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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 2068 news items
    New Wind Turbine Installed in Pantelleria Marks Progress Towards Clean Energy Transition
    Renewable EnergyJune 11, 2026

    New Wind Turbine Installed in Pantelleria Marks Progress Towards Clean Energy Transition

    Pantelleria, one of the Clean Energy for EU Islands 30 for 2030 islands, has taken an important step forward with the installation of a new wind turbine, supporting its ambition to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and strengthen local renewable energy generation. The project, developed for the Municipality of Pantelleria, saw the installation of an NPS100C-24 wind turbine mounted on a 30-metre tower by Northern Power Systems. The new turbine replaces two smaller, inactive units, contributing to the modernisation of the island's energy infrastructure and improving the efficiency and reliability of renewable energy production. This installation is part of a broader redevelopment effort that also includes a ground-mounted photovoltaic plant of approximately 200 kW, highlighting the island's integrated approach to diversifying its renewable energy mix. Like many islands across Europe, Pantelleria has historically relied heavily on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation, resulting in high energy costs and environmental impacts. Wind energy offers a particularly promising solution in this context, as islands benefit from strong and consistent wind conditions that enable efficient and stable electricity generation.

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    Seaweed, Fisheries and Coastal Eco-tourism: How Zanzibar's Innovators are Rethinking the Blue Economy
    Blue EconomyJune 11, 2026

    Seaweed, Fisheries and Coastal Eco-tourism: How Zanzibar's Innovators are Rethinking the Blue Economy

    Most people know Zanzibar, Tanzania, for its white sand beaches, turquoise waters and the kind of coastline that makes you want to stay longer than planned. But step away from the resorts and walk along the shore at low tide, and a different picture emerges. Fisheries, aquaculture and seaweed farming provide livelihoods for thousands across the island, while tourism depends on a healthy marine environment. Yet the climate and oceans are changing fast. Seaweed farmers are losing 40 to 60 per cent of their annual income as rising sea temperatures trigger ice-ice disease (a stress-induced deterioration of seaweed crops caused by rising water temperatures) across shallow farms. Fishers spend more on fuel reaching new fishing zones as fish migrate to cooler waters. Coral bleaching is quietly impacting the reef systems that underpin the island's tourism economy. When Climate KIC, together with partners Coastal Biotech and Bahari Network, opened applications for the first-ever Blue Economy Climathon in Zanzibar, an event designed to develop locally-rooted solutions to protect the island's coastal communities and marine environment, 300 people applied.

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    It Takes A Village To Help Big Island Residents Drive Less
    Community & CultureJune 11, 2026

    It Takes A Village To Help Big Island Residents Drive Less

    Unlike on some of the smaller islands, where people still live in 150-year-old plantation villages or compact company towns, many of the residents on Hawaii island live in sprawling subdivisions connected by a single, two-lane belt road. That's what makes the Big Island synonymous with long-distance driving. And distances have only increased in recent years due to a shortage of worker housing near the island's resorts, with people commuting hours weekly to work, school, grocery stores and doctors. Now, the county's proposed general plan, which is nearing the finish line after more than a decade-long process, calls for cutting down on that drive time by reinvigorating what remains of the Big Island's villages and bringing more density and amenities to its subdivisions. Michelle Galimba, a county council member who was part of the planning process that fed into the general plan, points to the towns of Pahala and Naalehu, company towns of Hawaiian Agricultural Co. and Hutchinson Sugar Plantation Co., as examples of what could be brought back to life.

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    Climate-based Tool Predicts Coral Bleaching Months in Advance, Offering Critical Lead Time for Reef Protection
    Digital InnovationJune 11, 2026

    Climate-based Tool Predicts Coral Bleaching Months in Advance, Offering Critical Lead Time for Reef Protection

    Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have developed a new method to predict coral bleaching five to six months before it occurs, giving reef managers valuable time to protect vulnerable ecosystems. In the new study, "Climate modes can be leveraged to forecast coral bleaching months in advance," published in Communications Earth & Environment, researchers demonstrate that coral bleaching on the Caribbean island of Curaçao occurs when three major climate patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans align in specific ways that intensify ocean warming. According to Mariya Galochkina, lead author of the study and MIT-WHOI Joint Program doctoral researcher, "Existing bleaching forecasts track heat stress in near-real time, and also rely on generalised thresholds for predicting bleaching risk, which means they often do not provide reef managers and restoration practitioners with enough lead time to prepare and respond effectively, or the predictions are inaccurate. We take a different approach by using large-scale climate patterns that interact to shape regional ocean and atmosphere conditions with a time lag, which lets us identify bleaching risk months in advance."

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    Philippines' Bohol Welcomes Back Whale Shark Encounters with Strengthened Marine Conservation Rules
    Sustainable TourismJune 11, 2026

    Philippines' Bohol Welcomes Back Whale Shark Encounters with Strengthened Marine Conservation Rules

    For travellers looking for an island escape that blends wildlife encounters, natural landscapes, and slow-paced coastal living, Bohol is opening a new chapter in responsible marine tourism with the return of regulated whale shark interaction experiences. The provincial government of Bohol has officially announced the signing of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for its Enhanced Sustainable Marine Wildlife Interaction Ordinance. The updated policy strengthens standards for whale shark encounters and reinforces long-term protection of marine ecosystems while allowing carefully managed visitor experiences to resume. Strategically situated in Central Visayas, Bohol is one of the Philippines' most accessible island destinations, offering an easy combination of sea, nature, and culture in a single trip. With this latest development, travellers once again have the opportunity to encounter whale sharks in designated waters under strict conservation-focused guidelines designed to ensure both safety and sustainability.

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    French Polynesia: The Senate Unanimously Agrees on Better Compensation for Victims of Nuclear Tests
    Policy & GovernanceJune 11, 2026

    French Polynesia: The Senate Unanimously Agrees on Better Compensation for Victims of Nuclear Tests

    On Thursday, May 28, the Senate adopted a bill to improve compensation for people exposed to nuclear tests in French Polynesia, where nearly 200 tests were carried out between 1966 and 1996. The bill, drafted by MPs Mereana Reid Arbelot (Communist group) and Didier Le Gac (Renaissance), which originated from a parliamentary inquiry and was adopted by the National Assembly earlier this year, has been unanimously approved by the Senate. It aims to reform the right to compensation for victims of nuclear tests in French Polynesia, in order to improve a system deemed "complex" or "discouraging" for local populations suffering from illnesses they believe are caused by radiation exposure, primarily cancer. "The Republic always grows stronger by recognising the limits of its action, by repairing everything that can be repaired, by paying tribute to all those who have played their part in our national history," said the Minister Delegate for the Armed Forces, Alice Rufo, who was in favour of adopting a "balanced" text. The adopted text thus eliminates the precise exposure criterion, a dose of at least one millisievert (mSv) per year, currently in force, in favour of an "irrefutable" presumption of exposure. In practical terms, any person with a radiation-induced illness who is present in specific areas and during specific periods will be eligible for compensation, as will their dependents.

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    A Flotilla Exposes the Dutch Caribbean's Struggle for Climate Justice
    Island ResilienceJune 11, 2026

    A Flotilla Exposes the Dutch Caribbean's Struggle for Climate Justice

    Despite co-hosting a milestone climate conference, the Netherlands has left the Dutch Caribbean islands alone in their fight against climate change. "When we arrived in Bonaire, you could really feel the anger," said Paolo Destilo, a member of the Climate Justice Flotilla. The Dutch-Italian activist sat on a sandy beach in Santa Marta, Colombia, as the flotilla's sailboats bobbed in the sea behind him. "Everybody was really mad that the Dutch government was actually fighting an appeal". The appeal Destilo was referring to came several weeks earlier, when the Dutch government challenged a historic court ruling that stated that the Netherlands had violated the human rights of the citizens of Bonaire, a special municipality of the Netherlands located off Venezuela's coast. The court ruled that the state was not taking sufficient measures to protect residents from the impacts of climate change, as well as discriminating against the island by not making dedicated climate mitigation plans. The ruling ordered the Dutch government to set binding targets for Bonaire to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In addition to Bonaire, the flotilla passed through Sint Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba, all small island countries belonging to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The flotilla's last stop was Santa Marta, the site of a landmark climate conference dedicated to the transition away from fossil fuels. Though set in Colombia, the conference was co-hosted by the Dutch government. This irony was not lost on the flotilla's crew, many of whom were citizens of Dutch islands who had sailed to the conference in order to highlight climate injustices in the Dutch Caribbean.

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    Sewage Is Threatening Coral Reefs Around the World, Even in Marine Protected Areas
    Ocean & BiodiversityApril 30, 2026

    Sewage Is Threatening Coral Reefs Around the World, Even in Marine Protected Areas

    Photo Credit and Excerpt from insideclimatenews.org Marine protected areas are designed to conserve coral reefs and other ocean ecosystems by restricting human activity within their boundaries. But most don’t account for one of the most severe and widespread threats to marine life that originates on land: sewage. A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland in Australia found that more than 70 percent of marine protected areas worldwide are contaminated by untreated, or poorly treated, wastewater. In places with extensive coral reefs, like the Coral Triangle—a 2 million square mile marine area spanning six countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea—contamination is even more widespread. According to the study, published this month in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management, more than 90 percent of coastal protected areas in the Coral Triangle are affected by high levels of sewage pollution—up to 10 times highter than in nearby unprotected waters.

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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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