The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Friday 8th November approved US$64 million in support for Fiji’s efforts to strengthen its medium-term fiscal sustainability, improve the country’s business climate, and build resilience to climate change. The new operation will also support enhancements to Fiji’s business environment through improvements to Fiji’s business registration procedures, as […]
Category: Article
New Ministry planned for climate response in Samoa
The Government of Samoa is in the process of planning to establish a new Climate Change Ministry to deal specifically with the challenges of adapting to global warming. Discussions for the new Ministry’s creation were confirmed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) Chief Executive Officer, Ulu Bismarck Crawley, one the sidelines of […]
Dumped fishing gear is biggest plastic polluter in ocean
Lost and abandoned fishing gear which is deadly to marine life makes up the majority of large plastic pollution in the oceans, according to a report by Greenpeace. More than 640,000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea every year, the same weight as […]
Logging remains a major threat to freshwater biodiversity
Logging remains a major threat to freshwater biodiversity in the Solomon Islands, a recent survey by international and local scientists have found. A team of International and Local Scientists from the French Ichthyological Society (SFI), based at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) Paris, France, and Ecological Solutions, Solomon Islands (ESSI) recently completed freshwater fish, […]
Environmental engineering solution for sinking islands
A team of UQ researchers is working tirelessly to find an environmental engineering solution for a very human problem in the Solomon Islands, where the lives of entire communities are in turmoil thanks to drastic sea level rises. Dr Simon Albert wants to solve an urgent, catastrophic environmental engineering conundrum. He is focused on the […]
Suspension of COP25 highlights injustice says Pacific NGOs
The Chilean Government has announced the suspension of the UN Climate Summit (COP25), scheduled to take place in Santiago this December, due to the social demonstrations protesting rising costs, debt and inequality, and marred by heavy-handed arrests from state forces in the past weeks. 350.org Pacific Regional Managing Director, Fenton Lutunatabua issued the following statement: […]
Scientists discover new freshwater fish and prawns in Solomons
A total of five new fish records and one potential new fish species as well as five new records and two potential new prawn species were discovered on Isabel and Choiseul Provinces in the Solomon Islands. The discovery followed a recent expedition by the French Ichthyological Society (SFI), based at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle […]
Specific climate insurance product for PNG, Pacific
The Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP), together with the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) are gauging views to set up an insurance product that will allow Pacific Islanders to recover quicker financially after a natural disaster. A workshop organised early this month under these two programmes to gauge interest in setting up this insurance product […]
A story of resilience on Wagina island in Solomons
In 1964, young Joseph Teia said goodbye to his home in the Gilbertese islands, boarded a vessel and came to Solomon Islands and never returned. He was seven years old when he left. As a young child, he did not understand why he had to leave his home and his father behind to come to […]
Climate change forcing Pacific Islanders from homes
When Cardinal John Ribat of Papua New Guinea was young, he and his neighbors noticed that their well water tasted of salt. Crops also failed as the soil became salty. Papua New Guinea consists of a large island in the Pacific Ocean surrounded by smaller islands and atolls. Residents of the island where his family […]