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Seeing dolphins and whales in the sea enjoying their natural environment is a dream for most animal lovers. But a new report by MPs has found some marine wildlife is being failed by the UK government. Protections for these species are poorer compared to other countries, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra) found. Some of the threats to these animals includes underwater noise, pollution in the water and climate change.

But these creatures play a key role in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and help support economies which rely on coastal tourism.

The findings come as government efforts to scale up climate action have been described as “worryingly slow” by government watchdog, the Climate Change Committee.

Politicians on the Efra committee have suggested the UK ...

Some of the most intense marine heat increases on Earth have developed in seas around the UK and Ireland, the European Space Agency (Esa) says. Water temperatures are as much as 3 to 4C above the average for this time of year in some areas, according to analysis by Esa and the Met Office. The sea is particularly warm off the UK’s east coast from Durham to Aberdeen, and off north-west Ireland.

The Met Office says the reason is partly human-caused climate change.

But other, less-understood natural and man-made factors appear to be driving temperatures up further.

The Esa data shows sea water around virtually the entire coastline of the British Isles is warmer than usual.

Scientists warn that intense heat like this can kill fish and other sea life, sometimes on a huge scale.

A natural weather event known as El Niño has begun in the Pacific Ocean, likely adding heat to a planet already warming under climate change. US scientists confirmed that El Niño had started. Experts say it will likely make 2024 the world’s hottest year. They fear it will help push the world past a key 1.5C warming milestone.

It will also affect world weather, potentially bringing drought to Australia, more rain to the southern US, and weakening India’s monsoon.

The event will likely last until next spring, after which its impacts will recede.

For months, researchers have been increasingly confident that an El Niño event was set to emerge in the Pacific Ocean. 

“It’s ramping up now, there have been signs in our predictions for several months, but it’s really looking like i...

Bangladesh has recorded the highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs laid on the country’s beaches this nesting season, thanks to extensive conservation actions. A survey by the NGO Nature Conservation Management (NACOM) found 7,528 eggs at 58 spots on three different islands — Pachar, Shilkali and Shahpari — off the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. That’s a 30% increase from the 5,763 eggs found in 54 spots in 2022, which in turn was a 22% increase from the 4,713 eggs recorded in 2021.

Of the seven sea turtle species, five occur in the waters off Bangladesh: the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), green turtle (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)...

Our overheating world is likely to break a key temperature limit for the first time over the next few years, scientists predict. Researchers say there’s now a 66% chance we will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027. The chances are rising due to emissions from human activities plus the El Niño weather event expected this summer. If the world passes the limit, scientists stress the breach, while worrying, will likely be temporary.

Hitting the threshold would mean the world is 1.5C warmer than it was during the second half of the 19th Century, before fossil fuel emissions from industrialisation really began to ramp up.

The 1.5C figure has become a symbol of global climate change negotiations...

For the history of life on Earth, organisms have relied on the light of the sun, moon, and stars to navigate their way and schedule their lives. While the onset of electric lighting in the late 19th century may have been a boon to humans, it has wreaked havoc on the natural world. Among the more notorious impacts of artificial light at night (ALAN), light pollution lures migrating birds to cities with devastating consequences, contributes to the alarming decline in insect populations, and convinces sea turtle hatchlings to amble away from the water instead of towards it.

Now, a new study from the University of Plymouth adds another dismal finding about how ALAN is affecting the creatures with whom we share the planet: Light pollution from coastal cities can trick coral reefs into s...

Climate change could dramatically reduce life in the deepest parts of our oceans that are reached by sunlight, scientists warn. Global warming could curtail life in the so-called twilight zone by as much as 40% by the end of the century, according to new research. The twilight zone lies between 200m (656ft) and 1,000m (3,281ft). It teems with life but was home to fewer organisms during warmer periods of Earth’s history, researchers found.

In research led by the University of Exeter, scientists looked at two warm periods in Earth’s past, about 50 million years ago and 15 million years ago, examining records from preserved microscopic shells. 

They found far fewer organisms lived in the zone during these periods, because bacteria degraded food more quickly, meaning less of it reached ...

A recent, rapid heating of the world’s oceans has alarmed scientists concerned that it will add to global warming. This month, the global sea surface hit a new record high temperature. It has never warmed this much, this quickly. Scientists don’t fully understand why this has happened. But they worry that, combined with other weather events, the world’s temperature could reach a concerning new level by the end of next year.

Experts believe that a strong El Niño weather event – a weather system that heats the ocean – will also set in over the next months.

Warmer oceans can kill off marine life, lead to more extreme weather and raise sea levels. They are also less efficient at absorbing planet-warming greenhouse gases.

• What’s the difference between El Niño and La Niña?
• Accel...

Oil spilled routinely into UK waters over five years has added up to thousands of tonnes of pollution endangering marine life, according to data shown exclusively to BBC News. Campaigners say the data shows some spills hit areas meant to protect wildlife including porpoises and orcas. While some oil spillage is allowed in production, they say 40% of monitored releases breached permits.

An industry representative said it takes all releases very seriously.

Energy campaigning group Uplift obtained the data through Freedom of Information requests to the offshore oil and gas regulator, the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning. 

Uplift’s analysis suggested that between 2017 and 2022, 22,000 metric tonnes of oil were discharged in UK waters, or 164,000 ba...

On Monday, the so-called “synthesis report” was published by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body made up of hundreds of international scientists from a dizzying array of disciplines. The new report boils down six previous IPCC reports, published since 2018, which pulled together and analyzed thousands of climate science studies. 

It amounts to the most clear-eyed, up-to-date assessment of the climate crisis: how it’s affecting all corners of the world and its systems, and how humanity is faring in its attempts to mitigate disasters and adapt to those that are now unavoidable.

What is key about the IPCC report is that it’s signed off by national governments to confirm that they accept the scientific findings – and will incorporate them...