Belgium fears for its fragile coastline
Storms and rising sea levels could wreak havoc as defences that protect beaches and dykes are overwhelmed. According to the regional authorities, about a third of the Belgian heavily populated coastline is inadequately protected against flooding.
Britain Ranks Top Risks Posed by Climate Change
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has identified potential opportunities and threats for the UK that could arise as a result of climate change. Beaches and historic coastlines are likely to be reshaped by coastal erosion, with the rate expected to increase fourfold, the report said.
Accoustic Pollution and Naval Sonar testing
Over the past 40 years, cumulative research across the globe has revealed a coincidence between naval sonar testing events and acute decompression sickness in beached marine mammals. Under a plan announced by the NOAA, marine mammal “hot spots” in areas including Southern California’s coastal waters, may become off limits to testing of a type of Navy sonar linked to the deaths of whales.
Structural and Functional Loss in Restored Wetland Ecosystems
Wetlands are among the most productive and valuable ecosystems in the world, but because of human activities, over half of the wetland ecosystems existing in North America, Europe, Australia, and China in the early 20th century have been lost. Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry, that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared, but a new analysis of such projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.
Japan’s Nuclear Alley Conflicted Over Reactors
International inspectors are visiting a rugged Japanese bay region so thick with reactors it is dubbed “Nuclear Alley,” where residents remain deeply conflicted as Japan moves to restart plants idled after the Fukushima disaster.
Tropical Cyclone Funso
Tropical Cyclone Funso is now a dangerous Category 4 cyclone in the Mozambique Channel, moving southward between Mozambique on the African mainland and the island nation of Madagascar.
Farming is Key to Meeting Environmental Challenges
Agriculture is part of the solution to the world’s environmental challenge and must play a key role at next June’s Rio summit on sustainable development…
Seawater Injections Could Lift Venice 12 Inches ?
Known to Venetians as the acqua alta, or “high water,” flooding driven by high tides submerges the lowest 14 percent of the Italian destination four times a year, on average. And it’s only getting worse.
Ninety Whales Stranded on New Zealand Beach
A pod of 90 pilot whales beached themselves at the top of New Zealand’s South island Monday in the same area where seven whales died in a mass stranding earlier this month, officials said.