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It might have a smaller fan-base than a Parris Goebel dance routine or a Taika Waititi movie, but a New Zealander is taking a product to the masses that he hopes will go down just as easily.

John Lang has just finished an unenviable task: taking a jargon-packed, number-heavy report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and turning it into a graphic the average person might read.

The result is Worlds Apart, which leads people through three alternative futures, depending on how fast governments tackle emissions and how the planet responds. The visuals feature filling bathtubs, open doors, and an archer with a bow and arrow demonstrating humanity overshooting 1.5 degrees C of heating – or not.

While there is no single forecast that can say how a hotter world will l...

The businesses claim that the ‘Ocean Engagement Fund’ is the first impact fund of its kind, in that it is solely dedicated to and fully aligned with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water. The Goal includes targets to address issues such as overfishing, marine pollution and acidification, and to boost conservation and restoration.

Between 30 and 50 businesses will be backed by the fund. Non-profit The Ocean Foundation will advise Credit Suisse and Rockefeller Asset Management on which companies to include in the portfolio. It will also provide best-practice learnings on engaging with portfolio businesses to steer them away from practices which harm the oceans, going beyond ‘doing less bad’ and achieving a net-positive impact on marine habitats.

A list of pot...

351 loggerhead sea turtles have been found dead on the same stretch of coastline where 137 sea lions were found deceased earlier this month. The loggerhead sea turtles and sea lions were found on the Baja California coast, in northwestern Mexico. The Mexican Centre for Environmental Law and the Centre for Biological Diversity have both said the death of the sea turtles highlights the need for net and line fishing to be banned in this area of the Pacific coast.

Searches following reports of beached sea lions on 4 September found the animals’ carcasses scattered along an 80-mile stretch of coast in Comondu, Baja California.

Tissue samples from the animals have been collected to establish a cause of death after authorities said the sea lions showed no sign of injuries from fishing net...

A 10-year-old from Maui converted her backyard into a native plant nursery to help save coral reefs. Abby Rogers, a volunteer with the nonprofit Coral Reef Alliance, has grown over 900 native plants in the past few months to trap sediment at Wahikuli, which runs into the ocean and smothers coral reefs.

Typically, CORAL purchases the plants and hosts volunteer planting days at restoration sites.

However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, volunteers were needed to grow the plants at home.

“I really wanted to help the environment, but all I could ever think of was using a straw or bringing my own bags to the store,” said Rogers.

“My mom read about the CORAL project in a newspaper article and suggested it to me.”

Rogers is one of 100 volunteers who signed up to grow 25,000 ...

Among the many egregious scientific inaccuracies of  Finding Nemo – fish can talk, sharks form support groups, turtles wax their shells – perhaps none is more glaring than the conceit of fish maintaining friendships. As many a marine biologist has noted, fish aren’t in it to make friends – they’re in it to survive and reproduce.

But scientists are uncovering a fascinating exception in coral reefs, not unlike the one Nemo called home: Here fish of various species band together, developing social networks exactly to survive and reproduce...

A surprise announcement at this year’s UN General Assembly has transformed the politics of cutting carbon, says the BBC’s chief environment correspondent, Justin Rowlatt. As the meeting of the so-called “global parliament” comes to an end, he asks whether it might just signal the beginning of a global rush to decarbonise.

You probably missed the most important announcement on tackling climate change in years. 

It was made at the UN General Assembly.

It wasn’t the big commitment to protect biodiversity or anything to do with the discussion about how to tackle the coronavirus pandemic – vitally important though these issues are.

No, the key moment came on Tuesday last week when the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, announced that China would cut emissions to net zero by 2060.

Th...

Three hundred and fifty square kilometers of Turkey’s coastline has been brought under environmental protection in a recent announcement by the Turkish government. This new area represents a significant expansion of the existing marine protected area network along the country’s Mediterranean coast and firmly establishes Turkey as a leader in marine conservation in the most overfished sea on the planet.

The announcement comes amid a growing global push to expand ocean protection through coalitions such as the UK’s 30by30 alliance, which calls for the protection of 30% of the global oceans by 2030.

Turkey’s Mediterranean coastline is under pressure from multiple sources—overfishing, coastal development and tourism all have an impact on the region, which is home to a number of threaten...

Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture added Parrotfish to list of protected marine species in Maldives. The new Maldives General Fisheries Regulation (2020/R-75), prohibits the capture, killing, harming or transporting of any species of parrotfish. Additionally, trading and displaying parrotfish or items produced from its parts in in shops and public places will be prohibited from March 1, 2021 onwards.

The Maldivian government last granted protection status to a coral reef fish, the napoleon wrasse, in 1995.

Maldives Project Manager at Blue Marine Foundation, Shaha Hashim stated that “abundant and diverse populations of parrotfish are critical to allow our reefs to recover from threats that compromise their health such as coral bleaching”.

“Our reefs have weake...

A little known, shy whale has surprised scientists by staying submerged for almost four hours. Cuvier’s beaked whales are known for their abilities to dive deep and they average around an hour under water. But researchers were astounded when they recorded one animal diving for three hours and 42 minutes.

They believe that it is the longest dive yet recorded for any whale and almost certainly a record for all mammals as well.

• Over 300 whales die in Australia’s worst stranding
• Humpback whale escapes from crocodile river
• Blue whale ‘is third seen off Sydney in 100 years’

Beaked whale species are a bit of mystery to scientists, spending much of their time far from shore. 

The Cuvier’s beaked whale has a stout body, a small sloping head and short beak...

China will aim to hit peak emissions before 2030 and for carbon neutrality by 2060, President Xi Jinping has announced. Mr Xi outlined the steps when speaking via videolink to the UN General Assembly in New York. The announcement is being seen as a significant step in the fight against climate change. 

China is the world’s biggest source of carbon dioxide, responsible for around 28% of global emissions.

With global climate negotiations stalled and this year’s conference of the parties (COP26) postponed until 2021, there had been little expectation of progress on the issue at the UN General Assembly.

However China’s president surprised the UN gathering by making a bold statement about his country’s plans for tackling emissions. 

He called on all countries to achieve a green re...