Pacific Island

The Pacific Peoples Minister, Alfred Ngaro, said the new funding would allow festival organisers to explore options to allow the festival to grow further.

He said his ministry would bring on a specialist and an advisory group to work with the Polyfest Trust, which has organised the festival for decades.

Mr Ngaro said the festival helped Pacific people gain confidence, leadership and many other skills, and he wanted to see more people there, celebrating Pacific diversity.

Photo: SUPPLIED Students from Avondale College perform at the festival. 

Under the Paris Climate Agreement, the international community is aiming to limit warming to 2 degrees celsius.

But the Australian-led study in the Nature Climate Change Journal found increases in global temperatures causing extreme El Niños would continue to see extreme weather events, even if the global temperature stopped rising.

The lead scientist from the Australia research institute CSIRO, Wenju Cai said the study indicates that extreme weather events are likely to become twice as common in the future.

The hub was approved by the National Executive Council in August 2016, who committed about US$350,000 to establish the facility.

The PNG multi-hazard early warning centre will be multi-disciplinary and will act as a sub-regional hub for the Pacific Islands. 

Assistant director of PNG National Weather Service (PNG NSW), Jimmy Gomoga, said whatever products made will provide services to the Pacific Island countries.

The Scots were upset 27-22 in Suva at the weekend, one week after they stunned Australia in Sydney.

Italy were also beaten in Suva this month while Wales edged Manu Samoa 19-17 in Apia, a week after beating Tonga in Auckland, in a match originally scheduled for Nuku'alofa.

Flying Fijians coach John McKee said the feedback he received from the Scottish and Italian teams was encouraging.

According to Tantowi Yahya, Indonesia, with its significant Melanesian population, considers itself part of the Pacific region.

He said that like Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia was interested in helping prosperity, democracy and human development in the Pacific.

Pacific Islands states, Ambassador Tantowi explained, could expect ongoing help from Indonesia on the big issues confronting them.

A group from the Ola Fou programme was in Wellington last week for the PD Festival - that brought together youth workers from around the world.

The Pacific was represented by youth development workers from Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

Regional manager for Ola Fou Sereki Korocowiri,who is from Fiji, says that youth culture in the Pacific is in a state of change.

This traditional product is among other Pacific Island cultures displayed at what is considered the biggest celebration of Pacific Island culture and heritage in the world.

The presence of the Bilum products was made possible by Pacific Trade & Invest (PT&I) NZ through its Pacific Path to Market programme.

It is a structured approach to helping businesses entering the New Zealand market.

It is a two day event which will stretch through the weekend from March 25 to 26.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: A group seasonal workers from Fiji and Tonga came to Australia with the promise of earning good money to send home to their families. But that's not how things have worked out.

Since they arrived last month under the official program, the fruit and vegetable pickers have been shocked and disappointed. Some of them earn just a few dollars a day after deductions.

A digital revolution is underway in the Pacific, but there's concern over a clash between cyber culture and traditional culture.

Mobile phones are now a way of life in the Pacific, but what they're being used for is causing concern, with phone video of groups fighting having been posted online.

The Tongan government is holding community consultations over a possible cyber clampdown. 

It's looking at a total ban on porn sites and selective blocking of young Facebook users after bullying. 

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi had just come back on Thursday from her visit to Fiji, where she attended the Pacific Island Development Forum (PIDF) and discussed how to build resilience to climate change.

“The focus is how the Pacific Islands prepare adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Armanatha Nasir, said .