An appeal for money to save threatened species in UK overseas territories – including St Helena’s spiky yellow woodlouse – has raised three quarters of its £240,000 target. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds urges would-be donors to support “a team effort” with conservationists, governments and local people. When the appeal was launched, …
Charles Darwin glossed over it, but now St Helena has been officially recognised as Britain’s wealthiest spot on Earth when it comes to natural treasures. The island is home to a third of the endemic species that are found on British territory around the world – that is, plants and creatures that appear naturally in …
St Helena tops the league table for unique species Read More »
An investigation has highlighted “legal neglect” of biodiversity in the UK’s overseas territories – but not on St Helena. The territory, which formally includes Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha, is one of only three to have been singled out for praise in a report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It …
St Helena gets top rating for environmental protection Read More »
A paragraph in this story has been toned down in response to a comment made privately to St Helena Online. The paragraph, about information being made available to legislative councillors, was capable of mis-interpretation. Secretive decision-making by governments in St Helena and other British overseas territories leaves them vulnerable to corruption, MPs in London have …
Secrecy leaves islands at risk of corruption, warns RSPB Read More »
Disputes have broken out among bird experts over plans to build “the world’s greenest hotel” on St Helena, including an eco-golf course. A formal objection to the resort has been lodged by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) – even though the scheme seeks to end the failure of wirebird breeding at …
RSPB objects to Shelco resort over wirebird doubts Read More »
When the experts from Shelco went to look round the site of their proposed eco-resort on St Helena, they were greeted by one of the locals. A rat. It was evidence – not really needed – that it’s not only people that find Broad Bottom one of the most attractive spots on St Helena. Rattus …
Photographer Andrew Evans arrived on the world’s most remote inhabited island just days after the bulk carrier MS Oliva was shipwrecked, creating an environmental disaster. The ship releasing an oil slick that was to kill hundreds of endangered rockhopper penguins – and for a few days, it went unreported in the world’s media. Evans had …
How photo-blogger told America about island oil disaster Read More »
Efforts by the people of Tristan da Cunha to rescue birds in last year’s oil spill disaster appear to have been a great success, against enormous odds. A count appears to show little impact on breeding among the island’s endangered rockhopper penguin colonies after the MS Oliva broke up on rocks. But oil and cargo released into the South Atlantic from the …