A project to revive the country’s marine species is paying dividends but more needs to be done to mitigate the impact of pollution on the UAE’s coral reefs, an expert said. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Marine Owen, co-owner of Freestyle Divers, realised there was no more time to waste to offset the effects of climate change. […]
Around 100 nations, responsible for about two-thirds of the world’s emissions, gave plans or some kind of commitments to further curb fossil fuel emissions and fight climate change at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. With China leading the way by announcing its first emission cuts, world leaders said Wednesday they are getting more serious […]
Annual visitors numbered fewer than 8,000 in the 1990s. Last year, more than 124,000 visited. Antarctica, Earth’s last great wilderness, is facing growing pressure from human activity. A new study published in Nature Sustainability warns that surging tourism and expanding research bases are polluting the southern continent, accelerating snow melting and threatening fragile ecosystems already […]
As the EU prepares a broader reform of its chemical legislation, the European Chemicals Agency has updated its proposal to restrict “forever chemicals,” adding new sectors to the scope of its planned ban. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on Wednesday expanded its proposal to restrict so-called “forever chemicals” from eight new industrial and commercial sectors […]
Negotiations to establish the first global plastics treaty faltered in Geneva on Friday, as delegates failed to reach consensus on critical treaty provisions to tackle pollution. The final hours saw entrenched positions over key areas – specifically plastic production caps, which had been a key issue that boiled over from last year’s failed talks in Korea. “It’s very […]
Researchers have demonstrated a new eco-friendly plastic that decomposes in deep ocean conditions. In a deep-sea experiment, the microbially synthesized poly(d-lactate-co-3-hydroxybutyrate) (LAHB) biodegraded, while conventional plastics such as a representative bio-based polylactide (PLA) persisted. Submerged 855 meters (~2,800 feet) underwater, LAHB films lost over 80% of their mass after 13 months as microbial biofilms actively […]
Talks to agree the first global treaty on combating plastic pollution are set to begin on Tuesday, and limiting plastic production is a key point of contention. Dozens of countries, campaign groups and researchers say that legally binding cuts to plastic production, which is running at about 460 million tonnes a year, are the only way to deal […]
The amount of discarded plastic found in dead seabirds in the UAE has been described as “very alarming” by a senior Greenpeace campaigner. Farah Al Hattab, lead plastics campaigner at Greenpeace Mena, said harm to creatures such as seabirds indicated “a much deeper environmental crisis”. The new research, released by Sharjah researchers, reported that about one in eight seabirds […]
Faced with the explosion of plastic consumption, scientists and institutions are warning: recycling will not be enough. Reducing andalternative options are needed to tackle plastic pollution, with plastics now present everywhere in the environment and even in our bodies. Every year, the world produces record quantities of plastic. In 2021, according to the OECD, more than […]
At the dawn of the millennium, a group of eminent scientists began compiling a list of the threats they felt were most likely to impact the world’s rocky shorelines over the coming quarter of a century. Published in 2002, it included forecasts that – among other things – pollution from oil spills would decrease, the […]
