Advocacy

On the afternoon of January 15, activist Diane Wilson kicked off a San Antonio Estuary Waterkeeper meeting on the side of the road across from a Formosa plastics manufacturing plant in Point Comfort, Texas. After Wilson and the waterkeeper successfully sued Formosa, the company agreed to no longer release even one of the tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles into the region’s waterways.

Queensland farmers will be able to use their smartphones to track in real-time how much fertiliser is washing off their crops and polluting the Great Barrier Reef.

"The moment of crisis has come" in efforts to tackle climate change, Sir David Attenborough has warned.

Mekong river is Southeast Asia's largest river, measuring up to 4,800 kilometers and bridging the countries of Myanmar, China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam up to the Tibetan plateau. The Mekong river is an important body of water as it provides livelihood to the people of these countries at the same time, its 800,000 square kilometer river basin is home to different species of plants and animals.

Claire Neaton and Emma Privat are supporting their community by protecting a way of life and Alaskan salmon.

Modi govt identified 13 pilot beaches in July 2019 for voluntary eco-label Blue Flag. Ten of these sites are likely to be sent for certification soon.

Proposals for two offshore wind farms have been opposed by councillors concerned that substations will damage the look of a conservation area.

On a stretch of the Lower Keys, near an old borrow pit quarried during the construction of Big Pine, sea water and mud cover much of the rocky ground.

This article is part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

Environment groups have opposed the ongoing work on a 12-foot-high anti-erosion wall at Versova beach on the grounds that it comes under coastal regulation zone (CRZ) 1, where construction is not permitted.

A landmark 2018 Indiana Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the shoreline of Lake Michigan is owned by the state and held in trust for use by all Hoosiers could be undone by legislation set for a hearing Monday in the House Judiciary Committee.

In partnership with The Center for Social and Environmental Stewardship, a non-profit organization based in Santa Rosa/Windsor, Timber Cove Resort removed 26,000 sq. ft. of non-native, invasive iceplant and replanted with native shrubs and seeds. This area was on the property's cove section of the hotel landscape. The Center for Social and Environmental Stewardship not only provided the biological expertise for this project, but also promotes educational opportunities and works withdisadvantaged youth on the project.

After 15 years in leadership roles in the Outer Banks Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Matt Walker and Ivy Ingram are stepping down from their positions as co-chairs.

Vehicles could be restricted from Invercargill's Oreti Beach to save the vulnerable toheroa population.

Conservationists fighting to protect Marlborough beaches from vehicles say people abusing them should talk to the decision makers instead.

TIERRA DEL MAR, Ore. — A battle playing out in Oregon is pitting residents of a tiny coastal town with no stoplights or cellphone service against one of the world's biggest tech companies.

If you go down the ramp to the pontoons in Bangor Marina you couldn’t miss the impressive vessel sitting to your right. She’s the Seabird, Northern Ireland’s first sea-going boat-based environmental charity known as 'Citizen Sea', supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council and Bangor Marina.

South Florida Legislator Evan Jenne calls controversial law created through passage of HB 631 “a wildly unpopular law.”

Beachgoers and homeowners on Anna Maria Island beachfront property are clashing over rope fences that make it harder for visitors to walk along the beach.

Retaliation, rather than reconciliation, has prevailed in the conflict over public beach access at N. Shell Road on Siesta Key.

A battle playing out in Oregon is pitting residents of a tiny coastal town with no stoplights or cellphone service against one of the world's biggest tech companies.

Louisiana is setting rules for a barrier island that's being restored to greatly increase the number of pelicans and other seabirds that can nest there.

Tyler Coleman, a volunteer for Trout Unlimited, took a paper cup with trout eggs to the Center for Creativity, Innovation & Discovery Tuesday afternoon and put them in a basket in a large aquarium.

The measure was revealed last night following a meeting at Holyrood between politicians and wild fisheries representatives.

The New Year ushered in Palau’s much-touted environmental law, creating a marine sanctuary which will close 80 percent of Palau’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to fishing and all other extractive activities such as mining, shark-finning, and transshipment – creating one of the largest marine protected areas in the world.

"When I go out and look for mussels where they should be, they are disappearing, time and time again.

In a world more than 5 degrees warmer, the wood thrush likely would never fly this far south to sing its flute-like songs in Florida. And fat chance of ever hearing the staccato pecks of a red-headed woodpecker.

Organization launches awareness campaign to highlight how it is wading into coastal challenges

California officials on Monday sued a Silicon Valley billionaire who has fought for more than a decade to keep a popular beach to himself — a move to end one of the most intense and high-profile public access battles in the state

In the first days of 2020, the Pacific Ocean archipelago nation of Palau took the momentous step of protecting 80% — 500,000 square kilometers — of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) from fishing. The move is at once a cultural tradition, a far-sighted strategy for future generations and an example of the level of conservation needed to protect ocean biodiversity and habitat.

BALTIMORE — To clean up the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland pours more money into streams every year.

Proposed expansion will provide protection for prime aquatic habitat surrounding McNeil Island and south Key Peninsula.

Elizabeth Cresson, a Bay Area native attending Georgetown, is latest to take on Mavericks surf contest

The Back Bay Restoration Foundation was founded 33 years ago amidst concerns that the watershed was deteriorating.

The Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s 54-acre Possession Sound Preserve will open to the public in 2020.

One of the busiest years yet for climate litigation, 2019 was highlighted by favorable decisions handed down by some of the world’s highest courts.

CHARLESTOWN — After receiving a $25,000 settlement in his lawsuit against the town of South Kingstown and South Kingstown Police, Charlestown resident and shoreline rights advocate Scott Keeley now intends to run for a seat on the Charlestown Town Council in November 2020.

There are many lessons climate scientists can learn from mātauranga Māori. Lesson one is: don’t panic.

On any summer day there are tourists at the Chatham fish pier who love seeing “adorable” seals cavort around the fishing vessels. There are also fishermen who have lost part of their catch to those seals.

One of the most worrisome types of environmental emergencies is an oil spill in the open ocean, due to the potential for the oil to kill wildlife, contaminate water and permanently damage coral reefs. Because of the nature of these emergencies, it is particularly important for authorities to handle an oil spill swiftly in order to prevent further damage to the environment.

The Cape Fear Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has partnered once again with the Town of Carolina Beach in their annual effort to help rebuild the dunes.

At the end of the year a lease between the Beverly Beach Community Association and Anne Arundel County will end and about 7 acres of bayside land will be open to the public again, after more than three decades as private property.

SeaWorld Orlando says it will begin 2020 by changing its centerpiece killer-whale show.

The campaign to obtain responsible public coastal access to the beaches by Hollister Ranch secured a significant victory last week with Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Colleen Sterne’s ruling that invalidated a 2017 Settlement Agreement that purported to extinguish all public rights under a contested 1982 public access easement.

Women in Scottish Aquaculture (WiSA) have kicked off a series of Scottish Government-supported diversity initiatives with the launch of a new mentoring programme.

Charleston has the highest measured concentration of spilled plastic pellets anywhere outside of the Gulf of Mexico, where they’re produced, according to a Texas academic who spearheaded study into the pollution.

A decade of conservation changed a species’ image from villain to vulnerable

News about conservation and the environment is made every day, but some of it can fly under the radar. In a recurring feature, Conservation News shares three stories from the past week that you should know about.

The 50th anniversary of International Earth Day is coming up in April, and Hawai‘i high school students have an opportunity to participate in a unique way.

A Scottish Government programme envisaging trials for seaweed dredging around the coast of Scotland has re-awakened fears for the future of “precious” underwater kelp forests.

The failure of countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean helps explain the difficulty of carrying out successful climate-change negotiations.

A shoreline rights advocate arrested in June while collecting seaweed on the beach in front of private homes in South Kingstown has settled his federal lawsuit against the town and the police department.

Dire warnings on climate change from scientists warning about more severe consequences and less time to stop them.

Only passing concern is shown for the world’s oceans and ignores their part in confronting climate change.

Earlier this year, the National Trust submitted proposals for a new development beside the Grade-II listed Souter Lighthouse

Martin Arostegui scans the ocean floor as he snorkels above a patch reef just east of the Ragged Keys. Spear gun in hand — just in case; he had a close encounter with a bull shark here once — the retired doctor looks for fish. Any fish.

The picture of sea otters frolicking among kelp beds and rocky shoals has become an iconic image of the California coastline. But it may be drawing attention away from the value of other habitat that could truly help the endangered species in its recovery - estuaries.

Combined impacts of sea-level rise, intensification of maritime transport, depletion of coastal ecosystems and deep-sea mining are the theme of a new exhibition planned for the Italian city of Venice which aims to change the conversation about the ocean environment writes Lorna Siggins.

A migrating whale that cruises through South Carolina waters is being killed at 10 times the rate its population can sustain, largely due to vessel-strikes and commercial fishery entanglements, experts say.

Every night, dozens of wooden boats loaded with fishing equipment pass under the Punta Penna bridge and into the protected waters of the Mar Piccolo, a unique saltwater lagoon in the southern Italian port city of Taranto.

The Dutch company Searious Business and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are taking action against the increasing heaps of plastic waste on islands. The partners are jointly launching the "Plastic-Waste-Free Islands" initiative. Searious Business, which codeveloped the plan, wants to make participating islands virtually waste-free in two years; the company is committed to realize systemic change. This partnership received support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), with an injection of over six million euros.

How long will the fight last? Water is eroding land all over the world, threatening people’s lives and livelihoods, especially those living along the coastline. According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the oceans and cryosphere in a changing climate, sea levels, globally, are expected to rise by between 0.61 and 1.1 metres by 2100 – as a combined result of melting icecaps and waters expanding as their temperatures rise. In addition to the plight of the island nations disappearing beneath the waves, as in the Pacific, all low-lying communities near the sea are at risk, particularly from coastal flooding after major weather events.

With Miami Beach predicted to be 30% underwater by 2045, the convention centre where the fair currently takes place could soon become an island

On the surface, the Salish Sea looks beautiful, but it is in grave trouble. Southern Resident orcas, Chinook salmon, steelhead, and many other species are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Toxic chemicals and pharmaceuticals continue to pollute our waterways. Shellfish beds are routinely closed to commercial and recreational harvest due to fecal contamination. More indicators point in the direction of continued decay than in the direction of recovery, but the picture is not entirely without hope.

In 2012, the State Department of the United States declared December 4 “Wildlife Conservation Day.” They wanted to highlight wildlife trafficking and illegal trade — and recognize the important work of conservationists around the world.

Grabbing a clump of vegetation to steady herself, Tiffany Troxler gingerly slides her feet along the makeshift boardwalk as she ventures out into the marsh. The boards sag, dipping her up to her knees in the tea-colored water.

Primary pupils have stepped onto the saltmarshes of Montrose Basin to spearhead a St Andrews University-led climate change mapping project.

On July 2 this year, two olive ridley turtles were found entangled in fishing nets at Cavelossim, a village in south Goa. “I was there on duty at the time,” recalled Shankar Parekar, a lifeguard. “I called more guards for help and using a pair of scissors and a knife, we cut the nets. Once the forest department’s permission came through, we released the turtles back in the water,” he said.

A battle is brewing over public access to beaches in Quintana Roo on Mexico's booming Yucatan Peninsula

The Federal Court of Australia has already decided that beaches north of Broome are the exclusive possession of native title holders and, although they are popular camping and fishing areas, the public does not have a legal right of access.

When a union president was asked about his end goal in negotiations with his members’ employers, he responded with: “More.” No matter the proposal, he always demanded more of whatever was being offered to his union.

Governor Northam has approved a $292,287 grant to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to fund the Eastern Shore Forest Conservation Initiative. The initiative will help the DGIF to acquire and improve forestland. This proposed multi-tract fee-simple acquisition presents the opportunity to expand existing Wildlife Management Areas, facilitate natural marsh migration, support coastal resiliency, provide new public lands for wildlife-related recreation, and improve habitat for migratory birds and species of greatest conservation need in an area of hemispheric importance.

A sperm whale found beached on Luskentyre Beach, Scotland, last week had a huge ball in its stomach made up of 220 pounds of human junk—including bundles of rope, sections of net and plastic debris.