Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Firm says it had no idea proposed test site on Lib Dem peer’s land included part of Strathmore peatlands in Flow Country A British arms company has abandoned plans to detonate fragmentation bombs in the middle of the Flow Country world heritage site, the Guardian can reveal. The company, Overwatch, asked the Civil Aviation Authority this month for permission to carry out “live fire testing” of anti-personnel bombs dropped by drones on to land owned by the Liberal Democrat peer John Thurso. Continue reading...

Operation to free young animal from ropes and buoys conducted ‘very carefully’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast A humpback whale has been freed after being entangled in ropes in Sydney Harbour. Jessica Fox, the second vice-president of volunteer organisation Orrca, confirmed the rescue late on Friday morning. Continue reading...

Without regulatory reforms and proper funding, the country will lack a muscular enforcer to strike fear among polluters The organisers of the March for Clean Water – that’s Feargal Sharkey and River Action, supported by organisations that range from Surfers Against Sewage to the RSPB to the Women’s Institute – make an excellent point: while it’s nice that the government will bring a water bill to parliament, the initiatives revealed so far “are not nearly extensive enough to address the scale of the UK’s water pollution crisis”. You bet. None of the four “initial steps” announced by the environment secretary, Steve Reed, last month are likely to cause sleepless nights in any boardroom. The first, to ensure companies’ funding for infrastructure investment is ringfenced, read like a description of how the regulatory system in England and Wales was always supposed to work. One fears that the second, to add the protection of customers and the environment to companies’ articles of association, will be cosmetic; directors can always be fuzzy about how they interpret their fiduciary duties. Continue reading...

Pilot scheme in Amazon communities of central Peru aims to help people choose a more sustainable way of living Read more stories in the Alternatives series “At the beginning, there was a lot of fear and disbelief,” said Ketty Marcelo. “There was a perception from the communities that this was another scam, that it was only looking to steal information or our integrity.” Indigenous communities in the Amazon have grown weary of people coming in from outside with plans that could mean them losing their land or way of life. When a team from Cool Earth, a climate action NGO, came to the Amazon communities of central Peru in October 2022, local people were hesitant. “These fears caused some families not to participate,” Marcelo said. “And we, as an organisation, were afraid this would be another project that would seek to impose activities without respecting the autonomy of the communities.” Continue reading...