Breaking Waves: Ocean News
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-waves
en‘I know their names, what they eat’: tracking polar bears on Svalbard’s shifting icescapes
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/i-know-their-names-what-they-eat-tracking-polar-bears-svalbard-s-shifting-icescapes
<p>For more than 20 years, scientists have followed the animals in Norway’s Arctic archipelago to understand how they may adapt to changing threats as the ice they depend on melts</p>
<p>When Rolf-Arne Ølberg is hanging out of a helicopter with a gun, he needs to be able to assess from a distance of about 10 metres the sex and approximate weight of the moving animal he is aiming at, as well as how fat or muscular it is and whether it is in any distress. Only then can he dart it with the correct amount of sedative. Luckily, he says, polar bears are “quite good anaesthetic patients”.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/i-know-their-names-what-they-eat-tracking-polar-bears-svalbard-s-shifting-icescapes" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:00:35 +0000admin99058 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgHow scientists capture a polar bear – video
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/how-scientists-capture-polar-bear-video
<p>Each spring since 2003, Jon Aars, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute, and his team have conducted an annual <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/25/tracking-polar-bears-svalbard-norway-shifting-ice-melt">polar bear monitoring</a> program on Svalbard - collaring, capturing and taking samples from as many bears as they can across several weeks.<br /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/how-scientists-capture-polar-bear-video" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 08:45:13 +0000admin99057 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgCrucial UN nature talks are about to reopen in Rome – but will enough countries turn up?
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/crucial-un-nature-talks-are-about-reopen-rome-will-enough-countries-turn
<p>After last year’s Cop16 biodiversity talks in Cali left key issues unresolved, the extra summit will attempt to seek consensus, especially over funding</p>
<p>Global talks to halt the loss of nature will reopen today in Rome, amid “loss of trust” in the United Nations-led process and concerns that countries will not turn up for the meeting. Delegates are due to meet at Cop16, the UN’s biodiversity conference, to discuss global targets to stop nature loss by 2030.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/crucial-un-nature-talks-are-about-reopen-rome-will-enough-countries-turn" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 07:00:33 +0000admin99056 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgTuesday briefing: Farmers prepare to give minister chilly reception as Labour seeks to mend fences over inheritance tax
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/tuesday-briefing-farmers-prepare-give-minister-chilly-reception-labour-seeks-mend-fenc
<p>In today’s newsletter: The government is refusing to back down over its changes to inheritance tax breaks for farmers – here’s why the issue is still rumbling on</p>
<p>Good morning. It’s a time-honoured tradition: the minister arriving to speak to a conference hall full of people who absolutely hate him, and getting roundly pilloried as he sticks to the government line. Today, it might be the environment secretary Steve Reed’s turn. His adversaries: a large number of implacably angry farmers.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/tuesday-briefing-farmers-prepare-give-minister-chilly-reception-labour-seeks-mend-fenc" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 06:53:05 +0000admin99055 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgUK’s seasonal farm worker scheme to be extended for five years
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/uk-s-seasonal-farm-worker-scheme-be-extended-five-years
<p>Environment secretary will hope move can reset relations with farmers after inheritance tax row</p>
<p>The environment secretary, Steve Reed, is to announce a five-year extension of the seasonal farm worker scheme in an attempt to reset relations with farmers after fury over inheritance tax.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/uk-s-seasonal-farm-worker-scheme-be-extended-five-years" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 06:00:33 +0000admin99053 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgDartmoor wild boar sightings prompt suspicions of guerrilla rewilding
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/dartmoor-wild-boar-sightings-prompt-suspicions-guerrilla-rewilding
<p>Dog walker’s close encounter prompts debate over whether the animals, once native to UK, should remain</p>
<p>Sightings of wild boar on Dartmoor have raised suspicions a guerrilla rewilder has been releasing them – and prompted a debate over whether they should be allowed to remain.</p>
<p>Videos of a group of boar on the moors in Devon were posted online earlier this month, and a dog walker has recently complained of a close encounter with one of them, which frightened his pet.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/dartmoor-wild-boar-sightings-prompt-suspicions-guerrilla-rewilding" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 06:00:31 +0000admin99054 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgMost conservation funds go to large vertebrates at expense of ‘neglected’ species
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/most-conservation-funds-go-large-vertebrates-expense-neglected-species
<p>Study shows funding bias towards animals like rhino while other endangered species including amphibians and algae disregarded</p>
<p>Most global conservation funds go to larger, charismatic animals, leaving critically important but less fashionable species deprived, a 25-year study has revealed.</p>
<p>Scientists have found that of the $1.963bn allocated to projects worldwide, 82.9% was assigned to vertebrates. Plants and invertebrates each accounted for 6.6% of the funding, while fungi and algae were barely represented at less than 0.2%.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/most-conservation-funds-go-large-vertebrates-expense-neglected-species" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 20:00:19 +0000admin99051 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgUS fossil fuel industry campaigns to kill policies that ban gas in new buildings
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/us-fossil-fuel-industry-campaigns-kill-policies-ban-gas-new-buildings
<p>Oil and gas interests coordinate campaign to stop local and state policies, putting climate at risk, new report shows</p>
<p>Oil and gas interests have waged a coordinated campaign to kill pro-electrification policies that ban gas connections in new buildings<strong>,</strong> putting the climate at risk, according to a new report.</p>
<p>Since 2019, utilities and fossil fuel trade groups, including the American Gas Association (AGA) and National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), have worked together to successfully thwart various local and state efforts.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/us-fossil-fuel-industry-campaigns-kill-policies-ban-gas-new-buildings" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 19:09:35 +0000admin99050 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgSellafield nuclear site plans cuts as chief says £2.8bn funding ‘not enough’
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/sellafield-nuclear-site-plans-cuts-chief-says-28bn-funding-not-enough
<p>Exclusive: Union concerned over safety as site’s bosses say budget does not cover work planned</p>
<p>Sellafield has said nearly £3bn in new funding is “not enough” and bosses are now examining swingeing cuts, prompting fears over jobs and safety at the vast nuclear waste dump.</p>
<p>The Cumbrian nuclear site, which is home to the world’s largest store of plutonium, was last week awarded £2.8bn for the next financial year, the bulk of the total of just over £4bn funds allotted to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a taxpayer-owned and funded quango.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/sellafield-nuclear-site-plans-cuts-chief-says-28bn-funding-not-enough" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 15:02:23 +0000admin99049 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.orgBP expected to scrap renewables target in shift back to fossil fuels
https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/bp-expected-scrap-renewables-target-shift-back-fossil-fuels
<p>Goal of increasing renewable energy generation 20-fold to be ditched, shareholders to be told this week</p>
<p>BP is expected to ditch a target to ramp up renewable energy generation by 2030 as part of a shift back towards fossil fuels when it presents its strategy to investors this week.</p>
<p>The chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, is poised to tell shareholders that the oil and gas company is scrapping its target to increase renewable generation 20-fold between 2019 and 2030 to 50 gigawatts, Reuters reported.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org/breaking-wave/bp-expected-scrap-renewables-target-shift-back-fossil-fuels" target="_blank">read more</a></p>Mon, 24 Feb 2025 14:39:46 +0000admin99046 at https://www.worldoceanobservatory.org