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 …
Abrupt shifts in natural resources and their markets are a ubiquitous challenge to human communities. Building resilient social-ecological systems requires approaches that are robust to uncertainty and to regime shifts. Harvesting diverse portfolios of natural resources and adapting portfolios in response to change could stabilize economies reliant on natural resources …
Ocean surface warming is resulting in an expansion of stratified, low-nutrient environments, a process referred to as ocean desertification. A challenge for assessing the impact of these changes is the lack of robust baseline information on the biological communities that carry out marine photosynthesis. Phytoplankton perform half of global biological …
Physiological responses to temperature are known to be a major determinant of species distributions and can dictate the sensitivity of populations to global warming. In contrast, little is known about how other major global change drivers, such as ocean acidification (OA), will shape species distributions in the future. Here, by …
Coastal areas have been centers of human activity throughout history and current trends indicate that migration toward these zones is continuing. The main reason for this is that the rich variety of ecosystems and habitats in coastal zones provides a range of goods and services critical to human sustenance and …
KOCHI: Experts have recommended setting up of a common gene bank for vulnerable fish species besides setting up fish sanctuaries for improvement of natural stocks in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change on fish stock and marine ecosystem. The recommendations were made after the Central Marine Fisheries Research …
NEW DELHI: The "environmental Emergency" caused by one of the worst stretches of air pollution in Delhi and the northern region led National Green Tribunal to take the Centre and some states to task for inaction, as the year also it cracking the whip on airlines for dumping excreta in …
At hydrothermal vents in Longqi or ‘Dragon’s Breath’, 1,243 miles southeast of Madagascar, scientists have discovered unique marine life, including six species new to science. Thousands of hydrothermal vents — chimney-like structures spewing hot water clouds of minerals and nutrients — dot the ocean floor, buzzing with marine life of …
The Adani Mining Pty Ltd is confident of commencing construction of the Carmichael mine by mid-2017, which will be Australia's largest coal mine, despite growing concerns and protests from environmental and indigenous groups that it will jeopardise the Great Barrier Reef and Aboriginal heritage. There were protests in Melbourne and …
A new report by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) confirms the important role that the world’s biodiversity plays in ensuring the future of sustainable agricultural development. Biodiversity, including agricultural biodiversity, is the very foundation of life on earth and intrinsic to the whole sustainable development agenda. The …
A new study has found that higher water temperatures have ravaged the Great Barrier Reef, causing the worst coral bleaching recorded by scientists. In the worst-affected area, 67% of a 700km swath in the north of the reef lost its shallow-water corals over the past eight to nine months, the …
Plastic pollution threatens to wipe 7.4 per cent off the value of Sydney homes in areas where litter is apparent, a new report shows. The report, released by Boomerang Alliance, found that if just 5 per cent of 1.6 million homes in Sydney neighbourhoods are adversely affected by litter, the …
The Asian Development Bank and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) undertook a study on eco-compensation regulations development in the country, on which this publication is based. The study examined the PRC’s theory, practice, and legislation governing eco-compensation in selected ecological areas to …
The government is failing to protect the reef from the effects of shipping disasters, according to environmental lawyers, who say inaction to secure remediation funds will become a bigger problem as shipping traffic increases. The issue could cause a problem for Australia when it reports to the Unesco world heritage …
We’ve all been worrying over the state of the Great Barrier Reef, but new research has shown that it’s not the only important part of our oceans that’s struggling with the effects of climate change. Kelp forests, which are underwater ecosystems full of large, seaweed-like algae, are under attack, with …
With the welcome and increasing attention on ocean issues by the international climate change community, there is an opportunity to draw together knowledge, science and experiences to explain the role that Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have in addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. A new report Marine Protected Areas …
Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere put shallow, warm-water coral reef ecosystems, and the people who depend upon them at risk from two key global environmental stresses: 1) elevated sea surface temperature (that can cause coral bleaching and related mortality), and 2) ocean acidification. These global stressors: cannot …
Roughly 240 million years ago (Ma), scleractinian corals rapidly expanded and diversified across shallow marine environments. The main driver behind this evolution is uncertain, but the ecological success of modern reef-building corals is attributed to their nutritional symbiosis with photosynthesizing dinoflagellate algae. We show that a suite of exceptionally preserved …
Present paper summarizes the occurrence of C. riisei in coral reefs of Indian seas, its likely impacts on the indigenous biota and policies for bioinvasion in the Indian context. With the limited information available on marine bioinvasion in tropical countries, especially in India, there is an urgent need of study …
Exponentially rising CO2 (currently ~400 μatm) is driving climate change and causing acidification of both marine and freshwater environments. Physiologists have long known that CO2 directly affects acid–base and ion regulation, respiratory function and aerobic performance in aquatic animals. More recently, many studies have demonstrated that elevated CO2 projected for …
