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The struggle for control of the Arctic is accelerating
LONDON, UK, 10 July 2025 (BBC) - Tensions are growing at the top of the world. US President Donald Trump wants Greenland, Russia is modernising its Arctic military bases, Chinese icebreakers are opening new routes and spies are being unmasked. But as the battle for one of the world’s coldest places heats up, an increasingly fragile security balance may be breaking down, leading to an escalating arms race. |
Island Games: Everything you need to know about Orkney 2025
LONDON, UK, 9 July 2025 (BBC) - The Island Games will be taking over Orkney this week, with thousands of visitors from around the world expected to descend on the Scottish archipelago. An estimated 2,000 competitors and volunteers will swell Orkney's population by almost 10%, but many spectators are also expected to make the trip. Twelve sporting events will be the focus of the week-long event, with up to 24 island groups competing for medals. |
Sierra Leone islanders despair as rising ocean threatens survival
NYANGAI ISLAND, Sierra Leone, 8 July 2025 (AFP) - The inhabitants of Nyangai, located in the Turtle Islands off southern Sierra Leone, have made virtually no contribution to global warming, driven by humanity's burning of fossil fuels. Yet they are widely considered the country's first people displaced by climate change, as the ever-hotter temperatures melt more of the Earth's ice caps, swelling the seas around the archipelago. The majority of Nyangai's exhausted residents have lost their belongings and homes several times over, as they crowd further into the island's interior. |
Faroe Islands combating overtourism with self-navigating cars
NEW YORK, US, 9 July 2025 (FC) - Rather than implementing tourist taxes, the tourism agency Visit Faroe Islands is piloting a less-aggressive approach to overtourism. Through a collaboration with 62N car rental, the agency is offering an experience called the “Auto Odyssey,” a series of self-navigating itineraries that guide tourists to lesser-known locations across the islands in an effort to reduce the strain on local hot spots. |
Easter Island not as isolated as previously thought
UPPSALA, Sweden, 7 July 2025 (Phys.org) - Archaeologists have analyzed ritual spaces and monumental structures across Polynesia, questioning the idea that Rapa Nui (Easter Island) developed in isolation following its initial settlement. |
Listings of Indonesian islands renew fears of privatization
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 8 July 2025 (Mongabay) - Listings of Indonesian islands on a foreign real estate site have sparked concerns about privatization, prompting the government to block the site domestically and clarify that islands cannot be sold to foreign entities under national law. The listings were likely aimed at attracting investment, not outright sales, but critics warn such practices enable control over island and offshore areas, often displacing fishers and triggering land conflicts. |
UN passes climate change motion
GENEVA, Switzerland, 8 July 2025 (Reuters) - The U.N. Human Rights Council passed a motion on climate change and human rights on Tuesday after the Marshall Islands withdrew a divisive amendment that called on states to recommit to a phase-out of fossil fuels. |
Japan opens aircraft base to defend islands
KYODO, Japan, 9 July 2025 (SCMP) - The Ground Self-Defence Force on Wednesday opened a new camp in southwestern Japan to host its fleet of Osprey transport aircraft, part of efforts to strengthen defences of remote islands due to fears over China’s increasing military ambitions. |
Forest connectivity key to preserving PNG's rainforest birds
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 8 July 2025 (Mongabay) - Papua New Guinea is a global hotspot of avian biodiversity, home to spectacular and behaviorally complex bird species that occur nowhere else on the planet. A new study shows that forest fragmentation reduces unique forest-specialist birds, but boosts generalist species like pigeons, sunbirds and bulbuls. Birds suffered greater declines in habitats cut off from the surrounding landscape, compared to degraded habitats that remained connected to nearby intact forests. |
Restoration, protection aim to save Belize's coral reef
PLACENCIA, Belize, 9 July 2025 (Mongabay) - Charles Darwin described the Belize Barrier Reef, a complex system of coral reefs, atolls and cayes spanning 300 kilometers and cradling the nation’s coast, as “the most remarkable reef in the West Indies.” Today, unprecedented coral bleaching, a relatively new illness called stony coral tissue loss disease and other threats to corals are negatively impacting reef health across Belize, according to local organizations and a recent reef health assessment. |
The revival of seabird watching in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 9 July 2025 (Mongabay) - Sri Lanka has recorded over 50 species of seabirds within its territorial waters, including several long-distance migratory birds that travel thousands of kilometers across oceans. As observation of seabirds is challenging, only a small group of Sri Lankan birders have focused on this unique group. In the past decade, seabird studies in the island have seen a notable revival, led by enthusiastic young birders. |
Underwater turbine is a breakthrough for tidal energy
NEW YORK, US, 7 July 2025 (AP) - Submerged in about 40 meters of water off Scotland's coast, a turbine has been spinning for more than six years to harness the power of ocean tides for electricity - a durability mark that demonstrates the technology's commercial viability. |
Pacific tuna industry threatened by climate change
SYDNEY, Australia, 8 July 2025 (ABC) - Across the immense Pacific Ocean, a silent struggle is unfolding beneath the surface. The vital tuna, a cornerstone of both the region's marine ecosystem and its economic stability, is facing unprecedented challenges. As ocean temperatures rise, waters acidify, and currents alter, tuna populations are being driven into new territories, placing Pacific Island nations and their essential fishing industries at risk. |
Papua New Guinea's 50 years of independence
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, 7 July 2025 (Guardian) - In the early 1970s, Dame Meg Taylor remembers a sense of immense optimism as Papua New Guinea stood on the brink of independence. At that time she joined the staff of Sir Michael Somare, who would later become the country’s first prime minister. Now, as Papua New Guinea prepares to mark 50 years of independence from Australia, Taylor and other prominent figures reflect on a nation failing to live up to its promise. |
A tiny Caribbean island has made a remarkable ecological recovery
BRISTOL, UK, 6 July 2025 (Wildlife) - At first glance, Sombrero Island doesn’t look like a place where life thrives. The surface of this tiny, remote, windswept land mass, 54km north-west of the Caribbean island of Anguilla, has an austere, moon-like appearance, with white-grey rock, strewn rubble and gigantic craters that are an uncomfortable reminder of the phosphate mining that devastated and permanently altered its landscape. |
Erosion eats away at this South Carolina island
BEAUFORT, US, 6 July 2025 (IP) - Katie and Tammy Helmuth sat on the remote stretch of Daufuskie Island beach for four days. Derelict houses, disconnected plastic pipes and jagged pieces of metal stuck out of the sand, keeping tourists at bay. For those four days in the June sun, the beeping and grumbling of construction equipment joined the din of the ocean waves. |
Deep-sea mining negotiators to meet under Trump shadow
NEW YORK, US, 5 July 2025 (AFP) - The International Seabed Authority (ISA) meets next week to continue debating rules for ocean floor mining in international waters, after the United States moved to unilaterally kick-start the controversial industry. The Jamaica-based body, created by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, has been working for over a decade on rules governing mineral extraction on the high seas. |
'Frogging' takes off in Borneo's jungle
KUCHING, Malaysia, 4 July 2025 (AF) - "Frogging", or the hunt for the exotic amphibians that call the rainforest home, is taking off in Malaysia's Sarawak state in Borneo. And herpetologists say few places rival Kubah National Park, around half an hour's drive from state capital Kuching. It is home to some of the world's smallest and most unusual frog species. |
Almost 11,000 CalMac ferry crossings cancelled
GLASGOW, UK, 6 July 2025 (Herald) - Almost 11,000 sailings were cancelled due to technical faults with ferries in Scotland since 2023, new research can reveal. Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene criticised the SNP for “causing chaos” for islanders after new research from his party revealed the extent of disruption due to technical problems. |
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands protections are on the line
SAN FRANCISCO, US, 3 July 2025 (SFGATE) - A new effort is now underway to open the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to commercial fishing, led by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, a regional U.S. agency based in Hawaii. |
From ridges to reefs, SIDS lead with big environmental moves
NAIROBI, Kenya, 3 July 2025 (UNEP) - From rising seas to disappearing forests, the world’s small island developing states are facing some of the fiercest fallout from the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. Last year, the world adopted the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, which charts a course towards sustainable, resilient development. Here are five ways UNEP is helping to translate the agenda’s global targets into action on the ground. |
The unique health challenges faced by Kiribati
NEW YORK, US, 3 July 2025 (MSF) - Batiua (pronounced Besiwa) is the sole medical assistant on Abaiang island, a sliver of land just 23 miles long and less than 300 feet wide in the Pacific nation of Kiribati. With support from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) doctors, she provides essential care for a community of 6,000 people with limited resources, helping to tackle issues like malnutrition, infectious diseases, and pregnancy complications in a small primary health care center surrounded by coconut trees. |
Adopting AI and advanced technologies: Why SIDS ought to act quickly
LONDON, UK, 3 July 2025 (ODI) - As the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) reshapes the global economy, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have a powerful opportunity to lead – by embracing innovation and digital transformation in order to build climate resilient, innovative and knowledge-based economies tailored to their strengths. |
Falklands to launch Environment Trust
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, 4 July 2025 (MercoPress) - The Falkland Islands Executive Council has approved the establishment of an Environment Trust to deliver carbon reduction, biodiversity and land recovery projects in the Falkland Islands. Any hydrocarbons licensees who are in the exploitation term of their licenses will be required to make quarterly payments to the Trust based on the scale of their operational emissions. These payments are intended to both encourage licensees to minimize their emissions and to fund environmental projects. |
Japan islanders sleepless after 900 earthquakes in two weeks
LONDON, UK, 3 July 2025 (BBC) - More than 900 earthquakes have shaken a remote and sparsely populated island chain in southern Japan over two weeks, keeping residents anxious and awake all night. About 700 people live on seven of the 12 Tokara islands. There are no hospitals on some of these far-flung islands - the nearest is at least six hours by ferry to the prefectural capital, Kagoshima. |
Why cruise lines are betting big on their own destinations
NEW YORK, US, 3 July 2025 (USA Today) - Cruise lines are heavily investing in private islands to enhance their offerings and control the guest experience. These destinations offer exclusive amenities and activities, often for an additional charge, supplementing onboard experiences. The Bahamas' proximity to Florida and government cooperation make it a prime location for these private islands. |
Study urges legal protection for Sulawesi's endangered bear cuscus
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 3 July 2025 (Mongabay) - A new study has shown the first habitat suitability model for the endangered bear cuscus in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi, showing its limited and fragmented range, much of which is threatened by mining and poaching, and calling for increased legal protection and landscape connectivity. |
Pacific nations lead in ocean conservation
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 2 July 2025 (BirdLife) - From creating the world’s largest Marine Protected Area to launching the biggest Indigenous-led marine reserve on earth, Pacific nations are redefining ocean conservation. In parallel, we are supporting coastal and island communities across the region to turn bold conservation visions into reality. |
More and more tourists are flocking to Antarctica
HOBART, Australia, 2 July 2025 (Conversation) - The number of tourists heading to Antarctica has been skyrocketing. From fewer than 8,000 a year about three decades ago, nearly 125,000 tourists flocked to the icy cotinent flocked to the icy continent in 2023–24. The trend is likely to continue in the long term. Unchecked tourism growth in Antarctica risks undermining the very environment that draws visitors. This would be bad for operators and tourists. It would also be bad for Antarctica – and the planet. |
Homes are more than walls and a roof for Indigenous people
SYDNEY, Australia, 3 July 2025 (Conversation) - Australia is experiencing a housing crisis. But for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the challenge runs deeper than high rents and limited supply. A major problem is that housing in Australia is rarely designed with Indigenous communities in mind. |
Madagascar anchors plastic waste solutions into national dialogue
GLAND, Switzerland, 2 July 2025 (IUCN) - Sometimes, a campaign finds its place not with noise - but with alignment. That’s what happened on Sainte Marie Island during World Environment Day 2025. And it’s how the IslandPlas campaign, under the IUCN-led Zero Plastic Waste Islands initiative, entered Madagascar’s national dialogue - not through a press release, but through genuine connection. |
Trump tightens US policy on Cuba
LONDON, UK, 1 July 2025 (BBC) - US President Donald Trump has signed a memorandum which will impose tighter restrictions on Cuba. The White House said it would enforce an existing ban on American tourists going to Cuba more stringently, and oppose calls by international organisations such as the UN to end the US economic embargo on the Caribbean nation. |
Fiji says China military base not welcome
SYDNEY, Australia, 2 July 2025 (Reuters) - Fiji is opposed to China setting up a military base in the Pacific Islands, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said on Wednesday, adding that it did not need such a base to project power, as shown by an intercontinental ballistic missile test. |
DOCARE marine patrols now on all islands
MAUI, Hawaii, 2 July 2025 (MN) - Marine patrol units of the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) are now active on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i Island, Maui and Kaua‘i. DOCARE Chief Jason Redulla said, “Our marine patrol units are vital to our mission of protecting the natural and cultural resources of Hawai‘i, particularly when the state has more than 700 miles of coastline and we’re responsible for law enforcement from the high water mark of beaches, to three miles seaward.” |
A gentler alternative to antibiotics to fight coral disease
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, 2 July 2025 (Mongabay) - Stony coral tissue loss disease (also known as SCTLD) spreads rapidly, causing high mortality rates among reef-building corals in the Caribbean. The most effective treatment known to date is the application of an antibiotic paste, but this poses a major health concern due to the development of antimicrobial resistance, which in turn exposes sea life to threats over the long term. Scientists have found that applying chlorine to affected reefs, delivered in a cocoa butter paste, can be both effective and more environmentally friendly, though it’s less effective than antibiotic treatment. |
Pakistan takes baby steps on ocean protection
KARACHI, Pakistan, 1 July 2025 (Mongabay) - In September 2024, Churna Island and the sea surrounding it became Pakistan’s second designated marine protected area, home to a variety of corals and serving as a nursery for fish. It followed the 2017 designation of the country’s very first MPA around Astola Island, a haven for coral, birds and sea turtles to the east. While Pakistan’s first two MPAs are small and have yet to be fully implemented, they represent baby steps in the country’s nascent effort to protect its marine environment. |
A tide of change waves in Pemba
GLAND, Switzerland, 2 July 2025 (IUCN) - In the heart of Pemba Island, local communities, youth leaders, civil society groups, and government officials gathered in a spirit of shared responsibility. What took place was not just a cleanup - it was a coordinated, community-driven action that collected, sorted, and documented 1.5 tonnes of plastic waste from coastal hotspots in just one day. The momentum was real, the leadership was local, and the message was unmistakable: the work of protecting Zanzibar’s coasts has entered a new phase - one rooted in action, inclusion, and collaboration. |
British OTs miss final deadline to crack down on 'dirty money'
LONDON, UK, 1 July 2025 (Guardian) - The UK is edging towards a constitutional showdown with some of its overseas territories (OTs) after offshore financial havens missed a final deadline to introduce corporate transparency measures aimed at cracking down on "dirty money". Five OTs including the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda had pledged to introduce registers of company ownership, accessible to those with a “legitimate interest”, by June this year. |
Heroic agriculture on Tenerife
TENERIFE, Canary Islands, 1 July 2025 (SF) - Tenerife is internationally known as the island of eternal spring. And here we meet the Slow Food Farm Finca Marañuela, an example of heroic agriculture, a plot of land founded by the family of Felipe García in the valley of La Orotava. Slow Food Farms are our response to the climate and environmental crisis. By bringing farmers together in a vast network, we empower the key players in the food system to unite, amplify their voices, share experiences, and work towards an agroecological transition. |
Ancient eco-friendly Sri Lankan pilgrimage brings modern threats
KATARAGAMA, Sri Lanka, 1 July 2025 (Mongabay) - For centuries, barefoot pilgrims have walked through the arid jungles and lush forests of Sri Lanka’s east and south, following a sacred route to a fabled shrine in Kataragama in the deep south, in what is popularly known as a pilgrimage on foot, or Pada Yatra. What began as an eco-friendly tradition with just a few hundred devotees of the deity Skanda, who is believed to reside within the famous shrine, has now grown significantly in scale, with this year’s turnout already surpassing 2024’s record of 31,000, sparking concerns over the pilgrimage’s growing ecological footprint. |
Bougainville fought a war to shut down Panguna mine
LONDON, UK, 29 June 2025 (Guardian) - Abandoned three decades ago by owners Rio Tinto, the unremediated Panguna mine remains less a scar carved through the middle of Bougainville than an open wound that has never been allowed to heal. Beneath the rusting, twisted hulks of the mine’s gargantuan buildings, there are tiny signs of movement: dozens of families, including their children, in the grim, desperate work of digging by hand for flecks of precious metal. |
Study reveals surge in illegal arachnid trade in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines, 30 June 2025 (Mongabay) - New research by wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC reveals a thriving online trade in live tarantulas and scorpions in the Philippines, with more than 16,000 arachnids found offered for sale on Facebook in 2020 and 2022. Most traded species are nonnative, but native and threatened tarantulas are also being poached and sold, often before being scientifically described, raising red flags for conservationists. |
What a new archaeological study tells us about PNG sea trade
MELBOURNE, Australia, 30 June 2025 (Conversation) - Australia’s closest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, is a place of remarkable cultural diversity. Home to cultures speaking more than 800 languages, this region has been interconnected by seafaring trade networks for thousands of years. Because seafaring was most often undertaken by men, it has long been assumed by anthropologists and archaeologists that information sharing between different cultures came via men. Our new archaeological sheds light on the often overlooked role of women in developing past trade relationships. |
CNMI residents voice deep concerns over US military expansion
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 30 June 2025 (RNZ) - Tinian residents of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) have voiced urgent concerns over potential environmental and cultural damage from a major US military training plan during a series of tense public meetings last week. |
'Climate is our biggest war', warns CEO of Cop30
LONDON, UK, 29 June 2025 (Guardian) - Ana Toni, the chief executive of Cop30, the UN climate summit to be held in Brazil this November, is worried. With only four months before the crucial global summit, the world’s response to the climate crisis is in limbo. Fewer than 30 of the 200 countries that will gather in the Amazonian city of Belém have drafted plans, required by the 2015 Paris agreement, to stave off the worst ravages of climate breakdown. |
Quemoy Island caught between two competing political systems
BEIJING, China, 29 June 2025 (SCMP) - On Quemoy Island, off the coast of Fujian province, people passing the statue of Chiang Kai-shek in the main residential area of Jincheng can see an inscription in Chinese characters: “Saviour of the Nation.” In 2025, it is an oddity for Taiwanese and mainland Chinese alike. |
Zanzibar's baobab trees used to be a valued part of society
NEW YORK, US, 29 June 2025 (Conversation) - Baobab trees may be a proxy for measuring long-term use of land by humans. They live long, have economic benefits, and are used as shrines and markers on landscapes. Archaeologists have long suspected an association between baobabs and human settlements. Recent research findings suggest that the Unguja Island community’s protection of baobabs today is rooted in stewardship that extended deep into the past. |
Thousands of Scots worked on board whaling vessels in South Georgia
LONDON, UK, 27 June 2025 (BBC) - Gibbie Fraser was a teenager when he decided the best way to afford a motorbike like his friends on the west side of Shetland was to join the crew of a whaling vessel. Gibbie is one of several former Scottish whalers contributing to a new digital time capsule exploring the country's forgotten history in modern whaling. The Whalers' Memory Bank, launched in Dundee, aims to capture a snapshot of life onboard the whale-catching vessels around South Georgia and Antarctica between 1904 and 1965. |
Countries should keep their statehood if land disappears under sea
LONDON, UK, 28 June 2025 (Guardian) - States should be able to continue politically even if their land disappears underwater, legal experts have said. The conclusions come from a long-awaited report by the International Law Commission that examined what existing law means for continued statehood and access to key resources if sea levels continue to rise due to climate breakdown. |
Power theft is rife on Greek islands
ATHENS, Greece, 28 June 2025 (ekathimerini) - Hundreds of hotels, cafes, bakeries, supermarkets, as well as packing plants, cheese factories and other workshops on Greek islands with high tourism activity have applied a risky but profitable source of support for their coffers through electricity theft. More than 200 violators were identified by the crews of power grid operator DEDDIE in 1,150 inspections they recently carried out on Crete, Rhodes, Naxos, Tinos, Mykonos, Santorini and Ikaria. The total value of energy consumed but not paid for exceeds 1 million euros, DEDDIE reported on Thursday. |
Two islands have joined the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge
LONDON, UK, 27 June 2025 (Oceanographic) - The Chilean island of Robinson Crusoe in the Juan Fernandez Archipelago and Chincha Norte in the Guano Islands of Peru have joined the ambitious Island-Ocean Connection Challenge, an international conservation challenge to restore and rewild 40 globally significant island-ocean ecosystems by 2030. |
Millions of years of evolution could be wiped out on Socotra Island
NEW YORK, US, 28 June 2025 (NBC) - Sitting off the Horn of Africa, the Yemeni island of Socotra was largely left to its own devices for centuries, its few guests arriving to trade for aromatic frankincense, the healing plant aloe and the crimson sap of the dragon’s blood tree, used for dyes. Some, including conservationist Kay Van Damme, have called it the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean and along with other experts, he is warning that millions of years of evolution on Socotra could be under “serious threat.” |
Pregnant Haitian women dying because of deportation fears
LONDON, UK, 27 June 2025 (Guardian) - Haitian Lourda Jean Pierre died shortly after giving birth at her one-room shack in the Dominican Republic after seeing images of pregnant women and new mothers being rounded up in hospitals by immigration agents. |
Harris Tweed Hebrides lands high profile order from Nike
STORNOWAY, UK, 26 June 2025 (HN) - Harris Tweed Hebrides has announced a global collaboration with Nike on a limited-edition release of the iconic Dunk Low. This collaboration pays tribute to a defining moment in the modern story of Harris Tweed when in 2004, homeweaver Donald John Mackay received a landmark order from Nike for 10,000 metres of cloth. |
Inside the Pacific's largest exotic animal export industry
SYDNEY, Australia, 20 June 2025 (ABC) - On the outskirts of Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands, a row of metal cages clings to the side of a forest-covered hill. Inside, birds screech and shuffle. A large hornbill pecks at the wire with its giant curved beak. Another hops restlessly from its perch to the ground below and back up again. Next to them are huddles of red and green parrots, gently cooing pigeons and white cockatoos, their feathers dusted brown with dirt. |
'Significant' step taken towards tunnels between Shetland Isles
GLASGOW, UK, 26 June 2025 (Herald) - A new study is to be prepared on a series of underground links between four of the Shetland Isles, linking them permanently and removing the reliance on ferries. Councillors on the islands say that tunnels could be a way to “future-proof” their communities and reverse population drain. |
Tuvalu citizens enter ballot for climate-linked visa to live in Australia
LONDON, UK, 26 June 2025 (Guardian) - Almost a third of Tuvalu citizens are seeking a landmark visa in the context of climate change to live in Australia as rising seas threaten their palm-fringed shores, official figures show. Australia is offering visas to 280 Tuvalu citizens each year under a climate migration deal Canberra has billed as “the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world”. |
Ancient forest discovered hidden on the Falkland Islands
CAMBRIDGE, UK, 25 June 2025 (Earth.com) - The Falkland Islands greet visitors with low grasses, rocky ridges, and relentless sea spray. Yet beneath that stern exterior, researchers have just uncovered a buried forest that flourished long before humans or sheep ever set foot on the archipelago. |
With a primitive canoe, scientists replicate prehistoric seafaring
LONDON, UK, 25 June 2025 (Reuters) - Scientists now have undertaken an experimental voyage across a stretch of the East China Sea, paddling from Ushibi in eastern Taiwan to Japan's Yonaguni Island in a dugout canoe to demonstrate how such a trip may have been accomplished some 30,000 years ago as people spread to various Pacific Islands. |
Atiu Island mobilises to combat invasive species
ATIU, Cook Islands, 26 June 2025 (SPREP) - Atiu Island is taking decisive action to tackle invasive species such as the African tulip tree, rats, feral cats, and wild pigs with support from SPREP. These species disrupt the island’s fragile environment and pose risks to its water sources, forests, and climate resilience. |
Nusumetu Community Conservation Site
NORTH TANNA, Vanuatu, 25 June 2025 (SPREP) - In the Pacific, Melanesian communities such as those in Nusumetu, nestled in Green Hills of North Tanna in Vanuatu, myths are not just stories, they are maps of identity, land rights, and spiritual connection. The yam myth of Nusumetu is centred on why the land and forests must be respected and preserved. |
Cook Islands seabed mining consultations raise fishery concerns
RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, 23 June 2025 (CIN) - Concerns over the potential impact of seabed mining on fish stocks - a vital food source and livelihood for outer islanders - dominated the recent consultations hosted by Moana Minerals in the Ngaputoru islands of Atiu, Mauke and Mitiaro. Despite initial scepticism and caution, the seabed mining company's effort to share their findings and address community concerns saw a generally positive reception across the three sister islands. |
Smaller islands offer crucial refuge for endangered mammals in Wallacea
LONDON, UK, 25 June 2025 (Phys.org) - A new study reveals that smaller islands within the Wallacea biodiversity hotspot are crucial refuges for endangered vertebrates, providing higher-quality habitats and supporting populations. These findings challenge conventional conservation approaches and emphasize the importance of prioritizing habitat management on these smaller landmasses. |
Debate around single authority for Western Isles
LONDON, UK, 24 June 2025 (BBC) - Some councillors have renewed calls for a single island authority (SIA) to run services in the Western Isles. It would bring together Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, NHS Western Isles' board and Hebridean Housing Partnership in one organisation. The calls came during the comhairle's policy and resources committee, which approved a medium-term financial plan to tackle a potential budget deficit of £26.5m by 2030. |
Mediterranean island sold to the Trump family
LONDON, UK, 24 June 2025 (Guardian) - Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have spent more than $1bn on Sazan, a small island off the coast of Albania. It will become a luxury resort – once the unexploded ordnance has been removed - but the development has already worried environmentalists such as Olsi Nika, a marine biologist and the director of the NGO EcoAlbania. “This area is in the Karaburan-Sazan maritime national park. It means the beaches and waters within 2km (1.25 miles) of the shore are protected. What will large public works, the building of docks, yacht traffic and sewage run-off do to the place?” |
Tasmanian leaders struggle with a basic fact
LONDON, UK, 23 June 2025 (Guardian) - Tasmania has a complicated relationship with its natural beauty. Australia’s smallest state is marketed for its “clean and green” environment and produce, and the government runs tourism campaigns with the tagline "come down for air" that lean heavily on its stunning landscapes, coastlines and wildlife. But it also has a reputation for backing environmentally damaging industries that grab national, and sometimes international, attention: hydroelectric dam expansion, logging of old-growth forests, and, most recently, salmon farming. |
Biocultural landscape in Sri Lanka receives overdue protection
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 24 June 2025 (Mongabay) - Nestled in the eastern edge of Sri Lanka’s Uva province, Nilgala stands out as a landscape of remarkable ecological and cultural importance. Long overlooked in mainstream conservation efforts despite its significance, Nilgala finally received due recognition on June 2 when it was declared a forest reserve covering its full extent of 40,685 hectares. |
PNG Highlands is bearing the brunt of gun violence
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 24 June 2025 (RNZ) - The Papua New Guinea Highlands, a region celebrated for its stunning natural beauty, is increasingly overshadowed by the escalating threat of small arms violence. This isn't the tribal warfare of old, fought with bows and arrows under unwritten rules. This is a brutal new era defined by assault rifles and modern weaponry, leading to unprecedented levels of death and indiscriminate violence. |
Tongass defenders blast Trump's rollback of roadless rule
JUNEAU, US, 23 June 2025 (EJ) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced plans to strip Roadless Rule protections nationwide, including from Alaska’s Tongass National Forest (TNF) located on an archipelago of islands. The move is particularly significant for the TNF, where eliminating the Roadless Rule would remove critical safeguards against industrial logging and damaging roadbuilding from over 9 million undeveloped acres within the 17-million-acre forest. |
Yantai's Changdao pursuing Zero-Carbon Island Development Plan
BEIJING, China, 23 June 2025 (CD) - Embarking on a transformative journey, Changdao archipelago in Yantai, East China's Shandong province, is dedicated to crafting an international zero-carbon oasis. In its current endeavors, Changdao is crafting six comprehensive zero-carbon systems, encompassing emissions-free transportation, sustainable living, eco-friendly tourism, green livelihoods, a holistic zero-carbon environment, and island-wide carbon neutrality on Miaodao Island. |
Wildfires rage on Greek island of Chios
LONDON, UK, 23 June 2025 (BBC) - A state of emergency has been declared on the Greek island of Chios where five separate wildfires are burning and being fanned by strong winds. Residents in 17 communities have been evacuated and an arson investigation has been launched into what caused the different fronts to start is such a short amount of time. |
Battle to save Raja Ampat in Papua as nickel industry expands
SYDNEY, Australia, 22 June 2025 (ABC) - With its crystal-clear waters and picturesque islands, Raja Ampat - often described as "the last paradise on Earth" - has long been a dream destination for tourists. But this archipelago off Indonesia's east coast has emerged as the latest battleground between groups at odds over the country's nickel industry. |
Island rivers carve passageways through coral reefs
CAMBRIDGE, US, 20 June 2025 (MIT) - Volcanic islands, such as the islands of Hawaii and the Caribbean, are surrounded by coral reefs that encircle an island in a labyrinthine, living ring. A coral reef is punctured at points by reef passes - wide channels that cut through the coral and serve as conduits for ocean water and nutrients to filter in and out. These watery passageways provide circulation throughout a reef, helping to maintain the health of corals by flushing out freshwater and transporting key nutrients. |
French scientists discover new blood type in Guadeloupe woman
NEW YORK, US, 21 June 2025 (CBS) - The woman is the only known carrier of a new blood type, dubbed "Gwada negative," the French Blood Establishment (EFS) said. The discovery was made 15 years after researchers received a blood sample from a patient who was undergoing routine tests ahead of a surgery. |
Love-seeking Thai women visit breast-shaped island
BEIJING, China, 20 June 2025 (SCMP) - People are flocking to an island in Thailand that is shaped like a woman’s chest to pray for romantic luck. The unusual ritual takes place on Koh Nom Sao, or Breast Milk Island, in Prachuap Khiri Khan province in the west of the country. The island is just a 10-minute boat ride from the mainland and so-called worshippers often arrive bearing bras as symbolic offerings of gratitude. |
Turning the Maldives protected areas into real conservation models
GLAND, Switzerland, 20 June 2025 (IUCN) - Renowned for its vibrant coral reefs and lush mangroves, the Maldives spans 26 natural atolls and 1,200 coral islands, each boasting striking natural features. Among them, protected areas such as Sh. Farukolhu Island stand out as critical habitats and breeding grounds for threatened species. IUCN is supporting its State Member, the Government of Maldives, to turn this and 14 other “paper parks” within Boduthiladhunmathi atoll into effectively and equitably managed protected areas. |
Orkney council ends investigation into leaving UK
GLASGOW, UK, 17 June 2025 (BBC) - Orkney Islands Council has accepted it must remain part of the UK - after spending two years exploring opportunities for greater autonomy. Officials looked into various models for "alternative governance". These included changing their status in the UK or even potentially becoming a self-governing territory of Norway. A report to councillors concluded the proposals were too difficult and too expensive and members agreed to investigate a single authority model to reform how public services are delivered instead. |
Western Isles council pauses plans for a visitor levy
GLASGOW, UK 18 June 2025 (BBC) - Plans to develop a "tourist tax" for the Western Isles have been put on hold. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, along with other Scottish local authorities, were given powers to introduce a visitor levy on overnight accommodation in September. But a report to councillors said a cost benefit analysis suggested it would have "marginal benefits", and could potentially harm the islands' tourism economy. Officers said the pause would also allow time for a potential introduction of a "point-of-entry" levy to be charged at ports and airports. |
Ionian islands poised for infrastructure revolution
NEW YORK, US, 17 June 2025 (TTW) - The Ionian Islands are set to undergo a sweeping transformation as Greece unveils a comprehensive multi-million-euro infrastructure plan aimed at modernizing key ports and upgrading water systems across the region. |
Ecojustice heads back to court as Mowi appeals wild salmon win
VANCOUVER, Canada, 17 June 2025 (Ecojustice) - The case goes before the Federal Court of Appeal after salmon farming company Mowi Canada West Inc. launched an appeal of a June 2024 Federal Court ruling that upheld the Minister of Fisheries’ decision not to renew licenses for open-net pen fish farms in B.C.’s Discovery Islands. |
Four islands off Sumatra belong to Aceh
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 18 June 2025 (CNA) - Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto has ruled that four contested islands off the northwestern coast of Sumatra belong to Aceh, putting an end to the province’s long-running dispute with neighbouring North Sumatra. |
Remote Japan island aims to become global manga hub
KAMIJIMI, Japan, 18 June 2025 (KN) - Visitors to Takaikamishima, in western Japan, are welcomed by a colorful cast of characters from Japanese manga which far outnumber the island's 11 residents where a revitalization project is underway. |
Three years left to limit warming to 1.5C, leading scientists warn
LONDON, UK, 19 June 2025 (BBC) - The Earth could be doomed to breach the symbolic 1.5C warming limit in as little as three years at current levels of carbon dioxide emissions. That's the stark warning from more than 60 of the world's leading climate scientists in the most up-to-date assessment of the state of global warming. |
New Zealand halts Cook Islands funding over China deals
LONDON, UK, 19 June 2025 (BBC) - New Zealand has paused millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands over wide-ranging deals that its smaller Pacific neighbour had made with China. Wellington, the Cook Islands' biggest funder, said it was blindsided by the deals that were struck in February, covering infrastructure, tourism, technology and perhaps crucially, deep-sea mineral exploration. |
Fair Isle bird observatory reopens six years after fire
FAIR ISLE, UK, 19 June 2025 (BBC) - Fair Isle's famous bird observatory has reopened - six years after the building was destroyed by fire. The £10m project has been a huge undertaking for the remote community, which lies half way between Orkney and Shetland. The island, which is just three miles long with a population of 50, is considered one of the best places in Europe to see migrating birds. |
Antarctic seal numbers falling drastically due to melting sea ice
LONDON, UK, 18 June 2025 (Guardian) - Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey have been monitoring the seal population in the sub-Antarctic since the 1970s, looking in particular at three different seal species on Signy Island. The study found found Weddell seals, which rely on stable sea ice to rest, breed and feed, had declined by 54% since 1977. Similarly, Antarctic fur seals, which breed on land but are affected by food chain shifts, have declined by 47%. |
Expedition to 'real home of the pirates of the Caribbean'
LONDON, UK, 19 June 2025 (Guardian) - The Pirates of the Caribbean is a $4.5bn swashbuckling film franchise and Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham are among marauding buccaneers who have captured imaginations over the centuries. But almost nothing is known about the life and times of actual pirates. Now a leading British marine archaeologist is co-directing an expedition that has been allowed for the first time to search for pirate ships off Nassau on the island of New Providence, a notorious pirate hideout 300 years ago. |
Ship disasters threaten widespread pollution on Sri Lankan coasts
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, 19 June 2025 (Mongabay) - Sri Lanka is once again facing a significant marine environmental crisis, as tiny plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, have begun washing ashore along the island’s northern coastline. This time, the pollution is linked to the sinking of the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3 off of Kerala, India. The unfolding incident has triggered fears of a repeat of the X-Press Pearl disaster in 2021, the worst maritime disaster to have occurred in Sri Lanka, significantly impacting marine ecosystems and coastal communities. |
A deep-sea expedition in the South Sandwich Islands
NEW DELHI, India, 16 June 2025 (IDR) - A recent deep-sea expedition to one of the most remote locations on Earth, the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic, has uncovered stunning new ecosystems surrounding hydrothermal vents. The discovery, which includes vibrant coral gardens and new species, was part of a 35-day mission aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research Vessel. |
Pacific Islands should boost women's participation in work
SYDNEY, Australia, 17 June 2025 (Reuters) - Less than half of working age women across the Pacific Islands are employed due to outdated laws and other barriers, the World Bank said in a new report on Tuesday, and said closing the gender gap could boost economic growth. |
PNG PM Marape rejects deep-sea mining
NICE, France, 16 June 2025 (Mongabay) - PNG PM Marape opposed deep-sea mining at UNOC3. Contradicting his position, however, is the governor of PNG’s New Ireland province, Walter Schnaubelt, who has vocally supported mining the Solwara 1 project and reportedly met with company and national government officials about extracting copper and gold from the seabed. |
Race to mine metals for EV batteries threatens marine paradise
LONDON, UK, 15 June 2025 (BBC) - Stark images, captured from a drone by environmental campaigners appear to show how nickel mining has stripped forests and polluted waters in one of the most biodiverse marine habitats on Earth. The Raja Ampat archipelago - a group of small islands in Indonesia's Southwest Papua Province - has been dubbed the "Amazon of the Seas". But mining for nickel - an ingredient in electric vehicle batteries and in stainless steel - has ramped up there in recent years, according to the organisation Global Witness . |
Macron visits Greenland in show of European unity
NUUK, Greenland, 15 June 2025 (BBC) - In a sign of Greenland's growing importance, French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting the Arctic island today, in what experts say is a show of European unity and a signal to Donald Trump. |
'Glimmer of hope' for marine life at UN Ocean conference
NICE, France, 13 June 2025 (BBC) - The UN Ocean conference has been heralded a success, with more countries ratifying a key treaty to protect marine life and more progress on curbing plastics and illegal fishing in our seas. The key aim was to get the High Seas Treaty ratified by 60 countries to bring it into force. The agreement was signed two years ago to put 30% of the ocean into protected areas. Fifty countries had ratified by Friday, but dozens more promised to ratify by the end of the year. This and other progress on plastics and illegal fishing appears to have restored faith in the ability of governments to work together. |
Cuba's students call for resignations and strikes
HAVANA, Cuba, 12 June 2025 (Guardian) - Having endured electricity blackouts, water shortages, transport failures and the spiralling cost of food, Cuba's students appear to have finally lost patience with their government over a ferocious price hike for the country’s faltering internet. |
'No Ocean Declaration without small islands'
NICE, France, 12 June 2025 (UN) - With one day remaining before the conclusion of UNOC3, delegates in Nice are preparing for the adoption of the summit’s eagerly anticipated political declaration. SIDS, facing the direct effects of climate change and marine resource decline, are pushing to ensure their perspectives are reflected in global ocean policy. |
Pacific islands plan for world's first Indigenous-led ocean reserve
NICE, France, 13 June 2025 (Mongabay) - The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have announced their commitment to create a massive multinational Melanesian Ocean Reserve. If implemented as envisioned, the reserve would become the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve, covering an area nearly as big as the Amazon Rainforest. |
Can the US salvage its Pacific Islands strategy?
WASHINGTON, US, 12 June 2025 (Conversation) - Since 2018, the United States has worked, albeit often haltingly, to regain its footing with Pacific Island countries. It’s done this largely by reflecting a sentiment familiar in Pacific capitals: the region is not a geopolitical backwater, but a crucial strategic zone in the 21st century. |
Ancient underwater island packed with rare earth elements
NEW YORK, US, 12 June 2025 (PM) - Part of an undersea plateau about 750 miles off the coast of Brazil was once a tropical island above the ocean. This submerged island is rich in ferromanganese crusts, which contain valuable elements like nickel and cobalt as well as rare earth elements like yttrium. China controls the vast majority of the rare earths industry, so a fight is already underway to determine which country - if any - should claim the newly discovered island. |
First three regions named as World Restoration Flagships
NICE, France, 13 June 2025 (IPS) - Mexico, Spain, and East Africa are the first three regions named as World Restoration Flagships. They have been recognized for their work tackling invasive species, pollution, and unsustainable exploitation. Altogether, these initiatives are restoring nearly five million hectares of marine ecosystems, which is nearly the size of Costa Rica, the co-host of UNOC3 along with France. |
UNOC3 closes with historic commitments: activists still demand action
NICE, France, 13 June 2025 (IPS) - UNOC3 concluded today in Nice with an urgent call for governments to translate bold words into concrete action to protect the world’s oceans. One of the most anticipated achievements of the conference was progress on the High Seas Treaty - officially known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement. With 51 ratifications confirmed and 60 needed for entry into force, the treaty promises to enable the creation of marine protected areas in international waters, a crucial tool to achieving the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030. |
SA's marine algal bloom is still killing almost everything in its path
ADELAIDE, Australia, 12 June 2025 (Conversation) - South Australian beaches have been awash with foamy, discoloured water and dead marine life for months. The problem hasn’t gone away; it has spread. Devastating scenes of death and destruction mobilised locals along the Fleurieu Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. |
Concerns over Pacific Garbage Patch clean-up
SAIPAN, CNMI, 13 June 2025 (RNZ) - An expert says there is pushback from environmental groups when it comes to cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They have raised concerns that clean-up efforts could destroy an unintended but now-established ocean ecosystem. While the "patch" isn't a solid island of trash, it is a dense concentration of microplastics and floating debris, which accumulate due to oceanic gyres. Efforts to clean it up could cause massive bycatch and harm species that have come to depend on it. |
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