Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Conservationists hail the ‘desperately needed’ measures and urge greater protection after up to 11% of endangered Tapanuli orangutans wiped out The floods and landslides that tore through Indonesia’s fragile Batang Toru ecosystem in November 2024 – killing up to 11% of the world’s Tapanuli orangutan population – prompted widespread scrutiny of the extractive companies operating in the area at the time of the ecological catastrophe. For weeks, investigators searched for evidence that the companies may have damaged the Batang Toru and Garoga watersheds before the disaster, which washed torrents of mud and logs into villages, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 people. Continue reading...

Campaigners hail U-turn during legal challenge over proposed centre an ‘embarrassing climbdown’ The government has been forced to admit its own planning approval for a major AI datacentre should be quashed after it failed to fully consider the climate impact, in what campaigners described as “an embarrassing climbdown”. Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, had overruled opposition from a local council to grant permission for a hyperscale datacentre on greenbelt land by the M25 in Buckinghamshire in line with Labour’s pledge to enable faster private investment in AI. But her successor, Steve Reed, has admitted the reasons for not requiring an environmental impact assessment were “inadequate” and that “permission should be quashed”. Continue reading...

Sheldon Whitehouse adds auto giant to investigation after US president claimed CEO requests changes to regulations As the Trump administration prepares to overturn the rule underpinning virtually all US climate regulations, a Senate committee is investigating whether the US’s second-largest automaker lobbied for the rollback. In September, the Senate environment and public works committee launched investigations into two dozen oil companies, thinktanks, law firms and trade associations, focused on how the companies may have persuaded the White House to initiate the repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding. Now, the committee, chaired by the Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse, is expanding the investigation to include Ford Motor Company. Continue reading...

Cash, gold, mercury and firearms seized in operations in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname Police and prosecutors from Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have arrested nearly 200 people in their first joint cross-border operation targeting illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, authorities said. The operation was backed by Interpol, the EU and Dutch police specialising in environmental crime. It involved more than 24,500 checks on vehicles and people across remote border areas and led to the seizure of cash, unprocessed gold, mercury, firearms, drugs and mining equipment, Interpol said. Continue reading...