Murray Watt and Sussan Ley survey devastation in Adelaide as scientists call for urgent funding for affected species
Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here
Scientists have called for urgent funding for recovery measures for species affected by a catastrophic algal bloom off South Australia as images emerged of a dead dolphin that washed up on a beach in Adelaide.
The call comes in response to an Albanese government announcement that it would fast-track an expert assessment of the impact of the crisis on marine life, similar to a step taken after the black summer bushfire crisis.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/13/2025 - 02:16
08/13/2025 - 02:00
Hawizeh’s wetlands once had abundant fishing and wildlife. In a land threatened by drought and desertification, oil drilling is draining the last of the water
At dawn, a veil of mist clings to the canals of Hawizeh, where sky and water seem to blur into a mirror. In the stern of a narrow wooden boat, 23-year-old Mustafa Hashim scans the marshes’ shallows, cutting the motor and switching to a traditional pole to avoid snagging on invasive roots or thickening mud.
It takes him about half an hour to push through the shrinking marshes to reach Um al-Nea’aj, once a vibrant lake teeming with boats and birdsong. Now, the water is about half a metre deep.
Continue reading...
08/13/2025 - 00:00
Chair Tony Juniper celebrates successes but says ‘collective endeavour’ needed to halt country’s decline in nature
England needs a massive “collective endeavour” to halt the country’s nature decline, its top conservation official says, after multimillion-pound investments in nature helped dormice, voles, willow tits and other species thrive.
Targeted conservation projects led by Natural England as part of its £13m species recovery programme’s capital grants scheme, have supported the recovery of 150 species, according to findings published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...
08/13/2025 - 00:00
Unprecedented temperatures causing difficulties in south-west France, Croatia, Italy and Spain with wildfire destruction across Europe up 87%
How dangerous are wildfires and how can we stop them from getting worse?
Extreme heat is breaking temperature records across Europe, early measurements suggest, and driving bigger and stronger wildfires.
In south-west France, records were broken on Monday in Angoulême, Bergerac, Bordeaux, Saint-Émilion and Saint-Girons. Météo France said the “often remarkable, even unprecedented, maximum temperatures” in the region were 12C above the norm for the last few decades.
Continue reading...
08/12/2025 - 23:00
Charity gives children a well-earned break from caring responsibilities, hoping that a day’s snorkelling amid the island’s wildlife will help them connect with nature
“A seal just swam right by me,” squeals Odin Rawlinson, 14, as he awkwardly clambers back on to the dive boat in his flippers. He had hoped to see a megalodon or a kraken (a mythical sea creature) on his first ever snorkelling trip. But to his surprise, he finds the marine life that actually frequents the waters off Lundy in the Bristol Channel just as enchanting.
Odin Rawlinson on the trip to Lundy – the 14-year-old looks after his mother who has kidney failure and has to have regular dialysis sessions in hospital.
Continue reading...
08/12/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 13 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00137-2
Controlled electrochemical nutrient delivery to enhance marine primary productivity
08/12/2025 - 21:18
Australia’s biggest bank delivers bumper payout to shareholders as CBA vows to end lending to coal companies with no net zero plans
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
The Commonwealth bank has posted a record cash profit, sparking renewed calls for Australia’s biggest bank to repay more than 2 million low-income customers $270m in fees – something it has refused to do.
CBA recorded $10.25bn in annual cash profits for the year to June – a 4% lift on the previous year – and gave a bumper $2.60 payout per share to shareholders.
Continue reading...
08/12/2025 - 16:00
Scientist says new species described from 25-million-year-old fossil found in Victoria ‘was a gnarly whale I wouldn’t want to get in the water with’
“Small and deceptively cute, but definitely not harmless” is how scientists have described a new species of ancient whale, from a 25-million-year-old fossil found on Victoria’s surf coast.
This early species, called Janjucetus dullardi, was an extremely unusual animal, said Dr Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate palaeontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute.
Continue reading...
08/12/2025 - 10:00
Greens senator David Shoebridge says communities will have ‘no way to protect the land’ from waste that will be radioactive for millennia
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Critics of Australia’s Aukus submarine deal say the government has given itself the power to nominate any place in Australia as a potential nuclear waste dump, without proper consultation with communities and Indigenous landowners.
Australia has agreed to take sole responsibility for the management, security and storage of all nuclear waste from its fleet of proposed nuclear-powered submarines, including the spent fuel from the submarines’ reactors – high-level nuclear waste that will be radioactive for millennia once the submarines are decommissioned from the early 2050s.
Continue reading...
08/12/2025 - 07:30
Ministers say online vendors of electrical goods such as microwaves will also have to contribute to recycling fees
Vape sellers will have to pay for the disposal of the devices under plans announced by the government.
Ministers said they would “end the UK’s throwaway culture” as they revealed measures to fund the recycling of electrical waste.
Continue reading...
