Seabirds are in a precarious position as their breeding areas are threatened by climate breakdown and overfishing
Five seabirds have been added to the UK’s conservation red list, meaning they are at dire risk of local extinction.
The government has been urged to act as the arctic tern, Leach’s storm petrel, common gull, great skua and great black-backed gull join other seabird species such as the puffin on the list after severe population declines.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/02/2024 - 10:36
Fourteen hiker deaths reported in the park this season, with total fatalities at almost the annual average of 15
More than one dozen park-goers have died in Grand Canyon national park this summer, with three perishing in just over one week in August, as weather extremes linked to climate change make for increasingly dangerous conditions.
With 14 deaths reported in the park this season, total fatalities have already almost reached the annual average of 15, the Hill reported.
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09/02/2024 - 10:18
Activists and lawyers in Brazil say unexpected change is ‘a big step backwards’ in the investigation
Indigenous activists and lawyers in Brazil have voiced shock and dismay after the federal police chief leading the investigation into the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips was unexpectedly removed from the case.
Francisco Badenes, an experienced investigator, had been running the inquiry into the 2022 deaths of the Brazilian Indigenous expert and the British journalist since the second half of that year.
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09/02/2024 - 08:46
Battle ahead for Labour as it introduces higher taxes and tougher environmental rules on producers
An oil and gas company has slowed down work on a large North Sea oilfield, citing uncertainty over the Labour government’s approach to fossil fuels.
The Norwegian-owned Neo Energy said it had decided “to materially slow down investment activities across all development assets in its portfolio”, citing the prospect of higher taxes and tougher environmental rules.
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09/02/2024 - 05:35
Mandatory reports should be published on how taxpayers’ money is spent on environmental stewardship, says campaigner
Landowners in England have been paid more than £9bn of taxpayers’ money in the past 30 years for environmental benefits, despite the decline in nature that has taken place during that time, data reveals.
The nature campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole, who unearthed the data for his new book, The Lie of The Land, said large landowners should be forced to publish regular reports showing how they are stewarding their land for nature and carbon.
The Lie of the Land is published on 12 September by HarperCollins.
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09/02/2024 - 03:00
Scientists are trying to establish whether global heating caused the deaths of the rare river dolphins last year, before temperatures start to rise again
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09/02/2024 - 02:35
Set near photographer Benjamin Youd’s home in Sussex, River Story looks at the changing seasons and humans’ relationship with water
River Story is exhibiting at ONCA Gallery in Brighton, 5 to 14 September
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09/02/2024 - 01:00
The new government must use its landslide majority to mend the damage to jobs and fish populations caused by neglect
It is a lonely and unglamorous job, being His Majesty’s official opposition, as Labour knows only too well. There were moments when, out of the spotlight, the party’s spokespeople in parliament heroically defended the public interest on some of the most important issues of the day. One example was during the post-Brexit Fisheries Act, where Labour made a formidable case that history has proved right. The question now is whether Labour will use its landslide majority to fix the extraordinary neglect of our marine environment that it previously lacked the votes for.
Back in 2020, when the fisheries bill was making its way through parliament, Labour’s fisheries spokesperson, Luke Pollard, made the case that the prime objective of the bill should be sustainability: there should be a duty on ministers to take the advice of scientists when allocating fishing opportunities so as to avoid overfishing. He also argued that as the right to fish was a public asset, which ministers conceded during the course of the bill, preference should be given to the part of the fleet which had the highest levels of employment and the lowest environmental impact: the smaller boats, whose activities are limited naturally by the weather.
Charles Clover is the co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation
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09/02/2024 - 00:00
Exclusive: Campaigners claim move would offset City influence over infrastructure taskforce and better share benefits
The government is being urged to install trade union members on the board of its new £7.3bn national wealth fund to help offset the influence of big banks and ensure that it is geared towards hitting green targets and bringing “shared prosperity” to the UK population.
It is part of a wider set of recommendations set out by the campaign group Positive Money, aimed at shaping the governance and investment plans of the national wealth fund (NWF), which was launched by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, after the July election.
The NWF is part of government efforts to attract billions of pounds of private-sector cash – roughly £3 for every £1 of taxpayer cash – for big infrastructure projects across the UK, including ports, gigafactories and hydrogen and steel projects. The government is hoping that putting £7.3bn of public money forward will persuade private funders to put their own money on the line.
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09/01/2024 - 23:00
State-owned company halts initiative after warnings over opening up ‘right to roam’ laws to large numbers of visitors
A Norwegian tourism campaign aimed at promoting the country as a destination for outdoor activities has been suspended after warnings that opening up the country’s “right to roam” laws to mass tourism could lead to environmental destruction.
Allemannsretten – which gives Norwegians the legal right to camp, swim, ski and walk freely in nature, regardless of who the landowner is – provides the basis of friluftslivet (outdoor life), seen as foundational to the mountainous country’s culture.
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