A global maritime court has determined that greenhouse gases constitute marine pollution. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) said emissions from fossil fuels that are absorbed by the oceans count as marine pollution. What is the ITLOS advisory opinion and what did it say? Client Earth explained the background to the […]
Migratory fish populations have crashed by more than 80% since 1970, new findings show. Populations are declining in all regions of the world, but it is happening fastest in South America and the Caribbean, where abundance of these species has dropped by 91% over the past 50 years. This region has the world’s largest freshwater […]
The last week or so has seen protests against sewage overflows continue to grow. The Mirror – ‘Someone will die from raw sewage pumped into our rivers – is that what it will take for action?’ The Guardian – ‘Clean water is a basic right’: protesters against sewage in seas and rivers gather across the […]
A clean transport advocacy organisation has claimed that ships in some UK ports create more air pollution than cars. Milford Haven in Wales was the most polluted, followed by Immingham in Lincolnshire and Southampton, according to a report by Transport and Environment (T&E). It found ships in Milford Haven produced nearly 100 times more harmful […]
A report launched by Stormwater Shepherds and CIWEM shines a light on the toxic cocktail of pollutants that runs off the UK’s road network and into our rivers and water sources every time it rains. The pollution comes from tyre particles, fuel spills and other vehicle fluids, road surface fragments, sediment and herbicides. These contain […]
A recently released report titled “Legacy Plastics” suggests that community driven beach cleanups could be a more cost-effective strategy to removing large, macroplastics compared to trials testing novel technologies. However, preventing plastics from entering the environment must be a policy priority. The report, released by the Royal Society at the same time as the latest […]
Read CIWEM’s balanced and considered view on Ofwat’s new Growth Duty – will it support sustainable growth? This proposes an over-arching ‘sustainability duty’ to address the imbalance between Ofwat’s economic regulatory focus and the need for more robust environmental enforcement. Covered in The Guardian The Conservatives have pushed through a duty on the water regulator […]
Investigation by The Guardian The majority of UK dairy farms are breaking pollution rules, with vast amounts of cow manure being spilled into rivers. When animal waste enters the river, it causes a buildup of the nutrients found in the effluent, such as nitrates and phosphates. These cause algal blooms, which deplete the waterway of […]