Marine litter not only causes environmental damage, but has significant economic costs for industry. A recent study has now estimated that marine litter in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to cost over US$1.26billion per year in damage to marine industries. Policy options for reducing this cost are explored.

Ecosystem services, such as coastal protection or water supply, form an integral part of ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change. However, preserving and restoring ecosystems and their services relies on the economic system that supports these efforts. Ecosystem services will not be best protected by the classic market framework, new research suggests.

Gendered expectations in marriage are not just bad for women, they are also bad for men, according to a new study by University of Connecticut (UConn) sociologists.

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An increasing number of US adults are using marijuana, as fewer people perceive the drug as harmful, according to a survey of over 500000 US adults conducted between 2002 and 2014 published in The Lancet Psychiatry. As marijuana has become increasingly potent over the past decade, the authors say that the findings suggest the need for improved education and prevention messages regarding the risks of marijuana.

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Preliminary findings from a mass participation study have indicated a link between weather conditions - specifically rain and lack of sunshine - and chronic pain.

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Onymos has transformed the art of mobile apps development, where open standards HTML, JavaScript and CSS technologies are made use of, which in turn, cuts down the development time from months to days.

In a freewheeling discussion with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS group emphasized this different Covid-19 challenge which is new for CIOs to tackle and difficult too.

In an interview with ETCIO, Miao Song, Global CIO & Global VP of MARS, talks about the IT & Digital odyssey of the company in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.

The move towards smart mobility systems in cities across Italy, specifically in relation to public transport systems (including cycle infrastructure, and cycle and car-sharing schemes) has been assessed in a new study. The researchers say significant progress has been made in light of new guidelines imposed by the European Union, which is often linked to financial investment, as well as the capacity of city planners to implement changes.

Hybrid and electric vehicles emit lower levels of carbon dioxide and air pollutants than conventional petrol and diesel vehicles, yet their market uptake in the EU remains limited. New research provides an assessment of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) — which combines purchase and operating expenses — of different vehicle types. By comparing historical data on hybrid, petrol and diesel vehicles in three countries (Japan, the UK and the USA), researchers found a strong link between TCO and market share of those vehicles. They also identified a number of ways in which policymakers may promote the adoption of cleaner vehicles through the provision of financial incentives.

Illegal timber imports into the EU were between 8 and 18 million m³ in 2009, representing 6-13% of total imports, new research suggests. Although figures for illegal logging are associated with high uncertainties, the authors claim that these figures provide the best available estimates for policy and decision makers.

A recent analysis of the barriers to eco-innovation has indicated that uncertainty about future market demand for innovation holds back commercialisation of eco-innovations. Policy could solve this problem cost-effectively by helping communicate future market needs to innovators, which could bring together public and private purchasers to indicate future demand.

For a new green economy to be successful, governments should support the development of green skills in the labour market, according to a new report. This could be achieved by improving or adding to the existing core skills of workers, whilst mainstreaming environmental awareness into education and training.

Only three EU Member States – the UK, Germany and the Netherlands - have explicit legislation for monitoring the economic, social and environmental impacts of marine activities. This legislation embraces Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), a promising tool to improve decision-making on the planning of human activities at sea.

There are adequate resources to implement the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in Europe, a recent study concludes. However, more clarity is needed on the roles of different institutions at EU, regional and national levels in implementing the Directive.

A pilot Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) project in the UK has found MSP to be a useful approach in managing marine waters sustainably. Sharing the knowledge and experiences gained in developing the Shetland Islands’ Marine Spatial Plan (SMSP) can help other authorities in the process of developing similar plans, says the project team.

The Irish public are sceptical of government and industry’s ability to manage the marine economy, finds a survey. However, they place a large amount of trust in scientists. The research also indicates that people living in Ireland have a reasonable level of knowledge of the importance of different marine ecosystem services.

Plans for new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) need to consider social impacts alongside economic and environmental impacts, according to a recent study, which found that an MPA in the UK has increased some tensions within its local community. The researchers suggest that collaborative management could also help increase support for MPAs and reduce stakeholder conflict.

More than 200 pieces of English and EU-wide marine environmental legislation have been analysed in a recent review. While complex, the legislation adequately covered all areas of the marine environment, the authors conclude. However, there is opportunity to remove overlap and conflicts between different legislation and improve cross-border co-operation.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are widely used to safeguard marine ecosystems across Europe. This study investigated the effect of a partially protected area (PPA) off the coast of Norway on a population of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). The PPA reduced the number of deaths due to fishing, increased survival and stimulated movement to surrounding areas. The authors say that preventing fishing altogether would increase survival even further and recommend no-take zones in areas where populations are severely reduced.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have well-reported ecological benefits, but may also have important socioeconomic effects on local communities. Existing methods to assess these effects have been hampered by a number of limitations. This paper describes a new framework to monitor and assess the socioeconomic effects of MPAs, which overcomes many of these limitations to provide greater value for decision makers.

The announcement of a new no-take fishing zone in the Pacific led to a 130% increase in fishing activity ahead of its implementation, satellite data reveal. Although fishing activity dropped to zero once the marine protected area (MPA) came into effect just over a year later, the study warns that the pre-emptive short-term surge in fishing could have caused long-term ecological damage.

Recent work in the coastal Mediterranean waters of the ‘Comunidad Valencia’ in Eastern Spain confirms that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are a significant source of pollutants that need monitoring under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Priority Substances Directive. However, these substances also directly enter coastal waters from mixed urban, industrial and agricultural sources, creating a challenge for the development of control measures.

The importance of addressing eutrophication to improve the ecological health of coastal and marine waters has been identified in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive1. A new study discusses possible methods for assessing and monitoring eutrophication, including which indicators to monitor.

A joint water and carbon cap-and-trade system could lead to a more sustainable future, a recent study suggests. Such a system could account for the important links between energy, water and climate change, while at the same time, ensuring economic growth.

The impact of shale gas development on surface water quality has been explored in a recent study. Focusing on the Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus Shale formation (which stretches from West Virginia to the Canadian border), the researchers conclude that shale gas wells and the treatment of shale gas extraction waste have measurable impacts on downstream surface water quality.

Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) provide important habitats for the yelkouan shearwater, a species of conservation concern, new research concludes. The study examined the behaviour of the birds at sea and found that they used MPAs extensively as foraging grounds.

The English Channel (La Manche) is one of the world’s busiest sea areas, and management of it is a challenging task. This study reviews governance across the Channel, finding poor integration between countries, sectors, policies and research. The study also considers management in terms of the ecosystem approach and suggests that linking research between the UK and France could be key to improving marine governance.

Areas of mariculture — where marine organisms are cultivated for food — have been identified as important source areas for the dispersal of invasive alien species (IAS) via artificial floating litter. In order to identify IAS at high risk of dispersal via this method, researchers have analysed fouled anthropogenic litter sampled on beaches in two important European mariculture areas. Overall, the team detected eight aquaculture-related IAS attached to anthropogenic litter. All of these species are well adapted to rafting on artificial surfaces and have high potential to disperse in this way, suggesting that they are suitable candidates for closer monitoring and policy action in the future.

Government officials remained tightlipped on the reasons and said the PM would reveal more in a day or two. It was also not clear whether Modi, who has used social media to communicate directly with the masses, would be giving up the platforms for a long time or only for a day on Sunday — which also happens to be the International Women’s Day.

Facebook said that when people saw those warning labels, 95% of the time they did not go on to view the original content. To date, the social media giant also removed hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm.

Since its inception in Bengaluru in 2008, Walmart Labs India has built cross-disciplinary teams engaged in cutting edge engineering, product development and data sciences.

India's contribution to global smartphone production had jumped to 16 per cent in 2019 from 9 per cent in 2016, as several handset makers cut down output in China or moved out due to the US-China trade war and received heavy incentives by the Indian government to beef up manufacturing in the country.

Organic growth will be difficult and consumers will only buy a phone out of necessity or maybe settle for a refurbished one depending on their spending ability

India also saw the biggest jump in video consumption of 40% to over 2.9 billion hours during the week starting March 22 as compared to the last week of December 2019

The decline in growth rate is likely because enterprises relook at their buying decisions owing to increased focus on profitability, said IDC's report.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology can expose connected cars and smart healthcare systems to a lot of security threats, research analyst Satyajit Sinha said on Tuesday while presenting a webinar for ETTelecom.

IoT is helping Smartworks create workplace of the future by increasing employee productivity and lowering down energy consumption by 15 percent.

AI-based recognition systems, and smart security video networks have led to a paradigm shift in the architecture of security video systems.

The overall server market in India witnessed a Year-over-Year (YoY) growth of a dismal 0.8 per cent in terms of revenue to reach $280.1 million in the third quarter (Q3) versus $277.8 million in Q3 of 2018, a new report by International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Wednesday.

The investment follows a Rs1,715 crore infusion into Amazon’s payments and wholesale arms last month.

New EU-supported research in the Mediterranean Sea has assessed the impact of fish-farming on seafloor ecosystems. Results indicate that impacts are only apparent in habitats with no vegetation, but the researchers suggest that habitats with vegetation seagrass could be masking the effects.

The urbanisation of coastal areas and introduction of man-made structures, such as jetties and seawalls, are changing marine environments. A new analysis highlights the impacts of these changes on marine plants and animals and suggests options to manage the detrimental effects.

A global team of marine biologists have recently completed a Census of Marine Life, which contributes to our basic understanding of marine ecosystems. Among its findings - marine biodiversity in the Baltic and Mediterranean are among the most threatened globally.

Microplastic pollution impairs the heath of the marine worms that help maintain sediments for other creatures, new research suggests. This study shows that the energy reserves of lugworms living in sediment contaminated with microplastic particles were reduced by up to 50%.

Offshore renewable energy sites may provide new 'stepping stone' habitats for marine species, a recent study suggests. They could allow some species to spread beyond their present range and help vulnerable creatures survive in the face of climate change. However, they may also allow harmful invasive species to spread, the researchers warn, and the effects of such projects must be assessed by examining their impacts on the ecosystem as a whole.

The pollination benefits of planting field margins with wildflowers can outweigh the costs of set-up and maintenance, a new study suggests. On US blueberry farms wildflower strips resulted in double the number of wild bees on adjacent crops and significantly increased yield, the researchers found.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) in which fishing is prohibited contain substantially more fish, including commercially valuable species, than either partially protected or unenforced MPAs, according to a recent survey of rocky reef fish in the Mediterranean Sea. This suggests that MPAs need to be highly protected to offer the best chance of recovery for fish stocks, say the researchers.

Marine Protected Areas should be managed as integrated networks rather than isolated units because of the high degree of exchange between them, a new study suggests. The researchers found that the large majority of sea bream (Sparidae) and wrasse (Labridae) fish spawned in MPA study sites in the Mediterranean Sea were transported via currents to other MPAs and unprotected areas, highlighting their interconnected nature.

Mathematical models created to help design marine reserves have tended to focus on fish species where larvae are highly mobile but adults occupy relatively small areas. However, new research has extended these models to include fish species with different life histories, such as groupers and flounders, showing that they also benefit substantially from reserve protection.