Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Claimants seek compensation from RWE and Heidelberg Materials after extreme flooding destroyed harvests A group of Pakistani farmers whose livelihoods were devastated by floods three years ago has fired the starting shot in legal action against two of Germany’s most polluting companies. Lawyers acting for 43 men and women from the Sindh region sent the energy firm RWE and the cement producer Heidelberg formal letters before action on Tuesday warning of their intention to sue later this year. Continue reading...

As rising tides eat away at the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon archipelago off Canada, plans to move the historic village to higher ground have divided residents Franck Detcheverry, Miquelon’s 41-year-old mayor, trudges up a grassy hill. “The view isn’t too bad, huh?” he jokes. The ocean sparkles 40 metres below the empty mound. The sound of a man playing the bagpipes, as if serenading the sea, floats up from the shoreline. This hill will be the location of his new home and those of all his fellow villagers. In the distance, about half a mile away, you can see the outline of the 400 or so buildings in the village of Miquelon. It sits only 2 metres above sea level on the archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Situated off the Canadian coast to the south of Newfoundland, it is an “overseas collectivity” of France, and the country’s last foothold in North America. Continue reading...

Reduction comes from energy generated from windfarms and lower cost of gas owing to lower demand Wind power has cut at least £104bn from energy costs in the UK since 2010, a study has found. Users of gas have been among the biggest beneficiaries, the research suggested. Continue reading...

The highest priority must be to ensure land-clearing is properly regulated to save our native forests Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Australia’s parliament will soon consider proposed reforms to federal environmental laws – known as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Unfortunately, signals from the government suggest this may be another reform process that fails to deliver the progress we need – despite everyone agreeing that Australia’s biodiversity is in catastrophic decline. When introduced, the EPBC Act was a historic reform by a conservative government. For the first time since federation, the Australian parliament exercised its full suite of constitutional powers to regulate environmentally harmful actions on all tenures. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...