Environment

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has delivered a petition with more than 258,000 signatures to the European Commission, calling for mandatory speed limits for commercial vessels in EU waters. Advocates say slower speeds would significantly reduce underwater noise, protect whales and dolphins from ship strikes, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The United Nations High Seas Treaty has officially crossed the threshold for ratification, with 60 countries now signed on. The agreement, finalised in 2023 after years of negotiations, will come into force in January 2026. It represents the first legally binding framework to protect biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions, covering nearly half the planet’s surface.

Seaweed in the Atlantic

These sprawling masses of seaweed, often stretching for miles, have been observed in the Atlantic over the past few years. While such occurrences are not entirely new, their increasing frequency and size have raised concerns about their potential environmental impacts.

A recent in-depth exploration by BBC Future sheds light on the phenomenon, unraveling the complex factors behind the enigmatic seaweed blooms.

For more than two years, researchers on board the French expedition ship Tara sailed through the Pacific, stopping at almost 100 coral reefs to take thousands of water and coral samples. The expedition ended in 2018, and the analysis of the massive amount of data collected has taken five years.

Now, the initial results of the data analysis have been published. The findings should help us to better understand the living conditions of corals, to check their health status and to open up new possibilities for nature conservation. 

Ocean deoxygenation has detrimental repercussions. Fish, crabs and other significant species of marine life that are unable to flee these low oxygen zones may perish as a result. People who depend on them for food and employment may be subsequently impacted by their absence as many of these species are economically significant.

Additionally, there is a negative feedback loop at play: as ocean oxygen levels decline, so does its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide. This may cause global warming to accelerate even further.

According to the WMO projections, there is a 90 percent chance that the El Niño event will persist over the second half of 2023. It is predicted to be at least moderately strong.

El Niño episodes typically last between nine and twelve months and occur every two to seven years on average. It is a naturally occurring climate pattern linked to the warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean's central and eastern ocean surface temperatures.