Environment | WPN World People News

New research tracking the migrations of leatherback turtles after leaving their nesting grounds in French Guiana shows that they must travel almost twice as far as groups previously observed to reach feeding grounds. This indicates their behaviour is modifying to adapt to rapidly rising ocean temperatures and changing currents, both caused by climate change.

Oscar-winners Olivia Colman and Dame Helen Mirren, along with Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey and Stranger Things’ David Harbour, star in a new animation that highlights the plight of the oceans, released globally by Aardman Animations and Greenpeace UK, on January 14.

A volcano sent clouds of ash blowing through the Philippine capital of Manila Monday, forcing schools and businesses to close.

More than 24,000 people near the Taal volcano, roughly 70 kilometers south of Manila, were evacuated after the volcano suddenly came to life Sunday following months of being restive.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a contingent US$10 million in support to Vanuatu that will strengthen the island nation’s resilience to disasters, support climate adaption, and help manage its debt.

Since September, at least 27 people have died in Australia’s bushfires. More than 10 million hectares (24 million acres) of land — an area bigger than Portugal — have been scorched.

The EU has failed to achieve its targets to restore the health of European seas and to fish sustainably in its waters by 1 January 2020.

A Japanese governmental subcommittee submitted its three-part, on December 23, calamitously drafted proposal for managing more than one million tonnes of radioactive water resulting from the TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster of 2011.

J-Village is the starting point of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relay, and radioactive contamination still remains in the parking lot and the nearby forests at this sports complex in Fukushima prefecture, according to Greenpeace Japan’s most recent survey. On 12 December, the Japanese Ministry of Environment confirmed that the high-level radioactive hotspot identified by Greenpeace in October and a newly-identified hotspot had been removed by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Despite this, on 13-14 December, Greenpeace measured public areas in and around J-Village again and still detected radioactive contamination.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a US$150 million loan to help China improve sustainable forest ecosystem management in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River Basin.