Pollution

Big data

‘Blue acceleration’: the mounting competition for ocean resources

Fifty years of data from shipping to mining reveal how human pressures on the ocean have grown exponentially

Plastics

The city is using cameras to help recover marine plastic and identify its sources, but much work remains to be done

Crime

Mystery ship responsible for contaminating half Brazil’s coast highlights gaps in global shipping industry regulations

Local people were promised jobs, but their resistance to foreign-owned factories is growing amid overfishing and pollution that is blighting tourism

Highlights

Abandoned gear is a huge threat to the environment but there are lots of ways to fix the problem

Using salvaged plastic waste in roads may be doing more harm than good

Culture

A series of underwater sculptures will be transformed into a permanent habitat for coral polyps and fish

Plastics

New research has found the risks posed by roughly 5 trillion pieces of plastic floating around in the oceans goes far beyond killing seabirds

Plastics

Professor Jambeck believes both individuals and governments have an important role to play in keeping plastic out of the ocean

Shipping

Should China protect its coastal communities with an international emission control programme?

New research raises concerns about toxic salt water from the world’s growing fleet of desalination plants

Two months on, a small coastal village in Fujian province is struggling to recover