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 …
CHENNAI: In a bizarre move, the ‘polluter’ MT Dawn Kancheepuram on Wednesday claimed that the entire clean-up and restoration work on the Ennore-Chennai coast, which suffered irreparable ecological damage after the oil spill, have been completed. A simple reality check done by Express reveals the work is far from over. …
A dam being built on the edge of Kenya's largest water catchment is drawing criticism from experts who fear it could threaten water supplies in the country as much as supplement them. The Itare Dam will be the largest water supply project in the southern Rift Valley, and is intended …
Cabinet has approved the new draft National Marine Pollution Contingency Plan (NMPCP) to better deal with marine pollution, not only from oil spills in Namibian waters but also from hazardous and noxious substances. Namibia had to review its marine pollution preparedness and response system in order to make it more …
Intensifying climate change remains the biggest threat to coral reefs around the world, with rising sea surface temperatures driving widespread bleaching events, according to the Climate Council’s latest report. The report ‘Climate Change: A Deadly Threat to Coral Reefs’, shows worsening bleaching events are also placing tourism and global economies …
A draft report on the state of three marine outfalls has been completed. The City of Cape Town commissioned the CSIR to study the sewage outfalls at Hout Bay, Green Point and Camps Bay last year. The CSIR has been monitoring over 80 sites in and around the outfalls, as …
CHENNAI: The investigation of how much oil was leaked into the sea has been hit even as as efforts are on to transfer the oily water from one of the tanks of MT Dawn Kancheepuram, which collided with Isle of Man flagship BW Maple on January 28, to the outskirts …
The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, adopted under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, provides the basis for taking effective action to curb biodiversity loss across the planet by 2020—an urgent imperative. Yet, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, which encompass 10% of the planet’s surface, are excluded from assessments …
Degradation of coastal water quality in the form of low dissolved oxygen levels (hypoxia) can harm biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human wellbeing. Extreme hypoxic conditions along the coast, leading to what are often referred to as “dead zones,” are known primarily from temperate regions. However, little is known about the …
Tropical cyclones and sea level rise cause major problems including beach erosion and damage to infrastructure in coastal areas. Inexpensive but effective plans for coastal protection will be needed by small island nations and developing countries. Natural breakwater formed by reefs is more cost-effective in coastal protection than the construction …
During 2015–2016, record temperatures triggered a pan-tropical episode of coral bleaching, the third global-scale event since mass bleaching was first documented in the 1980s. Here we examine how and why the severity of recurrent major bleaching events has varied at multiple scales, using aerial and underwater surveys of Australian reefs …
There were startling colours here just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures. What's left is a haunting expanse of grey, a scene repeated in reefs across the globe in what has …
Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Damage to Marine Ecosystem, 09/03/2017. The Ministry has been implementing a program for assessment of health of the coastal waters of India by periodically monitoring the pollutant levels in the seawaters of India. There were occasionally marginal increases in the levels of pollutants in …
Climate change is expected to modify ecological responses in the ocean, with the potential for important effects on the ecosystem services provided to humankind. Here we address the question of how rapidly multiple drivers of marine ecosystem change develop in the future ocean. By analysing an ensemble of models we …
Toxic waste has been dumped in a farming town in southeast Nigeria's restive oil-producing Delta region, a state government official and a community leader said on Wednesday. The community leader, Collins Edema, president of the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, said the waste was dangerous to both agricultural produce and …
This paper is based on a field study carried out in 2015 in two coastal ecotourism areas in The Gambia — Kartong and Tanji. The study investigated sustainability communication by tourism service providers in the context of climate change and ecovillage design education (EDE). With an inclusive approach to investigate …
Workers wash stones stained by oil sludge at Ramakrishna Nagar in Ernavur in north Chennai on Thursday A team of over 15 contract workers has been engaged by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to clean up the newly deposited slick along the Eranavur Kuppam coast With the change in …
The UN Environment Programme on Thursday launched an unprecedented global campaign to eliminate major sources of marine litter - microplastics in cosmetics and the excessive, wasteful usage of single-use plastic - by 2022. Launched at the Economist World Ocean Summit in this Indonesian island known for coral reefs, the #CleanSeas …
The deep sea encompasses the largest ecosystems on Earth. Although poorly known, deep seafloor ecosystems provide services that are vitally important to the entire ocean and biosphere. Rising atmospheric greenhouse gases are bringing about significant changes in the environmental properties of the ocean realm in terms of water column oxygenation, …
Building on work presented at the IUCN World Parks Congress (WPC) held in Sydney, Australia, on 12–19 November 2014, this document explores experiences with aquatic protected areas (PAs), marine protected areas (MPAs) and protected areas in inland waters in the context of livelihoods and food security. It includes: ten papers …
The National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management in Tamil Nadu has been tasked with mapping the environmental impact of the oil spill following a collision between two ships last month in Chennai. Environment Secretary A N Jha said that the enquiry on the shipping company involved in the accident is …
