals to connect the islands to Great Britain's transmission network for the first time. The hub along with a sub-sea cable would deliver power generated by wind farms to the mainland. |
Where travellers can walk on the ocean floor
LONDON, UK, 30 October 2025 (BBC) - Swept twice daily by the world's highest tides, the Bay of Fundy is home to a host of only-here experiences for adventurous travellers willing to venture off the beaten path. Discover Ministers Island in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick - a must-see destination rich in history and natural beauty. Accessible only at low tide, this unique island features the grand Van Horne estate, serene walking trails, and breathtaking coastal views. |
Desperation takes hold in Jamaica after hurricane
BLACK RIVER, Jamaica, 31 October 2025 (BBC) - People walk along muddied roads scavenging the wreckage for food. Others jump into damaged stores in the hope of finding bottled water or other supplies. As the death toll rises, residents of Black River are still searching for loved ones while they also battle to survive, days after Hurricane Melissa made this Jamaican port city ground zero of the devastation seen across the Caribbean. |
Belize's blue reputation vs. reef reality
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 31 October 2025 (Mongabay) - Belize sells itself as a small-country answer to a big problem: how to keep the sea alive and the people who depend on it working. The pitch is strong. A debt-for-nature “blue bond” shaved public debt and created a 20-year conservation finance stream. Targets for 30% ocean protection by 2026 are now embedded in policy. The press has been kind. So have donors. Yet beneath the awards and ribbon cuttings sits a harder question: do the reefs and fish show it? And are day-to-day rules on the water keeping pace with the promises on paper? |
Okinawa's unique wildlife at risk of extinction
OKINAWA, Japan, 2 November 2025 (SCMP) - Hermit crabs, turtles and other species found only in Okinawa are vanishing from its beaches, as smugglers and souvenir-hunting tourists strip Japan's southernmost islands of their unique wildlife. Researchers and conservationists say the growing number of poaching cases points to a mounting ecological crisis and warn that without stronger protections, some of these species could soon disappear altogether. |
New head of Seabed Minerals Authority vows transparency
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, 3 November 2025 (RNZ) - The newly appointed Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) commissioner Beverly Stacey-Ataera says public trust and open dialogue will be at the centre of the Cook Islands' seabed minerals journey. Her comments come as debate continues over the future of the industry, with environmental advocates calling for caution while government says seabed minerals could support the nation's long-term resilience. |
Espíritu Santo in Mexico: A hidden paradise
SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico, 2 November 2025 (MDN) - The barks echo across the water long before you see them - hundreds of sea lions piled onto the rocky shores of a tiny islet set against a backdrop of pinkish-red volcanic cliffs. Meanwhile, a blue-footed booby, perched on the rocks, performs its clumsy, charming courtship dance. High on the clifftops, a magnificent frigatebird inflates its great scarlet throat pouch like a balloon. |
New approach to boost vegetation on tropical coral islands
DHAKA, Bangladesh, 2 November 2025 (UNB) - A team of Chinese researchers has discovered a cooperative dynamic among soil microorganisms that could help improve vegetation restoration on tropical coral islands - offering a promising new strategy to strengthen these fragile ecosystems. |
Bali halts Chinese construction of glass lift on cliffside
LONDON, UK, 3 November 2025 (BBC) - Bali authorities have suspended the construction of a 182m (597 ft) cliffside glass lift on one of the Indonesian province's most-photographed cliffs, after it sparked outrage over concerns of environmental harm. The lift on Kelingking Beach, to be built by Chinese developer China Kaishi Group, was supposed to make it easier for visitors to reach the beach. |
Philippines hit by 'intense' typhoon as nearly a million evacuate
AURORA, Philippines, 8 November 2025 (BBC) - Typhoon Fung-wong has made landfall in the Philippines, where more than 900,000 people have been evacuated and two people have died. The storm hit as a super typhoon, with sustained winds of around 185 km/h (115mph) and gusts of 230km/h (143mph). The eye of the storm hit Aurora province in Luzon - the country's most populous island - at 21:10 local time (13:10 GMT). By 02:00, the storm weakened to a typhoon and was over La Union in western Luzon. |
Running of island-based community landlord 'dire'
LONDON, UK, 6 November 2025 (BBC) - The running of a community-owned landlord in the Western Isles has been described as "simply dire", according to a report seen by BBC Naidheachdan. Sealladh na Beinne Mòire (SnBM) oversees a number of businesses, including Stòras Uibhist which manages the 93,000-acre South Uist Estate. |
COP30: World leaders take aim at Trump for climate inaction
LONDON, UK, 6 November 2025 (BBC) - US President Donald Trump has been criticised by world leaders for his stance on climate change, ahead of the global COP30 summit. President Trump, who is not attending the meeting in the Amazonian city of Belém, was called a liar by the leaders of Colombia and Chile for his rejection of climate science. Over the next two weeks countries will try and negotiate a new deal on climate change, with a particular focus on channelling more money to forest protection. |
COP30: Does the summit still have a point?
LONDON, UK., 10 November 2025 (BBC) - There is a photograph, taken ten years ago in Paris, that today seems like something of a relic. In it, dozens of men and women line up in dark suits, in front of an enormous sign that reads COP21 Paris. Right in the middle the UK's then-Prime Minister, David Cameron, grins widely, as he stands beside the future King Charles III, just in front of China’s Xi Jinping. Far off to the right is the then US President Barack Obama, deep in conversation with someone who is cut off from the frame - because there were so many leaders lining up that day that it was difficult for the photographer to capture them all at once. What a far cry from the family photograph taken on Thursday with this year's line-up at the COP30 summit in Brazil. |
Shetland: The 'holy place' of knitting
LERWICK, Shetland, 9 November 2025 (BBC) - When Jonathan Berner needed something to keep his hands busy during addiction recovery meetings 15 years ago, he took up knitting. Since then the American yarn shop owner has found kindred spirits in a group called Men's Knitting Adventures. And last month they made their first international trip as a group, travelling from their homes across the US to a place they call a "holy place" for knitters - Shetland. |
First-ever complete Tokelauan Bible launched
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 28 October 2025 (RNZ) - Tokelau is celebrating the launch of the first-ever complete Bible translation in Gagana Tokelau. Before this week, both the Samoan Bible and a Tokelau New Testament translation - launched in 2009 - was being used, with a full translation yet to have been finished. |
Australia deports first foreign detainees to Nauru in controversial deal
LONDON, 28 October 2025 (BBC) - Australia has started to deport foreign detainees to Nauru, marking the start of a controversial deal with the tiny Pacific island nation. The deal was struck after Australia's top court ruled that it could not indefinitely detain about 358 people, the bulk of whom have been convicted of crimes, forcing their release into the community. |
Humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head
LONDON, UK, 28 October 2025 (Guardian) - Humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5C and must change course immediately, the UN secretary general has warned. In his only interview before next month’s Cop30 climate summit, Antonio Guterres acknowledged it is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot the target in the Paris climate agreement, with “devastating consequences” for the world. |
Venezuela suspends energy agreements with Trinidad
CARACAS, Venezuela, 28 October 2025 (AP) - Venezuela on Monday suspended energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, over what officials have described as “hostile” actions by the island nation. Trinidad is now hosting one of the U.S. warships involved in a controversial campaign to destroy Venezuelan speedboats allegedly carrying drugs to the United States. |
Indonesia's new capital in danger of becoming a 'ghost city'
NUSANTARA, Indonesia, 29 October 2025 (Guardian) - Indonesia’s utopian new capital Nusantara seems to appear out of nowhere. Deep in the forest, a multilane highway abruptly opens up through the trees, leading to a palace topped by a winged eagle that glows under the equatorial sun. But along the rows of futuristic new buildings, Nusantara’s boulevards are largely empty save for a few gardeners and curious tourists. State funding for the project has plunged, while construction has slowed and few civil servants have been eager to move away from Jakarta. |
Sri Lanka's deep-rooted illegal elephant trade
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 29 October 2025 (Mongabay) - In a landmark ruling hailed as a major victory for Sri Lanka’s wildlife conservation, the Colombo High Court in September convicted a person for the illegal possession of a wild-caught elephant and sentenced him to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of 20.6 million rupees (nearly US$70,000). |
Jamaicans take stock after hurricane causes damage and flooding
MANDEVILLE, Jamaica, 29 October 2025 (BBC) - Jamaicans are taking stock after Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm to strike the island in modern history, barrelled across the country leaving behind a trail of ruin. Without power or phone coverage, much of the country is isolated and so information is trickling through. |
In Mauritius, an NGO is tracking the sex life of corals to save them
BLUE BAY, Mauritius, 29 October 2025 (Mongabay) - Mauritius will soon be home to one of the largest projects in the Western Indian Ocean aimed at restoring corals through sexual propagation. The initiative aligns with a recent policy push by the Mauritian government to promote coral restoration through sexual propagation as opposed to through asexual methods. |
For years, islands have warned of climate disaster
NEW YORK, US, 28 October 2025 (NYT) - It has become a tired adage, but nonetheless true. The world’s poorest countries will suffer the most from climate change despite being least responsible for it. Leaders in the Caribbean and from vulnerable island states around the world have been repeating this for years. And they have been asking the world’s rich countries, whose greenhouse gas emissions over genereations have fueled warmer seas and bigger storms, to help them prepare. With Hurricane Melissa scouring Jamaica with vicious intensity before setting its sights on Cuba and the Bahamas, it is likely that many of the affected countries will once again be overwhelmed by the expense of recovery. |
Peg–legged lizards lead a pirate's life on Caribbean islands
MANASSAS, US, 29 October 2025 (GNN) - The Bahamas were once crawling with pirates, but have always been crawling with lizards. Do the two have anything in common? Well, much like the old trope of pirates missing legs and hands, many of the lizards of the Bahamas are too. |
New fifteen euro tourist tax in the Balearic Islands
NEW YORK, US, 30 October 2025 (TTW) - The Balearic Islands, which are some of the most popular tourist sites in Spain, are considering raising the tourist tax to €15 a day for visitors during the peak months of July and August. This was a mutual decision by the Workers’ Commissions Union (CCOO) on the 23rd of October, 2025, and it aims to defend the rights of the community by reducing overtourism and reinvesting its proceeds for the welfare of the residents. |
Tonga unveils new tourism brand
NEW YORK, US, 30 October 2025 (TTW) - The Kingdom of Tonga has formally introduced a new branding campaign called “Kingdom of Tonga: The Friendly Islands” in an attempt to reimagine and improve its tourism sector. The rebranding announcement is a significant step in the country’s plan to draw tourists from around the world by highlighting its breathtaking natural beauty, rich cultural legacy, and friendly populace. |
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