Indonesia's deforestation surges 66% in 2025
| | JAKARTA, Indonesia, 28 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Indonesia’s forests, long held up as a case of tentative progress, are again under pressure. New analysis shows deforestation rose sharply in 2025, reversing several years of decline and returning to levels not seen in nearly a decade. The implications extend beyond forest loss, as rising deforestation could derail Indonesia’s climate goals, including its target of turning the forestry and land use sector into a net carbon sink by 2030. |
Massive native ant decline over thousands of years in Fiji
| | SUVA, Fiji, 28 April 2026 (Mongabay) - Scientists conducting a DNA analysis of ant specimens collected from across the Fiji islands in the Pacific have been able to reconstruct how entire ant populations rose and fell over thousands of years. The findings, based on specimens held at museums, showed that nearly 80% of the archipelago’s 88 endemic ant species have been declining since humans first arrived there 3,000 years ago, while a small number of nonnative species expanded their populations. |
Coral reefs on a remote archipelago shrugged off a massive heatwave
| | LONDON, UK, 27 April 2026 (NS) - Coral reefs on a chain of islands off Western Australia were almost untouched by a prolonged heatwave that devastated corals in other regions in early 2025. Researchers hope that learning the secret of extreme heat tolerance in these corals will help to protect reefs across the globe, which are in danger of being wiped out by global warming. |
Data centre could 'transform Alderney's economy'
| | ALDERNEY, Channel Islands, 27 April 2026 (BBC) - A data centre could be "economically transformational" for Alderney, a study has found. The States of Alderney asked an independent company to carry out the research to see whether a centre could, in principle, be built and operate on the island. |
China is remaking the South China Sea with a return to island-building
| | SYDNEY, Australia, 27 April 2026 (Interpreter) - After nearly a decade of relative pause, China has resumed large-scale island-building in the South China Sea. Satellite images of Antelope Reef show a once-submerged feature rapidly transformed into what could become one of Beijing’s largest outposts in the region. It signals a renewed willingness to reshape maritime geography as a means of consolidating control. |
How climate change threatens the economic backbone of the Pacific
| | LONDON, UK, 27 April 2026 (BBC) - The vast Pacific Ocean and the islands dotted within it produce more than half of the world's tuna. Among the islands are 33 scattered across the centre that encompass the country of Kiribati. Here more than 70% of government revenues come from selling tuna fishing licenses to foreign fleets - the highest proportion of any nation. |
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IWRA |
 | | 1st Islands Water Congress 4-6 Sept, 2024, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 12th Anatomy of Islands symposium 26-28 Sept, 2024, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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CIS |
| | Critical Island Studies 4th international conference 3-4 Oct, 2024, Manila, Philippines |
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CBD |
| | COP16 21 Oct-1 Nov, 2024, Cali, Colombia |
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UNFCCC |
| | COP29 11-22 November, 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan |
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ISLAND DYNAMICS |
| | DARKNESS II conference, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland |
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JICAS |
| | Islands And Island Studies conference 3-7 June, 2025, Jersey, Channel Islands |
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UNITED NATIONS |
| | UN Ocean Conference 9-13 June, 2025, Nice, France |
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UPEI |
| | 3rd international conference on SIS and SNIJs 16-20 June, 2025, Charlottetown, PEI |
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GSIS |
| | Global Sustainable Islands Summit 20-22 April, 2026, Gran Canaria, Spain |
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SICRI |
| | Island Studies International Conference 25-28 June, 2026, Tacloban City, Leyte Islands, Philippines |
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ISISA |
| | 20th Islands of the World Conference 7-11 July 2026, Shinan County, Jeollanam-do, South Korea |
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SPREP |
| | 11th Pacific Islands Conference for Nature Conservation and Protected Areas, 7–11 September 2026, Noumea, New Caledonia |
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