Before United Nations meeting, prime minister says Australians knows the impact of global heating as well as anyone
Australia understands the dangers of global warming and the urgency of climate action as much as any other country, Anthony Albanese has said in a keynote speech shortly before the United Nations general assembly.
Speaking at the opening of the Climate Week event at the UN in New York on Monday, the prime minister said Australians had experienced the impact of climate breakdown up close with a series of disastrous bushfires and floods in the past decades.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/21/2026 - 12:00
09/21/2026 - 11:18
Iowa senator Chuck Grassley calls for embargo on diesel exports as tariffs and Iran war drive up costs for sector
Donald Trump is facing growing calls, including from within his own party, to boost support for US farmers as his administration faces mounting anger over its treatment of the agricultural sector.
Republican senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa called on the US president to place an embargo on diesel exports this weekend and help farmers grapple with high prices.
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09/21/2026 - 10:00
Salmon companies operating in Tasmanian marine areas deployed almost 1,800 explosives in first half of 2026, government figures reveal
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More than 150,000 underwater explosives have been used to deter seals at Tasmanian salmon farms since 2016, according to new government data.
Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE Tas) data released last week revealed salmon companies directed almost 1,800 underwater explosives at seals at fish farms in the first half of 2026.
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09/21/2026 - 10:00
New study describes two species, Anchiale robusta and Anchiale mabiensis, both found in far north Queensland
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Two new large stick insect species have been identified by Australian researchers, in a discovery they say illustrates how little we still understand about insect diversity.
The two species, both found in far north Queensland, are described in a study published in Austral Entomology.
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09/21/2026 - 09:00
New report shows key indicators of Earth’s health are ‘outside the safe operating space’ as climate disaster looms
The planetary life support systems relied upon by humans have deteriorated to their worst levels ever recorded amid ongoing pollution and habitat destruction, according to a key yet grim annual update by scientists.
Of the nine “planetary boundaries” that help determine whether life can flourish on Earth, seven are being breached at their highest ever levels of transgression, according to the latest planetary health check, a process that was established in 2009.
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09/21/2026 - 08:25
‘Godzilla-level’ phenomenon is supercharging the climate crisis and will have a huge impact on communities across the world
The “jaw-dropping” El Niño currently heating up the planet has burst through the highest temperature ever recorded for the phenomenon, several months before its expected peak.
The latest data shows the temperature rise at the heart of El Niño in the Pacific Ocean has now reached 3.05C. That is higher than the 3.02C set in late November 2015, the previous high set in the 150 years of modern records. This temperature is measured against the average of 1991-2020.
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09/21/2026 - 06:54
A large Amazon study suggests the most powerful conservation move may be protecting the forests that are already standing. Preventing damage from wildfires and logging delivered the greatest biodiversity benefits and nearly matched deforestation prevention for protecting carbon. Restoration remains important, particularly where forests have already been heavily cleared, but it was more expensive and less effective on its own.
09/21/2026 - 06:00
The Canadian government has committed C$25m to try to rescue the caribou in the province – but there is no agreement on how best to save the keystone species
The caribou of Quebec are at breaking point. The province, home to 15% of Canada’s population of woodland caribou, has seen numbers crash to about half of what they were a decade ago. For years, local First Nations people, researchers and environmental groups have criticised the provincial government’s lack of action on protecting caribou, an animal considered a keystone species by Indigenous peoples.
A recently announced agreement between the federal and Quebec governments has raised hopes that the province will finally be compelled to release a protection strategy. The federal government has committed C$25m (£13m) to the province for caribou over five years, with an additional C$15m for the First Nations communities on whose land the herds live.
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09/21/2026 - 06:00
Eco-moorings help to restore seagrass in just five years, boosting sealife such as seahorses, eels and crabs
One of the UK’s most precious underwater habitats – Dorset’s seagrass meadows – is recovering thanks to “eco moorings” designed to prevent the seabed being ripped up, a study has revealed.
Scars caused by traditional anchors in some areas of seagrass in Studland Bay have almost entirely vanished, which is boosting the number of seahorses that thrive in the submerged meadows.
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09/21/2026 - 05:00
Exclusive: The tax-funded brainchild of Dominic Cummings hopes to find ways to speed up wild species’ evolution
Vaccines for ash trees, skin treatments for newts and gene-edited swallowtail butterflies are among 14 tax-funded projects from the UK’s “invention agency” aiming to accelerate nature’s ability to adapt to the climate crisis.
The £54m accelerated adaptation programme from the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) – a public body that funds high-risk, high-reward tech projects – aims to investigate applications of biotechnology that can speed up wild species’ evolution and help them to adapt to new threats such as global warming and disease.
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