Tasmania’s gains against kelp-grazing sea urchins threatened
| | HOBART, Australia, 19 October 2026 (Mongabay) - The long-spined sea urchin is an invasive species in the waters around Tasmania, Australia, and it’s been munching away the state’s kelp forests. A state program offers financial incentives to support a commercial fishery for the urchins and their highly valuable roe, with the aim of reducing urchin numbers in targeted areas so that kelp can rebound. Researchers say the program has been effective in helping to recover some of the state’s kelp forests. Now, however, they warn that progress is threatened by a shift to short-term funding cycles that undermine stability for harvesters and put kelp recovery on wobbly ground. |
Syros amphibians face extinction as Greek island’s wetlands vanish
| | LONDON, UK, 19 October 2026 (Bioengineer) - On the Greek island of Syros, the amphibians and reptiles that once thrived in its wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate. The Balkan Water Frog and the Balkan Terrapin, both recorded on Syros in the nineteenth century, have now vanished entirely. The European Green Toad survives at only a single known breeding site, and the status of the Grass Snake remains uncertain. |
Tap water no longer drinkable in Longyearbyen in Svalbard
| | LONDON, UK, 19 October 2026 (Guardian) - Residents of a remote town in Norway that is in one of the fastest-warming places in the world have been told they must no longer drink tap water due to heavy metal contamination that scientists have linked to the thawing permafrost. Longyearbyen, in the archipelago of Svalbard, gets its main drinking water supply from a 2.5km long dammed lake called Isdammen, or “ice pond”. Higher temperatures as a result of the climate crisis have thawed permafrost, leading to newly exposed bedrock leaching metals into the pond. |
African island fights offshore gambling network linked to UK family
| | LONDON, UK, 19 October 2026 (Guardian) - The island of Anjouan, rising out of the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar, is a corner of the Earth that few people have heard of, let alone laid eyes on. Known as Nzwani in the local language, this tiny volcanic island – one of a collection that make up the Union of Comoros – counts ylang-ylang oil and vanilla among its chief exports. Yet Anjouan has stumbled into a role at the heart of a much more dangerous but highly lucrative industry: underground online gambling. The African island has become notorious for selling licences to rogue casinos, many operating illegally. |
Expedition fails to find fresh clues in hunt for Amelia Earhart’s plane
| | LONDON, UK, 19 October 2026 (CNN) - A recent expedition to remote Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific to search for wreckage from Amelia Earhart’s lost plane has come up empty. Researchers said they found “no conclusive evidence” that the famed aviator landed her Lockheed 10E Electra aircraft on or near the small atoll south of the original pit stop of her ill-fated flight nearly 90 years ago. |
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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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ARCTIC COUNCIL |
| | UArctic Congress 26-29 May 2026, Torshavn, Faroe Islands |
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SICRI |
| | Island Studies International Conference 25-28 June, 2026, Tacloban City, Leyte Islands, Philippines |
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WORLD ISLANDS FAIR |
| | The world’s first international event themed around islands 5 Sept-4 Nov, 2026, Yeosu, 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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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 14th Anatomy of Islands symposium 15-17 Oct, 2026, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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SOCIETY OF ISLAND BIOLOGY |
| | 5th Island Biology conference 2-6 November, 2026, Atami City, Japan |
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IWRA |
| | 2nd Islands Water Congress 27-29 Jan, 2027, Montego Bay, Jamaica |
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ISISA |
| | 21st Islands of the Word Conference 6-10 June, 2027, Willemstad, Curacao |
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