Radical Times in Reunion Island, Video
If you were to stand on the shoreline of Reunion Island’s west coast beaches today, it would be hard to imagine the crowded beaches completely empty, however this was a reality only a few short months ago. 18 shark attacks over a five year period dramatically affected the Indian Ocean paradise both emotionally and economically. Surfer Jeremy Flores returns to his homeland, on a family mission to protect the beaches that have given them so much.
Half of world heritage sites threatened by development
WWF concludes that at least 114 of 229 world heritage sites of outstanding importance for species and habitats are at risk from mining, fossil fuel extraction concessions, and other industrial activities.
Indonesia’s contested land reclamation projects
There are more than 15 planned reclamation projects across Indonesia, including a $3 billion project to build artificial islands in the middle of Benoa Bay in Bali. This proposed reclamation has spawned one of the largest environmental movements in Indonesia’s history.
UN Begins Negotiations on Treaty to Protect Marine Resources
The United Nations has begun negotiations for a new legally binding treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources in the world’s oceans – nearly 64 percent of which lie beyond national jurisdiction.
Japan Kills 200 Pregnant Minke Whales
Flouting an international ruling, Japan resumed minke whaling for ‘scientific purposes’ during breeding season.
Capt. Sam’s Spit road gets court go-ahead; conservation groups plan to appeal, SC
A wall to protect a road to a controversial development on Capt. Sam’s Spit can be built, a state Administrative Law Court judge has ruled, despite an earlier state Supreme Court ruling that stopped the road along a piece of the disappearing natural coast.
Ecuador creates Galápagos marine sanctuary to protect sharks
Ecuador has created a new marine sanctuary in the Galápagos Islands that will offer protection to the world’s greatest concentration of sharks. Some 15,000 square miles (38,000 sq km) of the waters around Darwin and Wolf – the most northern islands – will be made off limits to all fishing.
Ocean acidification takes a toll on California’s coastline at nighttime
Conducted along California’s rocky coastline, a new study, based on the most-extensive set of measurements ever made in tide pools, suggests that ocean acidification will increasingly put many marine organisms at risk by exacerbating normal changes in ocean chemistry that occur overnight.
Rural Community Fights a Second Dam and a New Expropriation of Land, Mexico
In 1976, the construction of a hydroelectric dam destroyed farmland in the rural municipality of Chicoasén in southern Mexico. Forty years later, part of the local population is fighting a second dam. The 240-MW Chicoasén 2 dam, to be built at a cost of 300 million dollars, is scheduled to come onstream in July 2018.