Breaking Waves: Ocean News https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-waves/www.nationaltrust.org.uk/www.oserianwildlife.com/%E2%80%8E en ‘This is bad news’: Australian tropical rainforest trees switch in world first from carbon sink to emissions source https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/bad-news-australian-tropical-rainforest-trees-switch-world-first-carbon-sink-emissions <p>Researchers say carbon emissions change in Queensland tropical rainforests may have global climate implications</p> <ul> <li> <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/10/sign-up-for-the-clear-air-australia-environment-newsletter-with-adam-morton?CMP=cvau_sfl">Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here</a></p> </li> </ul> <p>Australian tropical rainforest trees have become the first in the world to switch from being a carbon sink to an emissions source due to increasingly extreme temperatures and drier conditions.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/bad-news-australian-tropical-rainforest-trees-switch-world-first-carbon-sink-emissions" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 15:00:39 +0000 admin 101538 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Magnifying the minuscule: Nikon Small World photomicrography 2025 – in pictures https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/magnifying-minuscule-nikon-small-world-photomicrography-2025-pictures <p>Weevils, spores, slime mold and cells are in extreme closeup for the 51st anniversary of the Nikon Small World competition. For more than five decades, the award has brought scientific wonders under the microscope, with scientists, artists and enthusiasts from 77 countries contributing 1,925 photo entries this year alone. Judges have arrived at this stunning top 20.</p> <p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2025/oct/16/nikon-small-world-photomicrography-2025-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:00:38 +0000 admin 101537 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Winner of the Australian bird of the year 2025 to be announced on Guardian live stream https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/winner-australian-bird-year-2025-be-announced-guardian-live-stream <p>Will the tawny frogmouth finally take the top perch? Could conservationist backing propel Baudin’s black cockatoo to the skies? Or will the gang-gang gang prove triumphant when the winner is unveiled on Thursday afternoon?</p> <ul> <li> <p><strong>See more </strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/australian-bird-of-the-year-2025"><strong>Australian bird of the year</strong></a><strong> content</strong></p> </li></ul><p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/winner-australian-bird-year-2025-be-announced-guardian-live-stream" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:00:38 +0000 admin 101536 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/record-leap-co2-fuels-fears-accelerating-global-heating <p>CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakening</p> <p>Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere soared by a record amount in 2024 to hit another high, UN data shows, deepening the climate crisis that is already taking lives and livelihoods across the world.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/record-leap-co2-fuels-fears-accelerating-global-heating" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 11:38:25 +0000 admin 101535 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Nature groups rebuke Reeves for ‘cynical’ 11th-hour planning bill changes https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/nature-groups-rebuke-reeves-cynical-11th-hour-planning-bill-changes <p>Chancellor accused of removing environmental protections to win short-term growth and save her budget</p> <ul> <li> <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/oct/15/keir-starmer-kemi-badenoch-pmqs-china-epping-rachel-reeves-imf-uk-politics-live-news-updates">UK politics live – latest updates</a></p> </li> </ul> <p>Last-minute changes to the government’s planning bill have sparked a furious backlash from nature groups who have mounted an attack on the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, over her plans to remove environmental protections.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/nature-groups-rebuke-reeves-cynical-11th-hour-planning-bill-changes" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 10:33:58 +0000 admin 101534 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards – in pictures https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/wildlife-photographer-year-awards-pictures <p>The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is an annual competition hosted by the Natural History Museum in London, which awards top honours in various categories for outstanding photography</p> <p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2025/oct/15/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-awards-in-pictures">Continue reading...</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 08:00:18 +0000 admin 101533 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Watchdog rules Red Tractor exaggerated its environmental standards https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/watchdog-rules-red-tractor-exaggerated-its-environmental-standards <p>The Advertising Standards Authority agrees with River Action that the food safety body’s 2023 advert misled the public</p> <p>The UK’s advertising watchdog has upheld a complaint that Britain’s biggest farm assurance scheme misled the public in a TV ad about its environmental standards.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/watchdog-rules-red-tractor-exaggerated-its-environmental-standards" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 07:10:45 +0000 admin 101532 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Wednesday briefing: The new, devastating flood risk facing nearly all of Britain https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/wednesday-briefing-new-devastating-flood-risk-facing-nearly-all-britain <p>In today’s newsletter: Flooding is predicted to become so bad that some towns may need to be abandoned, and it’s not even campaigners raising the alarm – but insurers</p> <p>Good morning. For years, whenever I read about parts of Britain being wrecked by flooding, it always felt like something distant – because until your house is flooded, it’s hard to imagine it happening, isn’t it? Not any more.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/wednesday-briefing-new-devastating-flood-risk-facing-nearly-all-britain" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 05:22:35 +0000 admin 101529 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org ‘She died because of the flood’: Filipinos rise up as outrage over corruption scandal grows https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/she-died-because-flood-filipinos-rise-outrage-over-corruption-scandal-grows <p>Allegations related to flood control projects have sparked widespread anger and protests in the Philippines</p> <p>Philippine health worker Christina Padora waded through July’s waist-high flood water to check on vaccines and vital medications stored in the village clinic, something she had regularly done during previous typhoons.</p> <p>But this time she didn’t make it. Taking hold of a metal pole that she failed to see was connected to a live wire, the 49-year-old was fatally electrocuted in the water.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/she-died-because-flood-filipinos-rise-outrage-over-corruption-scandal-grows" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 05:00:14 +0000 admin 101531 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org Plantwatch: An extraordinary orchid that lives and flowers underground https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/plantwatch-extraordinary-orchid-lives-and-flowers-underground <p>Botanist trying to conserve highly vulnerable rhizanthella that survives by feeding on nutrients from a fungus</p> <p>Rhizanthella is an <a href="https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3da3635e-681e-4198-a3e4-bc53078432c1/files/m77e5953e56d08e4111c57d66e6c29a59">extraordinary orchid </a>that lives its entire life underground. It flowers below ground, has no leaves and survives by feeding on nutrients from a fungus that gets its food from the soil and by connecting with roots of the broom bush, <em>Melaleuca uncinata</em>.</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/plantwatch-extraordinary-orchid-lives-and-flowers-underground" target="_blank">read more</a></p> Wed, 15 Oct 2025 05:00:14 +0000 admin 101530 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org