20 Mar 2025
Image description: offshore windfarm captured during sunset. Photo by Greece-China News/ Pexels The Scottish Government and environment agency NatureScot have been urged to step in to protect freshwater pearl mussels before they become extinct, due to the threat posed by wind farm developments. Freshwater pearl mussels are critically endangered, and professor of aquatic systems […]
20 Mar 2025
A new study has revealed that a staggering majority of the world’s lakes have changed colour in the last 40 years. The research team analysed data sets containing 32 million satellite observations from over 67,000 lakes. Photo description: Lake Bled surrounding Bled Island in Slovenia.The island has several buildings, the main one being the […]
27 Feb 2025
For the first time in the UK, a Council has signed up to a River Rights Charter. Whilst not yet legally binding, the Charter provides a visionary framework that reflects both the essential needs of the river in order for it to be healthy, and local communities highest aspirations for it. Photo credit: Anne […]
27 Feb 2025
The River Thames dataset is the world’s longest continuous water quality record, providing an invaluable historical perspective on how human activity and policy can affect rivers, and sets a new benchmark for assessing modern water quality challenges. Photo credit: Nicole Rathmayr Over the past 40 years, concerted efforts to improve wastewater treatment and […]
13 Dec 2023
Nearly a quarter of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of extinction due to global heating, overfishing and pollution, according to an expert assessment. From the large-toothed Lake Turkana robber in Kenya to the Mekong giant catfish in south-east Asia, many of the world’s freshwater fish are at risk of disappearing, the first International […]
02 Mar 2023
Below is a call for expressions of interest from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: Blue Spaces Wales is a new initiative to support imaginative approaches to looking after local freshwaters – rivers, streams, lakes, canals and ponds. As part of this, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is launching an open call for ideas and projects in Wales. We […]
10 Nov 2022
From densely developed cities and geometric agricultural plots to the ubiquitous roadways, pipelines and power grids, an aerial view of the earth reveals our impact on our landscapes. In less populated areas, unprecedented glacial melt and deep craters caused by the thawing of frozen soil and rock called permafrost megaslumps give stark reminders of the […]
16 Jun 2022
Freshwaters are underestimated sources of greenhouse gases. In a study published in Science of The Total Environment, researchers with the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have now shown that even dry water bodies can release considerable amounts of methane. An overview of the causes and magnitudes of methane emissions from freshwaters and […]
