Pacific Islands

The campaign, coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in partnership with Pacific islands and partners, aims to promote the conservation of whales through a range of initiatives and awareness raising activities. 

Over two million great whales were killed by industrial whaling fleets in the 20th century, most of them in the Southern Hemisphere, on their summer feeding grounds in the Antarctic Ocean.  

By description alone, the vast area should command the respect and attention of the international community. 

The countries make up almost 10 percent of United Nations votes and are invaluable players in the geopolitical arena. The Pacific bolsters national security for many of the world’s biggest powers, allowing them to maintain a military presence in the region. It also hosts trade routes, provides access to deep-sea mining and floor mapping, and remains a major seafood source for the world.

Solomon Islands has the second most expensive internet service in the Pacific region.

According to them, the last updated report on internet access affordability on Pacific Islands was three years ago.

“Technological progress in Internet access is slowly but surely being felt in the Pacific.”

It states that ADSL and/or fixed wireless broadband is available in all the countries they have included in their analysis including newcomer Nauru.

Pacific islands urged to regulate use of oceans as dumping ground

http://www.looppng.com/content/pacific-islands-urged-regulate-use-oceans-dumping-ground

Much of our dialogue about waste disposal is, understandably, focused on the waste that we can see as we go about our day-to-day lives.

PNG PM shrugs off outstanding warrant

That’s over and above those who came to Australia under the earlier seasonal worker pilot programme, said Minister for Trade and Investment, Senator Richard Colbeck.

“We are in the process of negotiating an updated seasonal worker programme MOU with participant countries and we will sign an updated MOU with the Solomon Islands, and we're very pleased to be doing that.

The Toloa Scholarships were bestowed at a ceremony at the University of Auckland's Fale Pasifika on Thursday.

The minister, Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, said New Zealand's Pacific population is one of the youngest and fastest-growing in the country.

Mr Lotu-Iiga said it's important Pacific students are given the opportunity to become the industry leaders and problem-solvers of the future.

The four Toloa Scholarships are given to first year undergraduate and postgraduate Pacific students who also receive mentoring and an industry internship.

This follows the end of the treaty arrangements when the US failed to pay its first quarter levy and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency is no longer issuing licences to fish for tuna in the island countries' waters.

Cyclone Pali is currently above the equator in the ocean between the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, about 1300km southwest of Hawaii.

A forecaster at the US National Weather Service in Hawaii, Alistair Foster, says Pali is one of the earliest recorded in the central Pacifc, where the cyclone season is not due to begin for another five months.

Mr Foster says it's not unprecedented to have out-of-season cyclones in an El Niño year, with warm ocean temperatures allowing them to develop.

This is a music competition called “Sound the Alarm” which is open to Pacific youths between the ages of 18-35 and runs from Dec 1 2015, to Jan 16, 2016.  

Countries eligible to participate are PNG, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federal States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The competition calls on youths in the Pacific to share their views on corruption and suggest innovative solutions on how to address the issue through music by using their voices.

To appreciate the importance of maritime transport in the Pacific region’s development agenda, Pacific Island countries and territories and development partners will gather next week in Suva, Fiji for a regional meeting of transport officials.