A National Geographic Expedition to the remote Pitcairn Islands, including the famous Pitcairn and its 57 inhabitants, descendants from the Bounty mutineers, will embark in March-April 2012. This expedition is part of NG Pristine Seas project to explore, survey and help protect the last wild places in the ocean.
Read More
We may tend to view fires as the bane of cities and wilderness areas, but they actually play an integral part in the evolution and ecology of the world’s “Mediterranean-type climate” regions: dry, temperate coastlands, that cradle and nurture world cities such as Los Angeles, Santiago, Cape Town, Perth and Athens.
Read More
The World Bank on Friday said the world’s oceans were at risk and called for a coalition of governments, NGOs and other groups to protect them, aiming to raise $1.5 billion in five years.
Read More
Ecosystem Destruction | News
Conservation Risk Highest Off Coasts of Canada, Mexico, Peru and New Zealand
University of British Columbia researchers have identified conservation “hot spots” around the world where the temptation to profit from overfishing outweighs the appetite for conservation.
Read More
It’s not rocket science: closing areas of land and water to humans allows nature to recover and restore its fragile balance. The idea has been successfully tried and tested many times on land but it has taken years of destruction before the message has hit home for the oceans.
Read More
Trees cool and moisten our air and fill it with oxygen. They calm the winds and shade the land from sunlight. They shelter countless species, anchor the soil, and slow the movement of water. They provide food, fuel, medicines, and building materials for human activity. The coastal Pacific Northwest of the USA has the tallest trees in North America, averaging as much as 40 meters in height. It has the densest biomass in the country, but for centuries, it also has been a much-tapped resource.
Read More
Two metres below the surface of the Atacama Desert there is an ‘oasis’ of microorganisms.
Read More
The fishing industry is notorious for underreporting the number of organisms that are being fished out of the world’s oceans every year. A study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, is the first to estimate seafood production using satellite imagery. Researchers used Google Earth to count and measure the number of coastal fish farms in 16 countries on the Mediterranean Sea.
Read More
A decade ago Gabon set aside 10% of its land for national parks, to boost its economy by becoming Africa’s magnet for eco-tourists, and some, hoping that tourism can help Gabon reduce its long reliance on oil. Loango Park, called the ‘Land of surfing hippos’ held perhaps the greatest potential to lure tourists, given its rare wildlife and unusual coastal setting, but turning its natural assets into tourist cash has been tougher than expected.
Read MoreBeach of the Month
Photo of the Month
Plastic Pollution
Sand Wars – United Nations-GEA
Sand Mining Detrimental Effects
The World’s Beaches
Coastal Care Junior
NASA – Fly along with NASA’s fleet of Earth science missions and observe Earth from a global perspective in an immersive, 3-D environment.
