Wildlife smuggling is serious organised crime that ‘fuels corruption and drives species to extinction’, Home Office says
More than 250 endangered species and illegal wildlife products were seized at the UK border in a single month, new figures have revealed, including spiders, snakes and birds.
The illicit cargo was uncovered as part of an annual crackdown on wildlife smuggling known as Operation Thunder, which is led by Interpol and the World Customs Organisation.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
12/11/2025 - 01:00
12/11/2025 - 00:38
Updated estimate reflects more accurate technology and extensive survey work, rather than a true increase in the koala population
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The first comprehensive koala survey conducted in New South Wales suggests populations of the endangered marsupial are higher than previously thought.
The NSW government’s statewide survey, released on Thursday, estimates there are 274,000 koalas across the state.
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12/11/2025 - 00:00
Ecologically important Diadema africanum almost eliminated by unknown disease in Canary Islands
A marine pandemic is bringing some species of sea urchin to the brink of extinction, and some populations have disappeared altogether, a study has found.
Since 2021, Diadema africanum urchins in the Canary Island archipelago have almost entirely been killed by an unknown disease. There has been a 99.7% population decrease in Tenerife, and a 90% decrease off the islands of the Madeira archipelago.
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12/10/2025 - 22:00
Cyclones like those in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Malaysia that killed 1,750 are ‘alarming new reality’
The climate crisis supercharged the deadly storms that killed more than 1,750 people in Asia by making downpours more intense and flooding worse, scientists have reported. Monsoon rains often bring some flooding but the scientists were clear: this was “not normal”.
In Sri Lanka, some floods reached the second floor of buildings, while in Sumatra, in Indonesia, the floods were worsened by the destruction of forests, which in the past slowed rainwater running off hillsides.
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12/10/2025 - 11:00
A fin whale washed ashore in Anchorage and was left there for months. Then a self-described ‘wacko’ museum director made a plan
When a whale dies, its body descends to the bottom of the deep sea in a transformative phenomenon called a whale fall. A whale’s death jump-starts an explosion of life, enough to feed and sustain a deep-ocean ecosystem for decades.
There are a lot of ways whales can die. Migrating whales lose their way and, unable to find their way back from unfamiliar waters, are stranded. They can starve when prey disappears or fall to predators such as orcas. They become bycatch, tangled in fishing lines and nets. Mass whale deaths have been linked to marine heatwaves and the toxic algae blooms that follow.
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12/10/2025 - 11:00
In 2023, court ruled in favor of 16 plaintiffs that officials violated their constitutional right by promoting fossil fuels
The young Montanans who scored a landmark triumph in the lawsuit Held v Montana are calling on the state’s highest court to enforce that victory.
In a groundbreaking legal decision in August 2023, a Montana judge ruled in favor of 16 youth plaintiffs who had accused state officials of violating their constitutional rights by promoting fossil fuels. The state’s supreme court affirmed the judge’s findings in late 2024. But state lawmakers have since violated her ruling, enshrining new laws this year that contradict it, argue 13 of the 16 plaintiffs in a petition filed on Wednesday.
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12/10/2025 - 01:00
Scientists issue urgent warning about chemicals, found to cause cancer and infertility as well as harming environment
Scientists have issued an urgent warning that some of the synthetic chemicals that help underpin the current food system are driving increased rates of cancer, neurodevelopmental conditions and infertility, while degrading the foundations of global agriculture.
The health burden from phthalates, bisphenols, pesticides and Pfas “forever chemicals” amounts to up to $2.2tn a year – roughly as much as the profits of the world’s 100 largest publicly listed companies, according to the report published on Wednesday.
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12/10/2025 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 10 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00172-z
Five key opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of area-based marine conservation
12/09/2025 - 23:00
Kolahoi is one of many glaciers whose decline is disrupting whole ecosystems – water, wildlife and human life that it has supported for centuries
From the slopes above Pahalgam, the Kolahoi glacier is visible as a thinning, rumpled ribbon of ice stretching across the western Himalayas. Once a vast white artery feeding rivers, fields and forests, it is now retreating steadily, leaving bare rock, crevassed ice and newly exposed alpine meadows.
The glacier’s meltwater has sustained paddy fields, apple orchards, saffron fields and grazing pastures for centuries. Now, as its ice diminishes, the entire web of life it supported is shifting.
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12/09/2025 - 18:26
The decline of the coal export industry could come even faster than expected, and we need to do more to manage the economic risks
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The year is winding down and for some Australians that means thinking about Christmas or the beach. For others, it will mean considering how they will cope with the next heatwave or bushfire. Already, two states have been burning.
The least bold prediction for the summer is that temperature records will tumble. It’s what happens when temperatures are on average 1.5C hotter than a little over a century ago.
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