Italy plans mandatory climate change lessons for schools

But a series of new laws in effect since January 2020 aim to significantly reduce plastic pollution over five years by phasing out single-use plastic, encouraging research and development of plastic alternatives and improving waste management and recycling.

An unusual movement of fish sparks a frenzy among anglers in South Africa. Once a year, millions of sardines swim along the country's east coast – followed by birds, seals, sharks and fishermen. DW correspondent Adrian Kriesch reports from Park Rynie.

Every year millions and millions of sardines trek along the cold currents off the South Africa coast during the southern hemisphere winter months, peaking in July. Countless dolphins and sharks hunt along the shoals - a spectacular sight that awes tourists lucky enough to find them.

Nina Gomes is no average environmentalist. With bright pink goggles and just 4 years old, she picks trash with her father from the water along the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. With Nina in tow, Gomes sets out on a paddleboard into the picturesque but polluted waters of Rio's Guanabara Bay, where she grabs plastic bottles and bags and puts them in a mesh net.

A new playground prototype in central Warsaw uses algae which feast on pollutants and carbon dioxide to provide a bubble of clean oxygen in the city.

The US Geological Survey said the quake measured 8.2, triggering a tsunami warning for the US Pacific territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Dolphins have returned to Lisbon's Tagus River, prompting a new wave of tourism to see them. The pandemic led to reduced pollution in the area thanks to a drop in maritime traffic, making it a more hospitable environment for the marine mammals.

With untreated sewage in the water and rubbish piled on the sand, pollution on Tripoli's Mediterranean coast is denying many residents of the war-torn Libyan capital a much-needed escape.

The UN health agency now ranks air pollution on a par with smoking or an unhealthy diet. As a result, it has issued new, stricter guidelines they claim could save millions of lives.

Lake Victoria, the planet's second-largest freshwater lake and the largest in Africa, is in serious danger from pollution. Because lakeside communities from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have practically no access to sewage infrastructure, a constant flow of sewage, fertilisers, garbage and plastic waste is suffocating what has long been the main provider of food and livelihoods in this part of East Africa. Despite what seems like an uphill struggle, young activists are sounding the alarm in order to raise awareness. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24's James Vasina and Camille Nedelec.

The yearly practice of "stubble burning" in Northern India has far-reaching effects. Delhi, some 250 kilometers away, once again faces dangerous levels of smog as farmers burn off their fields to prepare for the next crop. It's a major cause of air pollution in the country.

New air quality guidelines from the WHO could have saved the lives of almost 180,000 people in 2019, the European Environment Agency has revealed.