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Bomb fishing is recognised as the most destructive fishing practice that can be performed in our oceans. This practice involves the use of improvised explosives to stun or kill fish for harvest. Bomb fishing is primarily undertaken on highly threatened tropical coral reef habitats where it accelerates ecological degradation that destabilises communities dependent on these habitats. However, the true extent of bomb fishing in impacted regions is unknown, making it difficult to identify hotspots and activity patterns required to inform management.

Global conservation agreements emphasize protected area coverage targets, such as the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's 30 × 30 target, yet their effectiveness in safeguarding biodiversity remains uncertain. We measure the intersection between marine protected area (MPA) coverage and the distribution of sharks and rays. Using global range maps and MPA boundaries within national exclusive economic zones, we calculate the percent of species’ ranges within MPAs, focusing on no-take areas. We reveal significant shortfalls in species-level protection.

In the upland forests of Vanua Levu and Taveuni in Fiji, a remarkable and largely unknown form of agriculture has been unfolding for millions of years, long before humans planted their first crops. Tiny ants, no bigger than a grain of rice, have been cultivating plants in a sophisticated system that mirrors human farming in striking ways. For Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidate Umar Diarra at The University of the South Pacific, learning about the depth of this ancient partnership was life-changing.

Developed by Marine Conservation Institute, the High Seas Protection Portal was created to help meet that need. By bringing together authoritative geospatial datasets into a single interactive platform, the Portal aims to support scientists, policymakers, conservation practitioners, and local communities to explore the information needed to understand areas beyond national jurisdiction and build strong MPA proposals.

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I was recently asked what my favourite plant species is. After some soul searching, I arrived at the the Pacific cycad, Cycas seemannii (Fig. 1), found in Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. But why, you ask? Cycads are an ancient lineage, believed to have evolved some 300 million years. Their abundance and diversity peaked in the Jurassic and Cretaceous time period – in fact those times are sometimes referred to as ‘The Age of Cycads and Dinosaurs’.

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The lack of wildlife health (WH) surveillance systems leaves critical gaps in biodiversity conservation and One Health protection. Integrating rangers patrolling protected areas (PAs) into WH monitoring represents a cost-effective and scalable opportunity to address these gaps at key human–wildlife interfaces and nature strongholds. For the past 2.5 years, organizations across 4 countries have collaborated to pilot this integration.

Ocean governance presents one of the most complex environmental policy challenges of our time, requiring coordinated action across multiple scales, sectors and stakeholder groups. This paper applies institutional work theory to systematically examine how actors create, maintain and disrupt the governance arrangements underpinning ocean sustainability and marine conservation finance. Through a comprehensive review of 107 peer-reviewed articles, we identify patterns of institutional work across the ocean governance literature.

Remote tropical Pacific Islands evolved in long isolation, giving rise to exceptionally unique biodiversity. Beginning with Austronesian settlement in recent millennia and followed by European colonisation in recent centuries, human arrival has profoundly affected these systems, including altered fire regimes. Among these islands, New Caledonia stands out as one of the few tropical archipelagos recognised as a biodiversity hotspot in its own right, harbouring the world’s highest density of endemic species, including more than 2600 vascular plant species and over 135 lizard species.

Reef Life Explorer is an interactive platform exploring the health of thousands of reefs worldwide. As part of the Reef Life Survey Program, hundreds of citizen science divers take to the ocean to measure and record the state of global reef ecosystems. Reefs are underwater cities, teeming with a diversity of life unmatched anywhere in the ocean. They are intrinsically, socially and economically valuable – supporting the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.

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Thriving mangroves are key to the health of nature and effective climate action. Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) is an online platform that provides the remote sensing data and tools for monitoring mangroves necessary for this. It gives universal access to near real-time information on where and what changes there are to mangroves across the world, and highlights why they are valuable.