Nuku’alofa, Tonga – Mount Talau on the island of Vava’u in Tonga, is a conservation area. It is also a favourite sight-seeing place for many – locals and tourists alike. Hovering over Neiafu town, the view from the top is majestic. One gets to see the Bay of Refuge and surrounding islands from the mountain […]
Category: Our region
Return of the kanahe in Vava’u
NEIAFU, Vava’u – Mullets (scientific name Mugilidae) were caught in waters of Vava’u around 50 years ago. “We used to have kanahe (mullet) around our island shores,” says Ulaiasi Vaisima, the town officer and local businessman. “Then they disappeared and for most of our lifetime, we did not see this species of fish again.” Vaisima’s […]
Covering climate change a challenge for the Pacific Island journalists
Journalists in the Pacific region who cover climate change and environment-related issues continue to face many challenges. The scientific component of climate change has traditionally been the greater area of challenge. This is coupled with the lack of opportunities that enable reporters to enhance their understanding to be more effective at communicating about the complexities […]
D Day for Fiji’s Talanoa
KATOWICE, Poland — By tomorrow (December 15, 2018), the world will know whether Poland’s hosting of the UN climate change summit, commonly known as COP24, has succeeded in delivering a strong outcome, and by extension whether Fiji’s exported concept of talanoa or dialogue had aided in producing such a good outcome. As I write this, […]
COP24 Global Climate Action Opening Unleashes New Finance Pledges
The United Nations Climate Conference (COP 24) today convened a high-level session launching eight days of focused events and dialogues on Global Climate Action, aimed at building a bridge between government delegates and non-Party, public and private stakeholders in the global response to climate change. The event, which featured United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Poland’s […]
Stakes are high at the UN climate talks in Poland
Three years after signing the historic Paris Agreement, world leaders, businesses and climate advocates converge in Katowice, at the heart of Poland’s coal region, for two-weeks talk to flesh out the rules pertaining to the implementation of the Paris Agreement’s goals of limiting temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius or below 1.5 degrees […]
Pacific journalism students win EJN Best Mobile Journalism Awards
For the first time, the University of the South Pacific awarded Best Mobile Journalism Awards on Environmental Reporting during its 18th USP Journalism Students Awards in October 19, 2018. These awards were created after the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network conducted a Mobile Journalism Workshop on Environmental Reporting with 30 USP journalism students last July 23, […]
Pacific Island countries push for climate-resilient communities
MANILA, Philippines–Nowhere is climate change more evident than in small, low-lying island nations, where entire populations face existential risks to the foreseen intensification of storm surges, cyclones and rise in sea levels. The Pacific Islands have been hit particularly hard. However, people in the region are determined to adapt to these growing realities. In Palau, […]
UN climate change report a call for urgent action
SUVA, Fiji– The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its most comprehensive and critical report on climate change for years to come. Its findings show the profound impacts on human life and the decisive actions necessary to keep global temperature rise below 2 or 1.5 degrees Celsius, as well as the huge differences […]
Coastal villagers in Papua New Guinea struggle to confront climate change
Over 200,000 people live in the New Ireland Province north of mainland Papua New Guinea which is surrounded by the Bismarck Sea. Climate change poses a challenge to the lives and livelihoods of the people in the communities, particularly in Panachais Village, which is vulnerable to sea level rise and high tides. For most of […]