IPS: AN international conference on small island developing states (SIDS), scheduled to take place in Samoa next week, will bypass a politically sensitive issue: a proposal to create a new category of “environmental refugees” fleeing tiny island nations threatened by rising seas. “It’s not on the final declaration called the outcome document,” a SIDS diplomat…
VANUATU DAILY POST – The People’s Republic of China is ready to help Vanuatu with its airport developments. This was personally conveyed to Prime Minister Joe Natuman by President of China, Xi Jinping. “Chinese President Xi Jinping has confirmed China is ready to assist Vanuatu, in particular, it knows that Bauerfield airport is in need…
RNZI – Members of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement are looking at new ways to buy and sell access to fishing days in their areas. A record price of US$13,000 was reached this year for a single day of purse seine fishing during trading beween those PNA nations who needed extra days and those…
It is a collective exercise to transform The University of the South Pacific from a good to an excellent University and Campus Directors have a huge role to play in it, says USP Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Rajesh Chandra. Professor Chandra made the comment during the Regional Campus Directors meeting at Suva’s Southern Cross Hotel…
FIJI LIVE – The risk of the Ebola virus disease spreading to the Pacific is low, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says. However, because of the seriousness of the outbreak, it advises that Pacific Islands countries and nearby areas take proactive action and be prepared. In West Africa, the outbreak continues to evolve, with cases…
RNZI: The number of people affected by chikungunya in Samoa has increased from 51 to 269 in the last two weeks. The Ministry of Health Director General, Leausa Tole’afoa Dr Take Naseri, says an ongoing clean up and spraying of mosquito breeding sites is continuing with aircraft and ships being sprayed. He says laboratory tests…
RNZI: A Papua New Guinea lawyer says the government’s amendment to the constitution to allow asylum seekers to be transferred to PNG was invalid and should be rejected by the Supreme Court. Loani Henao is representing the leader of the opposition, Belden Namah in his quest to challenge the agreement between PNG and Australia, which…
A legal analysis commissioned by the Mineral Policy Institute says Bougainville’s new Mining Law fails to protect the rights of local people. The law is also in breach of Bougainville’s own Constitution and is inconsistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, reports PNG Minewatch. The opinion finds the rights given…
THE slow supply of timely data from tuna catch by fishing nations each year remains a headache for tuna organisations. And fisheries managers and tuna officials are concern that some Asian nations are not providing operational catch data essential to accurate stock assessments. This was highlighted early this week in Suva, Fiji during the second…
MEDIA has an important role to play in promoting and reporting sustainable harvesting of the region’s tuna resources. This is because tuna is the single largest sustainable resource that is available in the region that will continue to support the regional countries and their economies and food security in the years to come, if properly…