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 …
Water quality in the country's offshore areas is deteriorating, even though the amount of wastewater discharged into the sea dropped last year, a report has found. About 68 percent of water in the country's offshore area was found to be fairly good in 2017, down by 5.6 percentage points from …
A huge bloom of toxic algae has spread in the Baltic Sea, forcing people off beaches but delighting scientists who research cancer and antibiotics The blue-green algae or cyanobacteria is primarily caused by the excess of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus used in food production, in the water. Exceptionally …
U.S. scientists have determined that the Gulf of Mexico's annual "dead zone" — an area with low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is the fourth smallest since they started mapping the area in 1985. Scientists supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in …
The UN Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday launched a 4 million U.S dollar program for environmental conservation in Kenya. Deputy Country Director at UNDP Kenya Catherine Masaka said the Small Grants Program (SGP) will help in conserving the degraded environment that poses life-threatening challenges to people. “The grants will enable …
The UN Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday launched a 4 million U.S dollar program for environmental conservation in Kenya. Deputy Country Director at UNDP Kenya Catherine Masaka said the Small Grants Program (SGP) will help in conserving the degraded environment that poses life-threatening challenges to people. “The grants will enable …
Prior to the back-to-back bleaching events that hit the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 and 2017, the UNESCO World Heritage Site had suffered two other bouts of extensive bleaching in the past two decades, one in 1998 and another in 2002. The damage done to the Great Barrier Reef by …
Fish are losing their sense of smell as rising carbon emissions turn the water they live in to acid. A new study has revealed that as levels of carbonic acid in seawater rise, sea bass lose up to half their smelling capacity. Surges in atmospheric carbon dioxide increase ocean acidity …
Protection for dolphins and seabirds will be weaker under government plans for Brexit than if Britain stayed in the EU, according to a new analysis by environmental groups. Under the EU’s Seabird Plan of Action, the fishing industry is obliged to eliminate “bycatch”, where boats accidentally catch seabirds, dolphins and …
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 …
KOLKATA: With water now gushing into the holds of MV SSL Kolkata, experts have given up all hope of salvaging the ship. Oil spill is a concern for experts. The containers on the ship’s decks have also slipped into the water. While some of them have sunk, others that are …
Coral reefs are the most ancient and diverse eco-systems on earth, occupying less than 1 percent of the ocean floor and host more than 25 percent of all known marine species of the world. Reefs provide wide range of economic and environmental services to millions of people. Despite their immense …
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly, the organization's highest governing body, concluded on Thursday with a commitment to support the partnership of multi stakeholder coalitions, including strengthening private sector partnerships. Delivering the concluding address in a seaside resort here, GEF CEO and Chairperson Naoko Ishii said it would support the …
Of the common adjectives used to describe Earth’s southern polar region, ‘pristine’ is among the most inappropriate. The ocean around Antarctica bobs with pieces of microplastic pollution, and for decades, whales and other marine life have been stripped from the sea. The ozone hole gapes above. To find any of …
Antartica is a “natural reserve, devoted to peace and science”, according to the Antarctic Treaty System. This complex set of agreements collectively takes a firm stance on conservation, exemplified by the Convention on the Conservation of Marine Living Resources. Adopted in 1980, this convention was negotiated rapidly in response to …
Rapid loss of coral reefs around the world would double the annually expected damages from flooding, and triple the costs from frequent storms, a study has found. When coupled with sea level rise, flooding could quadruple, according to researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the US. The …
The existence of a chemosynthetic subseafloor biosphere was immediately recognized when deep-sea hot springs were discovered in 1977. However, quantifying how much new carbon is fixed in this environment has remained elusive. In this study, we incubated natural subseafloor communities under in situ pressure/temperature and measured their chemosynthetic growth efficiency …
A new report from the WWF finds record levels of pollution from microplastics in the Mediterranean Sea are now higher than those in the oceanic ‘garbage patches’ and are threatening marine species, fisheries activities and human health in the region. Launched to coincide with World Oceans Day, June 8 2018, …
This Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme (CMEP) report provides a summary of climate change impacts on coasts and seas in the Pacific island region, and how Pacific islands can respond.
When we think of global warming and climate change, most of us ignore the impacts that animals have on the environment. Climate affects animals, but is the reverse true? Can animals affect the climate? I don’t know how to answer that question definitively, but I was fortunate enough to read …
This report presents a range of alternative approaches and materials that have the potential for reducing our use of plastics for a range of common applications The report titled, ‘Exploring the Potential for Adopting Alternative Materials to Reduce Marine Plastic Litter’ assesses the potential of replacing conventional plastics with alternative …
