Why this island might be one of Europe's best-kept secrets
| | EL HIERRO, Spain, 4 June 2026 (CNN) - This tiny island was once believed to be the westernmost edge of the known world and was the last piece of land that Christopher Columbus saw after leaving Europe to encounter the Americas in 1492. Today, El Hierro - the most remote of Spain’s Canary Islands - is a destination for modern travelers looking to rekindle their own sense of discovery. |
Academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival
| | LONDON, UK, 4 June 2026 (Guardian) - Humanity can raise living standards, reduce inequality and keep global heating within a 2C rise, according to a sweeping vision for planetary survival. The report by the World Inequality Lab (WIL) aims to be the most comprehensive attempt yet to navigate the polycrisis that is pushing the world toward climate breakdown, political extremism and ever greater economic and social tension. |
How regional cooperation transformed the world's largest tuna fishery
| | SUVA, Fiji, 3 June 2026 (PINA) - The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) has released a major report documenting two decades of transformative work in tuna fisheries management – a story of unprecedented collaboration between scientists, government officials, fisheries workers, NGOs, and international development partners. The achievements are remarkable: all four economically important tuna stocks – skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye, and South Pacific albacore – remain healthy and sustainably fished, making the Pacific the only ocean basin tuna fishery to achieve this milestone. |
Indonesia's Blue-fronted Lorikeet found in unexplored forest
| | CAMBRIDGE, UK, 3 June 2026 (BirdLife) - Hidden in the remote highlands of Mount Kapalatmada in Buru, Indonesia, the Blue-fronted Lorikeet has re-emerged after going missing for more than a decade. Only documented once in the past hundred years, the elusive parrot species was spotted in April during a 14-day trek, carefully tucked away in the island’s most unexplored and challenging landscape. |
The new reality in the South China Sea
| | BANGKOK, Thailand, 3 June 2026 (BBC) - Antelope Reef is a small, teardrop-shaped island in the north-western corner of the South China Sea and, until recently, almost entirely underwater. But this year it has undergone a dramatic transformation. Millions of tonnes of sand have been dredged from the sea bed to create solid land. From being only a turquoise speck on the map, Antelope Reef now appears as a 6-sq-km (2.3-sq-mile) crescent of gleaming white sand, with a scattering of buildings in one corner. All in just six months. |
Is Great Nicobar Island India's Hormuz like-chokepoint against China
| | NEW DELHI, India, 3 June 2026 (Al Jazeera) - The southernmost point of India, the Great Nicobar Island, is closer to the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia than it is to the Indian mainland. No Indian prime minister has visited the island, which is the size of Hong Kong, since Indira Gandhi in 1984. India does not even conduct a full census on the island, relying on estimates of its population; the latest guess is that fewer than 10,000 people live there. Yet the island is now in the eye of a political storm over an $11bn project planned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to turn Great Nicobar into a major strategic and economic outpost in the Indian Ocean. |
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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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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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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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ANATOMY OF ISLANDS |
| | 14th Anatomy of Islands symposium 15-17 Oct, 2026, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia |
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IWRA |
| | 2nd Islands Water Congress 9-11 Dec, 2026, Montego Bay, Jamaica |
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