UCSB Researchers Studying El Niño Sea Level Rise, CA

Since the arrival of El Niño in November, sea levels have risen 20 cm to become a surrogate for the next 250 years of climate change, giving scientists the prime opportunity to study future erosion of the Santa Barbara coastline.

Company accused of willfully destroying Kenya’s best beach

The nightmare of sandless Diani beaches is looming large again after Chinese company, the China Roads and Bridge Corporation, decided to appeal a decision by the Kenyan environmental tribunal that no more dredging was permitted off Diani beach without a full environmental and social impact assessment study.

Cheap oil is taking routes back to the 1800s.

The plummeting price of oil on international markets has had many effects – one of which is that it may be cheaper for ships to travel right around Africa than go through the Suez Canal.

Organic shrimp farmers protect mangrove forests

After three years of implementation of the Mangroves and Markets Project (MAM), shrimp farmers have become more aware of organic production techniques and the need to preserve mangrove forests in their areas.

A Peruvian Beach Named Dirtiest in the World

When people think of beaches, they may think fine sand and pristine shores. However, that won’t be the scene to catch in Peru’s Carpayo beach, located on the western tip of the capital. Carpayo is on the receiving end of waste and dumps from Lima and it gets about 2.8 kilos of trash per square meter. In the latest clean-up drive, 60 tons of trash were collected in three hours.

Alabama has been destroying its natural coast

From its beginning Alabama has been endowed with some of the finest natural white sand beach and dune systems in the nation, but, over time, we have preserved less, and destroyed more of this asset than any other state. We have literally “paved paradise and put up a parking lot!

Fish Poachers Push Endangered Porpoises to Brink

China’s lucrative black market for fish parts is threatening the vaquita, the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The porpoises, who live only in the Gulf of California, are getting caught up as bycatch in illegal gill nets and killed. Scientists fear the porpoise could vanish by 2018.

Hawaii bill to restore Waikiki Beach

Despite being one of Hawaii’s most iconic beaches, many visitors don’t know Waikiki Beach is actually an engineered beach that has been filled with imported sand. Waikiki has been facing erosion problems for years, and Hawaii lawmakers are pushing a bill to restore it…again. The state estimates that approximately 300,000 cubic yards of sand have been imported to Waikiki beaches over the past 75 years, often mined from other beaches in the state.