Environment

• Tuesday, December 26th 2017 - 09:23 UTC

  Antipodean Albatross in breeding crisis; Falklands' Black-browed surveys show numbers are increasing

  

  Antipodean Albatrosses court for years, mate for life and work together to raise their young – but human activity is causing a sex ratio imbalance that is destroying their lifelong romance. This year, they have been uplisted to Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to worrying population declines.

• Friday, December 22nd 2017 - 10:36 UTC

  Falklands included in US universities and NASA project to keep track of kelp floating forests

  

  Kelp forests grow along coastlines worldwide, largely hidden from view. Like rainforests, they're among the planet's most important ecosystems: beautiful but fragile habitats for a wide array of plant and animal species. But scientists believe kelp forests are being threatened by climate change. Now, researchers from UCLA and seven other universities have an improved tool for tracking these shifting ecosystems, the largest of which is about 5 miles long.

• Wednesday, December 20th 2017 - 10:11 UTC

  Acute intoxication with cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in Montevideo beaches

  

  An acute case of intoxication with cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in recreational exposure during an algal bloom in Montevideo beaches, Malvin and Carrasco, was reported in the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

• Wednesday, December 20th 2017 - 08:48 UTC

  Protecting UK (and Falklands) fisheries in a post Brexit scenario

  

  In the midst of the Brexit debate in the UK, and its expected consequences, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has anticipated EU fishing quotas referred to UK will be scrapped and if things go as planned by the cabinet member, French, Spanish, Danish and other nations fishing fleets will be chased form illegally fishing in UK waters.

• Monday, December 18th 2017 - 13:12 UTC

  Chile bans bottom sea trawling in 98% of its EEZ to protect marine environment

  

  Chile's Under secretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture, SUBPESCA, and Oceana Chile jointly announced the freezing of the fishing footprint for the common hake and demersal crustacean fisheries. This means that 98% of Chile's exclusive economic zone, EEZ, will be protected from bottom trawling.

• Monday, December 18th 2017 - 07:09 UTC

  Mudslide buries village in Patagonian Chile: at least 8 dead and 15 missing

  

  At least eight people are dead and 15 are still missing after a landslide swept through a remote village in Patagonian Chile on Saturday, the country's president said. The deadly catastrophe devastated the town of Villa Santa Lucia, near a popular national park in the Chaitén region following a deluge of rain on Friday.

• Friday, December 15th 2017 - 08:38 UTC

  Falklands' call for “the world's greenest cruise ship”, MS Roald Amundsen

  

  From an environmental perspective, it’s easy to see how cruise ships have long been one of the harshest modes of travel. They’re big, slow, fuel-hungry, and rife with excess. However, forward-thinking cruise line Hurtigruten is looking to change the game with the launch of what they’re calling “the world’s greenest cruise ship.”

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 07:49 UTC

  Monsanto confident a soy seed patent dispute in Brazil will uphold

  

  U.S. seeds company Monsanto Co is confident Brazilian courts will uphold its Intacta RR2 PRO soy seed patent despite a challenge from grain growers in the state of Mato Grosso, the company’s chief of South American operations said this week.

• Friday, December 8th 2017 - 01:26 UTC

  UN Environment Assembly pledges to stop plastics seeping into the oceans

  

  The world's environment ministers have pledged to stop plastics seeping into the planet's oceans in a step “towards a pollution-free planet”. Delegates at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi, Kenya, have called for a radical change in how goods are consumed and produced to tackle the world's rubbish problem.

• Monday, December 4th 2017 - 16:32 UTC

  Calved glacier on the loose in south Chile threatening local ship navigation

  

  The recent calving of a large iceberg from a southern Chilean glacier threatens local ship navigation and could result in flooding for coastal communities, experts said. An iceberg measuring some 350 by 380 meters broke from the Grey glacier in far southern Chile in late November.