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© 2025 Island Innovation. All rights reserved.

    News

    Curated stories and analysis from islands and sustainability leaders worldwide.

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    Showing 9 of 506 news items in Climate Action
    Too Hot to Work? What Channel Island Laws Say
    Climate ActionSeptember 14, 2026

    Too Hot to Work? What Channel Island Laws Say

    A union representing Channel Island workers says it supports the introduction of maximum temperature limits in workplaces to protect staff, as the islands experience their third heatwave of 2026. There is no law in Guernsey, Jersey or the UK that says a given temperature is too hot to work, although each place refers to guidance from the UK's Health and Safety Executive. Temperatures were forecast by Jersey Met to reach up to 34°C, a fortnight after Jersey experienced its hottest day on record at 39.3°C. Unions are calling for stronger protections, risk assessments and practical measures such as ventilation, drinking water, breaks, fans and air-conditioning.

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    'This Was Something New': What People in Greenland Said About Learning to Live with Wildfires
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    Climate ActionJuly 9, 2026

    'This Was Something New': What People in Greenland Said About Learning to Live with Wildfires

    After several quieter years, wildfires have returned to western Greenland. Two recent fires have brought renewed attention to a landscape more typically associated with glaciers and melting ice sheets than flames. But when we visited the region in 2023 to investigate a series of unusual large wildfires that burned a few years earlier, local residents told us they would not be surprised if the fires came back. They remembered how dry the landscape had become before the fires, which made wildfire easier to start and harder to control. For people living around Sisimiut on Greenland's west coast, these latest events are therefore not entirely unexpected. Our research suggests wildfires may be part of a new Arctic reality. During our 2023 fieldwork we spoke to firefighters, local business owners and land-users, tourism managers and international visitors, all of whom had direct experience of the earlier fires. A common thread was that these fires were unlike anything they remembered. Older generations were particularly shocked. As one resident put it, "it was something new, even for us." Their recollections match our own analysis using satellite data and newspaper reports that found no landscape fires in western Greenland from 1995 to 2007, but more than 20 since.

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    New research uses fibre optic cables to predict glacier loss in Greenland
    Climate ActionApril 30, 2026

    New research uses fibre optic cables to predict glacier loss in Greenland

    Excerpt from dailyuw.com Gradual loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) holds global significance: it exacerbates sea level rise, alters ocean circulation, and threatens Arctic ecosystems. But melt is difficult to quantify. It’s a nonlinear process driven by myriad feedback loops, or reinforced outcomes, and the majority occurs below the ocean’s surface. In the past, GrIS loss monitoring has been limited to computer simulations and Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR), which uses sound waves to measure glacier thickness. A 2019 study directed multibeam SONAR at glacier fronts, combined with several other technologies, to simulate a projected loss rate. This projection underestimated ice loss by two orders of magnitude. As glacier loss occurs, the glacier itself is exposed to overall lower elevations, which contain warmer air. This exacerbates melt and creates a positive feedback loop. Still, above surface observations are only 10% of the story. Approximately 90% of GrIS is below the surface, and submarine feedbacks are largely unknown.

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    Report links human exploitation to climate change
    Climate ActionApril 30, 2026

    Report links human exploitation to climate change

    Excerpt from antiguaobserver.com A new report on the intersection of climate change and human exploitation in Antigua and Barbuda was launched yesterday, revealing how climate-related disasters are creating dangerous vulnerabilities for local communities. The research, conducted by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Free the Slaves, warns that the loss of livelihoods due to climate impacts is pushing vulnerable populations toward exploitation. Former senator Bakesha Francis James, speaking at the launch, explained the critical connection between environmental crises and human rights violations. “Climate change is often discussed in terms of rising temperatures, extreme weather events and environmental degradation but what is sometimes less visible, yet no less urgent, are human consequences,” Francis James said. “Climate shocks and slow onset environmental changes can deepen existing inequalities, strain livelihoods and increase vulnerability to exploitation including human trafficking and forced labor. These risks are not abstract; they affect real people, real families, and real communities.”

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    The unusual ways Fijians predict when a cyclone is approaching
    Climate ActionApril 30, 2026

    The unusual ways Fijians predict when a cyclone is approaching

    Photo credit: Frankie Adkins via BBC.com Excerpt from bbc.com It's July, a month when Fijian farmers begin watching wild yams closely. "If they see wild yam vines creeping along the ground, there's going to be a hurricane in between November and April – the hurricane season," says farmer Marika Radua. If the vines shoot upwards, it's unlikely a hurricane will hit, he says. In the dense jungle on Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island, Radua's farm is a riot of green. Every plant has its place – from rows of delicate lettuce, to sturdy taro and cassava. For years, Radua has read the signs in nature to know when, and where, to plant his crops to ensure they thrive each season. Yam vines are natural indicators of extreme weather, according to Fijian traditional ecological knowledge. This environmental knowledge comprises ancient traditions held and practiced by indigenous peoples. When the vines hug the ground, "they are already trying to protect themselves from the wind. It's nature," Radua says. Many Fijians – especially those from older generations who are more likely to use traditional farming methods – believe other organisms act as natural weather forecasts, such as bananas, bees and breadfruit.

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    How an Atlantic island narrowly escaped 'stealthy' eruption
    Climate ActionApril 30, 2026

    How an Atlantic island narrowly escaped 'stealthy' eruption

    Photo Credit and Excerpt from phys.org Thousands of earthquakes affecting Portugal's São Jorge Island in the Azores in March 2022 were triggered by a vast sheet of magma (molten rock) rising from more than 20km below Earth's surface and stalling just 1.6km beneath the island, according to a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers. Much of this ascent occurred with little seismic activity, with most earthquakes occurring after the magma stopped ascending. The magma rose over just a few days—there was enough of it to fill 32,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, the study suggested.

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    The Pacific is where climate leadership will be made – or lost
    Climate ActionApril 21, 2026

    The Pacific is where climate leadership will be made – or lost

    Excerpt and Photo Credit: lowyinstitute.org In the lead-up to COP31 this year, global climate diplomacy faces a credibility test – and it is unfolding in the Pacific. Across much of the world, fossil fuel concerns have reasserted themselves. Rising energy costs, security anxieties, and domestic pressures are reshaping national priorities particularly in the context of global energy volatility linked to geopolitical fragmentation and oil market shocks. In recent weeks, climate leadership risks have been framed as conditional – something to be advanced when circumstances allow – raising deeper questions of climate justice. In this context, climate leadership is not judged by ambition alone, but by whether commitments hold under pressure.

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    Why the Isle of Eigg hatched a plan to grow its own trees
    Climate ActionApril 21, 2026

    Why the Isle of Eigg hatched a plan to grow its own trees

    Excerpt and Photo Credit from bbc.com A tiny Hebridean island is growing tens of thousands of trees to create a sustainable supply of wood for fuel and to support natural habitats. Eigg has no mains power and its population of about 80 people rely on small renewable electricity schemes and stoves to light and warm their homes. Over about the last five years, islanders have planted more than 50,000 trees grown from seeds collected from the island's woods and a forestry plantation. The saplings, which are said to be well adapted to the island's windy weather, have also been sent off to other islands including Uist and Barra.

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    Climate activist seeks funding for 12,000km walk from Malta to India
    Climate ActionApril 15, 2026

    Climate activist seeks funding for 12,000km walk from Malta to India

    Excerpt from maltatoday.com.mt Jaydip Lakhankiya was studying hotel management when a discussion on sustainable tourism intrigued him and led him down a rabbit hole of research on climate change. His thirst for knowledge quickly turned into a yearning for activism and sowed the seed of an idea to become the first person to walk from Malta to India. I meet Jaydip in a quiet coffee shop where he sets out to explain the “mad idea” of travelling 12,000km to the other side of the world on foot to raise awareness on climate change.

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