A record 39,000 birds are overwintering on Wallasea island wetlands thanks to soil transported from London tunnels
Almost 40,000 birds have made their home on a nature reserve created using soil from tunnel excavations for the Elizabeth line.
Three million tonnes of earth were transported from London to Wallasea island in Essex and used to lift the ground level and make wetlands.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
11/26/2025 - 14:00
11/26/2025 - 11:12
Strategy paper released with budget allows new oil and gas projects to move ahead if they are linked to existing fields
Comment: Labour is still in a muddle on North Sea oil and gas
The government has ruled out new North Sea oil and gas exploration or lower taxes for fossil fuel companies as it struggles to protect workers from the industry’s collapse.
In a strategy paper, Ed Miliband confirmed the crackdown on new North Sea exploration – although the energy secretary will still allow new offshore fossil fuel projects to move ahead as long as they are linked to existing fields.
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11/26/2025 - 11:00
Exclusive: Former US secretary of state calls for more demanding steps from Australia as it takes over presidency of next year’s UN climate summit
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Australia’s government, which will preside over the next UN climate summit, should gather the world’s 25 biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries and push them to draw up a roadmap to end the era of fossil fuels, former US secretary of state John Kerry has said.
Only by “hard-nosed” confrontation with fossil fuel producers, and reducing their consumption in major economies, would the world be able to tackle the climate crisis, he said.
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11/26/2025 - 11:00
The Mohana of Pakistan’s Sindh province once thrived on the lake but pollution and drought have caused the fragile ecosystem to collapse, along with their way of life
At the mouth of Lake Manchar, gentle lapping disturbs the silence. A small boat cuts through the water, propelled by a bamboo pole scraping the muddy bottom of the canal.
Bashir Ahmed manoeuvres his frail craft with agility. His slender boat is more than just a means of transport. It is the legacy of a people who live to the rhythm of water: the Mohana. They have lived for generations on the waters of Lake Manchar in Sindh province, a vast freshwater mirror covering nearly 250 sq km. The lake, once the largest in Pakistan, was long an oasis of life. Now, it is dying.
Bashir Ahmed in his boat on the lake, next to simple huts built on top of the right bank outfall drain
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11/26/2025 - 10:41
EPA had previously said rule reducing fine particle matter from vehicles and industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year
The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources.
The action follows moves by the administration last week to weaken federal rules protecting millions of acres of wetlands and streams and roll back protections for imperiled species and the places they live. In a separate action, the interior department proposed new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.
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11/26/2025 - 09:00
Climate change minister Chris Bowen acknowledges ‘additional work’ needed to meet 2035 goal
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The Albanese government will need to substantially ramp up its climate policies to meet its recently announced 2035 emissions reduction target, according to an official projection that says it will otherwise be missed by a huge margin.
Government projections released on Thursday suggest under existing policies the country is on track to cut climate pollution by only 48% less than 2005 levels by 2035 – well below its target of a cut of between 62% and 70% by that date.
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11/25/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 25 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00166-x
Coral reefs span borders, so must solutions: transboundary conservation in complex political environments
11/22/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 22 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00168-9
We must integrate effective protection with scalable restoration to ensure resilient coastal ecosystems. We identify five challenges, including unequal ecosystem coverage, spatial protections that are weak or centered offshore, compartmentalized restoration efforts, and policies that are not fit for purpose, and propose actionable solutions for scaling effective marine conservation. Emphasizing underserved habitats like kelp forests and seagrasses, we call for integrated, equitable, and community-supported strategies that align with global agendas and promote future coastal ecosystems.
11/21/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 21 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00164-z
Emerging climate-smart governance through maritime spatial planning in northern Europe
World Ocean Explorer Wins Gold Medal Serious Simulation Award from Serious Play Annual International Competition
10/26/2023 - 14:35
For Immediate Release October 19, 2023
Sedgwick, Maine USA World Ocean Explorer, a 3D virtual aquarium and educational simulation, was recently cited for excellence, winning a Gold Medal Award in the 2023 International Serious Play Awards Program.
World Ocean Explorer is an innovative 3D virtual aquarium designed for educational exploration of the world’s oceans. With interactive exhibits and a lobby space, visitors can immerse themselves in realistic marine environments, including a DEEP SEA exhibit funded by Schmidt Ocean Institute, showcasing unprecedented deep-sea discoveries off Australia. Targeted at 3rd graders and beyond, this immersive experience offers a range of perspectives on the ocean environment and can be explored through guided tours or user-controlled interfaces. Visit DEEP SEA at worldoceanexplorer.org/deep-sea-aquarium.html.
Serious Play Conference brings together professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience, and working together to shape the future of training and education. For more information on Serious Play Award Program visit seriousplayconf.com/international-serious-play-award-programs.
World Ocean Explorer is a transformative virtual aquarium designed to deepen understanding of the world ocean and amplify connection for young people worldwide. Organized around the principles of Ocean Literacy and the Next Gen Science Standards, World Ocean Explorer brings the wonder and knowledge of ocean species and systems to students in formal and informal classrooms, absolutely free to anyone with a good Internet connection. As an advocate for the ocean through communications, World Ocean Observatory believes there is no better investment in the future of the sustainable ocean than through a new approach to educational engagement that excites, informs, and motivates students to explore the wonders of our marine world and to understand the pervasive connection and implication for our future, inherent in the protection and conservation of all aspects of our ocean world.
World Ocean Explorer presents an astonishing 3-dimensional simulated aquarium visit, organized to reveal the wonders of undersea life, with layers of detailed data and information to augment the emotional connection made to the astonishing beauty and complexity of the dynamic ocean. Within each of the virtual exhibits, students visit exemplary theme-based sites with myriad opportunities to understand the larger perspectives of scientific knowledge as organized and visualized to dramatize the impact and change on ocean life as a result of natural and human-generated events. Through immersion among displays, mixed media and 3D models, the experience of an aquarium visit will be brought into classrooms or home school environments as a free, accessible, always available opportunity for teaching and learning. All of this will be available to a world audience without physical limitation or cost. World Ocean Explorer, a project of the World Ocean Observatory, receives support from the Seth Sprague Educational and Charitable Foundation, Visual Solutions Lab, the Climate Change Institute, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, and The Fram Museum Oslo. To learn more about the current and future exhibits of World Ocean Explorer, visit worldoceanexplorer.org.
media contact
Trisha Badger, Managing Director, World Ocean Observatory | [email protected] +12077011069
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