May 16th 2012
Federated states of Micronesia to access US$4million for solar project
The Federated states of Micronesia (FSM) is seeking to reduce its carbon emissions by 500 tonnes through the use of renewable energy.
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May 15th 2012
Pacific Islands aiming for Energy Self-Sufficiency
Citizens on the South Pacific island atolls of Tokelau are to become the first in the region to rely entirely on renewable energy.
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May 15th 2012
Kiribati documentary critical of response to climate change
An Australian film director says his documentary about the effects of climate change on the people of Kiribati is a plea to the world not to forget about their plight.
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May 15th 2012
Islands in the sky - Conserving the cloud forests of Samoa
The BIORAP project is the Rapid Biological Survey of the plants, birds and animals; the kaleidoscope of living creatures that inhabit the forests of Savaii. It will be the first time for the biodiversity in these cloud forests to be properly surveyed.
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May 10th 2012
Pacific plastic soup grew 100-fold
The vast swirl of plastic waste floating in the North Pacific has grown 100-fold over the last 40 years, according to a research paper published Wednesday.
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May 10th 2012
Lights up for Aitutaki!
On the Cook Island atoll of Aitutaki, fishermen have begun collectively installing navigational lights in their lagoon, a move that will have many benefits for local Islanders and visitors alike.
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May 8th 2012
Pacific Islander wins award for Turtle Conservation
Mr George Petro, of the Vanuatu NGO and Theatre Group Wan Smol Bag, has been recognised internationally for his tireless efforts in turtle conservation in his country.
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May 2nd 2012
Geothermal energy in Vanuatu tipped to boost economic activity
An Australian geothermal power developer says turning Vanuatu’s geothermal energy into electricity can boost economic activity.
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May 1st 2012
Niue to post live whale-frolicking on the web
Thousands of dollars worth of equipment is due to arrive in Niue next month for land-based whale watching platforms. Special coin-operated binoculars imported from the United States will be set up at six sites around the island.
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April 27th 2012
Tonga's Solar Grandmothers
Two grandmothers from the island nation of Tonga have acquired the skills to install solar panel systems in the nation's communities without access to mains grid electricity.
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April 23rd 2012
Palau Islanders work to protect water supply
A combination of development, improper land use and increasingly severe weather patterns are threatening water sources in the Micronesian island of Palau, so a community alliance is working together to secure the future of the island’s water.
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April 19th 2012
Fiji to condsider ban on shark fishing
The waters of Fiji’s many islands may soon become a sanctuary for sharks after the government announced plans it may follow the lead of Palau and the Marshall Islands and ban shark fishing. Fijian waters are already a whale sanctuary.
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April 18th 2012
Melanesian countries can lead sustainable fisheries practices says Nature Roundtable
Melanesia is in a good position to influence national and regional processes for sustainable fisheries and responsible oceans governance.
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April 18th 2012
Committee to guide islands' deep sea mining mooted
The Applied Geoscience and Technology division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has mooted the formation of a committee to facilitate decision making relating to the implementation of in-country deep sea minerals and mining activities.
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April 12th 2012
Niue signs the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Niue signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) earlier this week, becoming the 183rd country to do so.
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April 10th 2012
Increase of Pacific members to Wetlands Convention
Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu could become the newest Pacific island parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. All three island nations attended the Oceania meeting on wetlands in Palau in late March to learn more about the Convention and what it entails when you become a contracting party.
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April 10th 2012
New Caledonia lagoon listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
New Caledonia, located in the heart of the Pacific Ocean and 1,500km from Australia, had an area of 18 575 km².
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April 10th 2012
Stop using Pacific wetlands as waste sites
It's an unattractive sight in many parts of the Pacific; mangroves filled with rubbish such as used nappies, empty rusted cans, plastic bags. In the Pacific, mangroves and coral reefs are the two main wetlands types.
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April 4th 2012
New Data Show Fukushima Radiation Moved Rapidly Out Into Pacific Ocean
American and Japanese scientists say they have found elevated levels of radioactive cesium throughout a 150,000 square kilometer area of the Pacific Ocean off Japan according to a report on Voice of America.
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March 22nd 2012
Vanuatu addressing climate change impacts with vital roads
Epi Island in Vanuatu will be relocating parts of their road this year to avoid the impacts of climate change under the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change project. The designs of the new roads are being finalised in order to start construction in the next three months.
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March 22nd 2012
Pacific countries meet to conserve corals and other marine wildlife in trade
Unfortunately, the Pacific region has one of the highest historic rates of species loss in a global context, with hundreds of species still under threat." – Mr. Stuart Chape, Director of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management, SPREP.
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March 15th 2012
$5m to improve seismic monitoring
A joint Samoa-China project underway will vastly improve the monitoring of seismic activity in the country.
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March 12th 2012
ISSUE 49 EXCLUSIVE
Tokelau: The Leading Light in Renewable Energy
An innovative renewable energy project is set to transform the remote Pacific nation of Tokelau, and lead the world in transitioning from dependence on fossil-fuels to renewable energy.
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February 28th 2012
Niue may resort to burying asbestos waste as NZ won't accept it back
The Premier of Niue, Toke Talagi, says his government has made a decision, in principle, to bury asbestos waste on the island.
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February 23rd 2012
Rats back on Aleipata Islands
The dreaded rats are back on the Aleipata islands in a big way despite recent optimism that they have been eradicated.
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Februray 22nd 2012
SPC workshop introduces new project
The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Land Resource Division (LRD) is organising a workshop to help Pacific Island countries and territories strengthen their production of valuable crops by better managing pests.
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February 15th 2012
Islands prepare to deal with global mining interst
At a time when government of countries like New Zealand are trying hard to convince their populations of the benefits of seabed mining amidst shrill protests fuelled by fears for preserving the integrity of the environment, several South Pacific Island states are coming into the reckoning of mining giants from across the world.
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February 15th 2012
Working together to tackle urban flooding
East Asia’s cities are growing - fast. China announced last in January that its population is now more than half urban, and other countries are following a similar path. Urbanization has no doubt supported the region’s dynamic economic growth, contributing to an overall reduction in poverty.
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February 3rd 2012
Accolade for climate modeling firm
A software firm that has helped build climate change models and future scenarios in Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Nauru and the Marshall Islands besides many other atolls and low lying countries around the world has been recognised as a leading innovator of climate change risk and adaptation assessment tools and associated services.
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February 3rd 2012
New programme to conserve coastal marine stocks
Scientists and managers from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Locally-Managed Marine Area (LMMA) Network have come together to develop a series of information sheets recommending measures to protect sea cucumbers, lobsters and other fish species that are in danger of disappearing from Pacific Island fisheries.
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February 2nd 2012
Asian Development Bank and Japan help ready Tonga to tap into solar power
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan today signed a letter agreement to fund the preparation of the Outer Island Renewable Energy Project, which will connect solar power to the country’s existing electricity network.
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February 1st 2012
US$4 million for Nauru solar energy and desalination plant
Nauru will access US$4million from the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) Fund to install a solar power generation system and sea water desalination plant.
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February 1st 2012
SPREP Launches Clean Pacific 2012 Campaign
The Clean Pacific 2012 campaign will be launched in partnership with the World Wetlands Day celebrations in Apia, Samoa on 2 February. The relationship between proper waste disposal practices, management and pollution prevention and healthy wetlands is a critical one.
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February 1st 2012
American Samoa addresses E-Waste issue
The American Samoa government is working towards the safe disposal of electronic trash, or e-waste. The territory doesn’t have a program in place to deal with electronic waste and many old and broken electronics are left on the side of the road or not properly disposed.
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January 23rd 2012
Smart pest management boosts cabbage output
An integrated pest management technique incorporated into farming practices in cabbage farms in Fiji’s Sigatoka Valley has seen farmers’ profits rise between 20 and 30 per cent.
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January 19th 2012
Wild kai survey highlights risks of legacy contaminants
Wild kai such as eel (tuna), lamprey (kanakana) and whitebait are a significant cultural, recreational and economic resource for Māori in South Canterbury. But eating some of these species can pose a risk when they are contaminated by legacy contaminants such as DDT, PCBs and dieldrin, which remain in the environment for a long time and accumulate in the food chain.
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January 12th 2012
The Last Sandalwood
It looks like any ordinary piece of driftwood. It sits at the corner of the truck bed as I unpack from my trip to Savaii this afternoon. I do not want to take it into the house as there are Samoan taboos about bringing home objects from other villages, forests. By most accounts we gathered though – this is what remains of the last Samoan asi manogi, native Samoan sandalwood tree, chopped down back in 1989.
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January 12th 2012
Overfishing of western Pacific bigeye tuna continues
Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia, 11 January 2011 – Overfishing of bigeye tuna continues in the western and central Pacific tuna fishery, the world’s biggest tuna fishery, according to the 2010 tuna fishery assessment report released this month by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).
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