The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
This most awaited report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released yesterday warns that sea level rise of more than 4 metres may redraw map of the world. Extreme sea level events that used to occur once a century will strike every year on many coasts by 2050, …
Permafrost landscapes are changing around the Arctic in response to climate warming, with coastal erosion being one of the most prominent and hazardous features. Using drone platforms, satellite images, and historic aerial photographs, we observed the rapid retreat of a permafrost coastline on Qikiqtaruk – Herschel Island, Yukon Territory, in …
There is a shared vision to achieve clean, non toxic seas but their contamination with synthetic substances as well as heavy metals continues to be a large-scale problem in Europe. According to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report, between 75 and 96 % of the assessed area of Europe’s …
During austral summer (DJF) 2017/18, the New Zealand region experienced an unprecedented coupled ocean-atmosphere heatwave, covering an area of 4 million km2. Regional average air temperature anomalies over land were +2.2 °C, and sea surface temperature anomalies reached +3.7 °C in the eastern Tasman Sea. This paper discusses the event, …
This ocean sanctuaries scientific study maps out how to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, a target that scientists say is crucial in order to safeguard wildlife and to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. 30×30: A Blueprint For Ocean Protection is the result of a year-long …
By the close of the century, parts of the Southern Ocean could become impoverished as more acidic seas displace abundant marine food resources. Tiny sea snails that form the basis of the food supply for one of the world’s richest ecosystems could disappear because the depth at which they can …
Humans have reduced the abundance of many large marine vertebrates, including whales, large fish, and sharks, to only a small percentage of their pre-exploitation levels. Industrial fishing and whaling also tended to preferentially harvest the largest species and largest individuals within a population. We consider the consequences of removing these …
Pollution of the marine environment by large and microscopic plastic fragments and their potential impacts on organisms has stimulated considerable research interest and has received widespread publicity. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the fate and effects of microplastic particles that are fibrous in shape, also referred as …
Along the continental margins, rivers and submarine groundwater supply nutrients, trace elements, and radionuclides to the coastal ocean, supporting coastal ecosystems and, increasingly, causing harmful algal blooms and eutrophication. While the global magnitude of gauged riverine water discharge is well known, the magnitude of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is poorly …
Current emission reduction pledges under the 2015 Paris Agreement are insufficient to keep global temperature “well below +2°C” in 2100 relative to pre-industrial levels and to reach targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Increased political ambition is therefore required, as well as enhanced efforts in terms of both …
The World Bank Group announced on Wednesday the creation of PROBLUE, a new multi-donor trust fund that will support healthy and productive oceans by tackling marine pollution, managing fisheries and fostering the sustainable growth of coastal economies. PROBLUE, which was announced on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, supports …
This publication intends to inspire policy and decision makers by showcasing a selection of solutions, that have been applied in very different settings. It shows that ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) has ‘many faces’: It is being implemented successfully in a broad range of countries and ecosystems and it is being driven …
The natural conservation of coastal lagoons is important not only for their ecological importance, but also because of the valuable ecosystem services they provide for human welfare and wellbeing. Coastal lagoons are shallow semi-enclosed systems that support important habitats such as wetlands, mangroves, salt-marshes and seagrass meadows, as well as …
Heat waves are not only seen on land but have also been detected in oceans. And, their effect on large water bodies might be even more devastating than on land, a new study has found. The heat in the oceans over the last few years has also been at record-breaking …
Long before humans started injecting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal, the level of atmospheric CO2 rose significantly as the Earth came out of its last ice age. Many scientists have long suspected that the source of that carbon was from the …
The early part of the last deglaciation is characterised by a ~40 ppm atmospheric CO2 rise occurring in two abrupt phases. The underlying mechanisms driving these increases remain a subject of intense debate. Here, we successfully reproduce changes in CO2, δ13C and Δ14C as recorded by paleo-records during Heinrich stadial …
Mineral exploitation has spread from land to shallow coastal waters and is now planned for the offshore, deep seabed. Large seafloor areas are being approved for exploration for seafloor mineral deposits, creating an urgent need for regional environmental management plans. Networks of areas where mining and mining impacts are prohibited …
Rotational harvesting is one of the oldest management strategies applied to terrestrial and marine natural resources, with crop rotations dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. The efficacy of this strategy for sessile marine species is of considerable interest given that these resources are vital to underpin food …
The growing human population must be fed, but historic land-based systems struggle to meet expanding demand. Marine production supports some of the world’s poorest people but increasingly provides for the needs of the affluent, either directly by fishing or via fodder based feeds for marine and terrestrial farming. Here we …
There are two main funding mechanisms to provide finance for projects in developing countries that will help fight climate change effects — the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). And, there is not-so-good news from both of them. Last week, a board meeting of the GCF …
