Ocean Policy News

April 24, 2024

Top Headlines

Shoreline Model Predicts Long-Term Future of Storm Protection and Sea-Level Rise

Apr. 24, 2024 — Researchers have created a coastal evolution model to analyze how coastal management activities on barrier islands, meant to adapt to sea-level rise, can disrupt natural processes that are keeping ...

One Third of China's Urban Population at Risk of City Sinking, New Satellite Data Shows

Apr. 18, 2024 — Land subsidence is overlooked as a hazard in cities, according to new research. Scientists used satellite data that accurately and consistently maps land movement across ...

Where Have All the Right Whales Gone?

Apr. 12, 2024 — Marine researchers have mapped the density of one of the most endangered large whale species worldwide, the North Atlantic right whale, using new data to help avoid right whales' harmful exposure to commercial fisheries and vessel strikes. The ...

How Climate Change Will Impact Food Production and Financial Institutions

Apr. 8, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new method to predict the financial impacts climate change will have on agriculture, which can help support food security and financial stability for countries increasingly prone to climate ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:57pm EDT

'Sunny Day Flooding' Increases Fecal Contamination of Coastal Waters

Apr. 23, 2024 — A new study finds that 'sunny day flooding,' which occurs during high tides, increases the levels of fecal bacteria in coastal waters. While the elevated bacteria levels in the coastal waters tend to ...

Scientists Develop Framework to Measure Plastic Emissions and Bolster U.N. Efforts to Reduce Pollution

Apr. 16, 2024 — Scientists have developed a framework for measuring plastic emissions akin to the global standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. The ...

Florida Wildlife Corridor Eases Worst Impacts of Climate Change

Apr. 16, 2024 — Florida is projected to lose 3.5 million acres of land to development by 2070. A new study highlights how Florida can buffer itself against both climate change and population pressures by conserving ...

Adult Fish Struggle to Bounce Back in Marine Protected Areas

Apr. 4, 2024 — Many marine protected areas are falling short of their most basic purpose: to rebuild struggling fish populations. In a new study, scientists looked at the age breakdown of reef fish in marine ...

Experiencing Extreme Weather Predicts Support for Policies to Mitigate Effects of Climate Change

Apr. 3, 2024 — Most Americans report having personally experienced the effects of extreme weather, according to new survey data. An analysis finds that a reported ...

Scientists' Urgent Call: End Destruction and Forge a Just, Sustainable Future

Apr. 2, 2024 — An international team of scientists published a study emphasizing the urgent need to align political will, economic resources, and societal values to ...

Scientists Warn: The Grey Seal Hunt Is Too Large

Mar. 27, 2024 — Researchers warn that today's hunting quotas of about 3,000 animals pose a risk to the long-term survival of the grey seal in the Baltic Sea. The conclusions of this new study are based on statistics ...

All Countries' Agri-Environmental Policies at a Glance

Mar. 22, 2024 — There can be no analysis without data. In this spirit, researchers have published a database containing over 6,000 agri-environmental policies, thus enabling their peers as well as policymakers and ...

Sea Surface Temperature Research Provides Clear Evidence of Human-Caused Climate Change

Mar. 20, 2024 — Claims that climate change is natural are inconsistent with new oceanic temperature ...

Virtual Reality Better Than Video for Evoking Fear, Spurring Climate Action

Mar. 18, 2024 — Depicting worst-case climate scenarios like expanding deserts and dying coral reefs may better motivate people to support environmental policies when delivered via virtual reality, according to a ...

Climate Change Policies Lose Popularity When Combined With Pausing Regulations or Social Justice

Mar. 27, 2024 — Legislators love bundling things together. It lets them accomplish more with less hassle and attempt to make legislation more appealing to a broader group. But a new study suggests that this can ...

The Atlas of Unburnable Oil in the World

Mar. 15, 2024 — In order to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 C, it is essential to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. This would mean not exploiting most of the ...

Loss of Nature Costs More Than Previously Estimated

Mar. 7, 2024 — Researchers propose that governments apply a new method for calculating the benefits that arise from conserving biodiversity and nature for future ...

The Health Impacts of Migrating by Sea

Mar. 7, 2024 — A new study of migrant drowning deaths in the Pacific Ocean lays the groundwork for future ...

Emergency Atmospheric Geoengineering Wouldn't Save the Oceans

Feb. 29, 2024 — Climate change is heating the oceans, altering currents and circulation patterns responsible for regulating climate on a global scale. If temperatures dropped, some of that damage could theoretically ...

Does Russia Stand to Benefit from Climate Change?

Feb. 21, 2024 — There exists a narrative about climate change that says there are winners and losers -- with Russia being one of the countries that stand to benefit from its effects. In a new study, researchers ...

Citizen Science to Mitigate the Environmental Crisis in the Marine Environment

Feb. 21, 2024 — Citizen science can help to improve conservation and management strategies for Mediterranean marine ecosystems, and to mitigate the impact of the environmental ...

The Cultural Evolution of Collective Property Rights

Feb. 20, 2024 — Common pool resources comprise around 65 percent of Earth's surface and vast tracts of the ocean. While examples of successful governance of these resources exist, the circumstances and ...

Seeking a Middle Ground for Reducing Greenhouse Emissions

Feb. 13, 2024 — Estimates show global greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by at least half in 2030 at a cost of less than $100 per ton of CO2 equivalent. But a new paper shows there are underlying frictions that ...

In a Warming World, Climate Scientists Consider Category 6 Hurricanes

Feb. 5, 2024 — For more than 50 years, the National Hurricane Center has used the Saffir-Simpson Windscale to communicate the risk of property damage; it labels a hurricane on a scale from Category 1 (wind speeds ...

Ambitious Roadmap for Circular Carbon Plastics Economy

Jan. 31, 2024 — Researchers have outlined ambitious targets to help deliver a sustainable and net zero plastic economy. The authors argue for a rethinking of the technical, economic, and policy paradigms that have ...

Geoengineering May Slow Greenland Ice Sheet Loss

Jan. 30, 2024 — Modeling shows that stratospheric aerosol injection has the potential to reduce ice sheet loss due to climate ...

Education and Information Can Increase the Acceptance of Climate Policies

Jan. 29, 2024 — An important question for policymakers worldwide is how to make climate and environmental policies acceptable among the populations. A new study sheds light on the preferences in five East African ...

Achieving Sustainable Urban Growth on a Global Scale

Jan. 26, 2024 — An international group of leading scientists call for an urgent change in the governance of urban expansion as the world's cities continue to grow at unprecedented ...

A Global Study Reveals Pathways to Save Threatened Sharks, Despite Rising Mortality Trends

Jan. 11, 2024 — Sharks have persisted as powerful ocean predators for more than 400 million years. They survived five mass extinctions, diversifying into an amazing variety of forms and lifestyles. But this ancient ...

Only 18% of the Global Land Area That Is Needed for Human Well-Being and Biodiversity Is Currently Protected

Jan. 10, 2024 — An international group of researchers finds that conserving about half of global land area could maintain nearly all of nature's contributions to people and still meet biodiversity targets for ...

Coastal Populations Set to Age Sharply in the Face of Climate Migration

Jan. 8, 2024 — As climate change fuels sea level rise, younger people will migrate inland, leaving aging coastal populations -- and a host of consequences -- in their wake, a study finds. While destination cities ...

Accounting for Plastic Persistence Can Minimize Environmental Impacts

Jan. 8, 2024 — Researchers have developed a sustainability metric for the ecological design of plastic products that have low persistence in the environment. Adhering to this metric could provide substantial ...

Re-Calibrating the Sail Plan for Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders in Ocean Sciences

Jan. 2, 2024 — In Hawaii and across much of Oceania, Pacific Islanders celebrate the connections between their islands and the ocean that surrounds ...

Understanding Climate Mobilities: New Study Examines Perspectives from South Florida Practitioners

Jan. 2, 2024 — A recent study assessed the perspectives of 76 diverse South Florida climate adaptation professionals. A new study explores the expectations and concerns of practitioners from the private sector, ...