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Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Launches Live Turtle Tracking Program

This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA
This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA
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Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Launches Live Turtle Tracking Program

This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA
This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species - SPA

In a milestone for marine conservation, Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve has launched a live satellite tracking program for hawksbill and green turtles, including the first known tagging of a pre-nesting, egg-carrying green turtle in the Red Sea, SPA reported.

This data will fill a critical regional knowledge gap and drive unified, cross-border conservation strategies for these globally endangered species.

The team, led by Senior Marine Ecologist at Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Dr. Ahmed Mohammed and KAUST Beacon Development’s Senior Marine Megafauna Specialist Dr. Hector Barrios-Garrido, successfully in-water captured and tagged three critically endangered (IUCN) hawksbill turtles and seven green turtles. The tags transmit real-time movement data identifying foraging grounds, migratory corridors, and most crucially the nesting site of the egg-carrying green turtle, ensuring the appropriate protection and management is in place. The program continues the reserve’s long-term commitment to marine conservation, expanding its turtle nest monitoring and protection program in operation since 2023.

The reserve protects 4,000km² of Red Sea waters, 1.8% of the Kingdom’s marine area, and a coastline of 170km, the longest coastline under management by a single entity in the Kingdom. Linking NEOM and Red Sea Global, this forms an 800km corridor of protected Red Sea coastline. It is a refuge for five of the world’s seven turtle species and a breeding ground for green and hawksbill turtles. The reserve’s ranger teams monitor turtle activity both on shore and at sea, protecting nesting sites critical to natal homing, the biological instinct that drives turtles to return to the same beaches where they were born.

‘’Critically endangered hawksbill turtles face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild within our lifetime. With fewer than 200 breeding-age females remaining in the Red Sea, their survival depends on closing vital knowledge gaps to enable their effective conservation,” said CEO of Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve Andrew Zaloumis.

He added, “Hawksbill turtles hatching on the reserve’s protected beaches range across 438,000 km² of open sea bordered by eight MENA countries, before returning some three decades later to the same sandy beach to lay their eggs. Our satellite tagging and tracking program is a game-changer, providing the real-time data needed to identify their critical staging, foraging, and rookery areas across the Red Sea. The data will support national and regional conservation efforts to drive forward a much-needed unified ecosystem-wide turtle conservation management plan.’’

The reserve’s ongoing turtle conservation supports Saudi Arabia’s commitments under the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species and the IOSEA Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding by strengthening habitat protection and regional cooperation through scientific knowledge-sharing across the Red Sea.

Senior Marine Ecologist at the reserve Dr. Ahmed Mohammed stated, ‘’These state-of-the-art, lightweight tags are designed to operate for at least 12 months, providing continuous data that will enable detailed analysis of seasonal patterns, developmental habitats, and contribute valuable insights to regional and global sea turtle research. Additionally, depth sensors will reveal sea grass meadows, essential foraging grounds for green turtles and critical blue carbon sinks."

Despite the recent global reclassification of green turtles by the IUCN, regionally, they are still regarded as vulnerable and conservation dependent. All five marine turtle species resident in the Red Sea are listed under the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), to which Saudi Arabia became a party in 1979. Turtles remain at risk from entanglement in fishing nets, habitat degradation, and illegal poaching. While these threats are absent within the reserve’s protected waters, ecosystem-wide management strategies that span political boundaries are necessary and the reserve continues to share data with the wider conservation and scientific community and partner with SHAMS on local and regional conservation strategies.

One of eight Royal Reserves, the 24,500 km² Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve stretches from the lava plains of the Harrats to the deep Red Sea in the west, connecting NEOM, Red Sea Global, and AlUla. It is home to the Public Investment Fund's (PIF) Wadi Al Disah project and Red Sea Global’s Destination AMAALA.

The reserve encompasses 15 distinct ecosystems. At just 1% of the Kingdom’s terrestrial area and 1.8% of its marine area, it boasts over 50% of the Kingdom’s species, making it one of the most biodiverse protected areas in the Middle East.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve is one of eight royal reserves established by royal decree and overseen by the Royal Reserves Council chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. The reserve’s program is integrated with Saudi Arabia’s wider sustainability and conservation programs, including the Saudi Green and Middle East Green Initiatives.

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Food Industry Pushes Back on WHO Guidance for Products with Added Color, Sweeteners

Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)
Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)
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Food Industry Pushes Back on WHO Guidance for Products with Added Color, Sweeteners

Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)
Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)

Governments should consider regulating foods that include added colors, flavors or sweeteners designed to make the product more appealing to consumers, according to new draft World Health Organization guidance that has sparked swift pushback from the food industry.

The WHO draft aims to help governments identify which foods should be consumed in moderation as part of a healthy diet – and which products could be subject to measures like warning labels or taxes, depending on national priorities.

The new draft food-profiling model, published last week, marks the first time the UN health agency has included this type of ‌ingredient in its guidance, ‌previously only focused on nutritional content, including fat and salt.

“This draft ‌goes ⁠beyond traditional nutrient ⁠profiling by recognizing that foods may need to be considered not only for their nutrient content, but also for other aspects of their formulation” in order to prevent diet-related disease, said Katrin Engelhardt, technical officer at the WHO's department of nutrition and food safety.

Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study.

The proposed new model is also the WHO’s attempt to guide member states through an increasingly polarized debate ⁠about ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a class of food or drink made using processing ‌techniques, additives and industrial ingredients, which often contain little ‌whole food. Examples include carbonated soft drinks or instant noodles.

BEYOND NUTRIENTS ALONE

Many food scientists say UPFs pose ‌numerous health risks but others – and the food industry – say they are defined too widely, ‌which risks demonizing healthy products.

The International Food and Beverage Alliance, an organization representing major multinational food and beverage companies, said it was concerned the proposed approach shifts attention away from nutritional quality and could capture more products for potential regulation.

"Of particular concern is the potential to undermine established nutrition priorities and reformulation ‌efforts,” said IFBA Secretary General Rocco Renaldi.

Other concerns for the food industry are higher costs from reformulating products or stringent labelling requirements, as well ⁠as the risk ⁠of class-action lawsuits as seen in the United States, and higher taxes for processed food companies.

Broadly, the WHO said the model covers “industrially-produced foods to be consumed in moderation” and is a bridge between its healthy diet recommendations and government policy on individual food products.

Lindsey Smith Taillie, co-director of the Global Food Research Program at the University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said the point of the model was to target unhealthy foods, combining both nutrients and UPFs.

“These two frameworks have never been mutually exclusive and can and should be used by policymakers as the starting place,” she said, adding that healthiness is measured by multiple criteria.

Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Cahillane last week told Reuters that industry players should have a say.

"We're in the food business and we care about consumers deeply," Cahillane said. "And so we ought to have a seat at the table as these discussions evolve."

The WHO proposal is out for consultation until November 27.

Varieties

Pakistan Farmers in Long Fight to Make German Firms Pay for Flood Damage

Dozens of Pakistani farmers are suing German firms RWE and Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts. Aamir QURESHI / AFP
Dozens of Pakistani farmers are suing German firms RWE and Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts. Aamir QURESHI / AFP
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Pakistan Farmers in Long Fight to Make German Firms Pay for Flood Damage

Dozens of Pakistani farmers are suing German firms RWE and Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts. Aamir QURESHI / AFP
Dozens of Pakistani farmers are suing German firms RWE and Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts. Aamir QURESHI / AFP

In a Pakistani village nestled in rice fields, Abdul Hafeez Khoso remembers the vast industrial zones he saw in Germany when he visited to file a pioneering climate legal case.

"They're spreading pollution: up in the sky there are no borders, it can affect anywhere," the 43-year-old said, describing areas far larger than his village of 800 people.

"This is a problem for the whole world -- that is why it should be resolved at the global level."

Khoso and 38 other farmers from Pakistan's southern Sindh province who were devastated by "apocalyptic" flooding in 2022 are suing German energy firm RWE and cement maker Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts.

The companies are being targeted not over specific operations in Pakistan, but because of their climate-warming emissions. They are headquartered in Germany, where a recent legal case opened the door to such suits.

The litigation argues that the companies' emissions contributed to climate change and turbo-charged rain that wiped out their crops, livestock and homes.

"The year 2022 was an apocalyptic scene -- not even our elders had ever witnessed such weather," Khoso, who lives in the district of Jacobabad with his wife and toddler, told AFP.

"We had nothing left."

Both firms, which the plaintiffs estimate contributed 0.68 percent and 0.12 percent to global industrial emissions respectively, deny wrongdoing.

Khoso's case is backed by Pakistani and European organizations hoping to win compensation and build on nascent but vigorous international efforts to extract climate damages from corporations.

"We always blame natural disasters, and sometimes we blame God, but science tells us that climate change is increasing the risks and intensity of extreme weather events," said Mir Keerio, a development expert at Pakistan's HANDS Welfare Foundation, which mobilized communities for the lawsuit.

"Those who have contributed significantly to this crisis must be held accountable... we realized we must take our fight for climate justice to the major polluters."

- Debt and damages -

Climate litigation is a growing field globally, but action has so far largely targeted governments, with only a handful of firms such as Shell and cement maker Holcim facing suits for climate disaster compensations.

Lawyers say a ruling requiring a company to pay out compensation proportionate to its greenhouse gas emissions would mark a major breakthrough.

Germany's judiciary moved towards that principle last year in a case brought by a Peruvian farmer, also against RWE.

His compensation claim was rejected, but the courts left the door open to holding emitters liable.

Roda Verheyen, a German lawyer involved in both cases, told AFP the Pakistani farmers' lawsuit builds on that ruling and further accuses companies of "wrongful behavior".

"Large companies knew about the general impacts of climate change since the 1960s," said Verheyen.

"They should have exercised due diligence and actually at least tried to reduce emissions, which they didn't do enough."

The lawsuit also draws on research documenting farmers' losses in the floods, which hit a third of the country, killed 1,700 and affected 30 million Pakistanis.

Munawar Khatoon, a rare female landowner in a conservative area, said the floods struck just before the wheat harvest, submerging seeds and wiping out her family's main source of income.

"We worry about how the next generation will manage to live if this continues," the 43-year-old told AFP in her village Usman Samtio.

"Now when the rainy season comes, we feel fear."

In nearby Dadu district, litigant Abdul Khalique Laghari said the floods affected the region for years.

"To this day, we are unable to repay our debt," said the 55-year-old, who estimates he lost $14,000 in assets including his house, 40 acres (16 hectares) of crops and livestock.

"When we wake in the morning, we start getting calls from the people we owe money to," he said, pointing to crumbling walls and the remnants of flood-damaged houses.

"This has caused us serious mental harm."

- 'For justice' -

RWE and Heidelberg Materials both call the claims in the suit "unfounded".

Heidelberg Materials told AFP its operations were compliant with German laws and that firms could not be expected to retroactively face different standards.

RWE referred AFP to a statement describing the lawsuit as "yet another attempt to shift climate policy demands to German courtrooms".

"It would be a contradiction in terms if the state allowed CO2 emissions, regulated them by law and even demanded them in some cases, but at the same time allowed retroactive civil liability for them," it said.

Even if the case succeeds, an uphill battle remains for millions across Pakistan, ranked among the countries most affected by climate change despite contributing less than one percent of global emissions.

The case will be considered in a civil process likely to take years. But for the litigants, the attempt is worth it.

"This case is for justice," said Khatoon. "We hold these companies responsible for our destruction."

Varieties

This Year Set to Be One of Four Hottest on Record, UN Report Says

A tourist holds an umbrella to shelter from the sun while walking on a hot day in Tokyo on July 15, 2026. (AFP)
A tourist holds an umbrella to shelter from the sun while walking on a hot day in Tokyo on July 15, 2026. (AFP)
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This Year Set to Be One of Four Hottest on Record, UN Report Says

A tourist holds an umbrella to shelter from the sun while walking on a hot day in Tokyo on July 15, 2026. (AFP)
A tourist holds an umbrella to shelter from the sun while walking on a hot day in Tokyo on July 15, 2026. (AFP)

This year is ‌on track to be one of the four hottest on record, driven by a powerful El Niño and perpetuating a warming streak of more than a decade, a UN report showed on Monday.

Countries are preparing to meet in Türkiye from November 9 to 20 for the next round of climate talks and the World Meteorological Organization "State of the Climate" report provides the latest available data ‌to inform ‌their discussions.

Between January and September ‌this ⁠year, the global average ⁠temperature was 1.47 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average and could rise further due to a major El Niño, the report showed.

The WMO report, which encompasses nine data sets, showed that each of the past 12 years, including 2026, ⁠was ranked among the 12 warmest ever ‌recorded since records began ‌in around 1850.

“Every indicator here is telling the ‌same story. We're seeing the heat trapped by greenhouse ‌gasses is showing up in the ocean, in the atmosphere, in the melting of ice and the rising of sea levels,” WMO Head of Climate Information John Kennedy ‌told reporters in Geneva ahead of the conference.

The EU's Copernicus climate ⁠service ⁠already said 2026 was all but certain to become the second calendar year after 2024 to exceed the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The planet is increasingly accumulating heat, the UN report said, with ocean temperatures continuing to rise this year from 2025 all-time highs.

Global mean sea levels have also reached a record this year as glaciers and ice sheets melt and seawater expands as it heats, the report said.