Carolyn Cowan

Seychelles coral reefs have suffered catastrophic damage from coral bleaching events triggered by climate crisis-related ocean warming and acidification. Losses sustained during the late 1990s were exacerbated by the alarming 2016 global bleaching event, leaving many reef systems with less than one percent live coral cover. The Marine Conservation Society Seychelles hopes to restore some nearshore reef systems by 'gardening' corals in coral nurseries, both in the water and on land.

Tens of thousands of Atlantic puffins return to the Isle of May National Nature Reserve each spring to breed and raise their young. Challenges abound, including the threat of predators, squabbles over burrows and finding a mate. Scientists have recently recorded a dramatic decline in the number of puffins returning to breed, with up to 30 percent of breeding puffins unaccounted for. What are the forces behind this alarming decline?