Pacific

Pacific islands to join the planet for an International Coastal Cleanup

Volunteers from ten island nations, American Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands joined forces with close to 800,000 volunteers in 2015 to commemorate the event which collected over 18 million pounds of waste across the planet.

All waste collected is stored in the Ocean Trash Index, having been recorded by item and by the Ocean Conservancy each year culminating in a global snapshot of the marine debris found across the world.

Framework to build resilience to climate change and disasters in the Pacific

FRDP is the world’s first integrated regional framework to build resilience to climate change and disasters.

The FRDP was developed in response to recommendations from the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and Pacific Climate Change Roundtable in 2011 and endorsed by the Pacific Island Forum Leaders in 2012.

The Framework aims to ensure that climate change and disasters are understood as a development challenge with priority actions to address vulnerability to climate change and disasters and build resilience across all sectors.

"Violence against women must be stopped"

According to RNZ that is the message from this week's meeting in Fiji of more than 40 practitioners and experts working on ending violence against women in the Pacific.

Representatives from Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Samoa are taking part in the regional consultation with a focus on preventing violence.

UN Women multi-country representative Aleta Miller said all parties agree violence is not inevitable and can be prevented and are seeking systematic measures to stop it.

Pacific chief trade advisor still hopeful for PACER-Plus

RNZ reports On Friday, Fiji's trade minister, Faiyaz Koya, said his country was withdrawing from negotiations for PACER-Plus, citing inflexibility from Australia and New Zealand.

Fiji's withdrawal would mean the Pacific's two largest economies outside of New Zealand and Australia - Fiji and Papua New Guinea - would not be included in the deal.

Vanuatu had also recently expressed dissatisfaction.

But Dr Edwini Kessie said the remaining issues were not serious, and he believed a deal could still be reached - with Fiji included.

Obama ventures to tiny Pacific island fighting a tide of trash

Barack Obama landed on the remote Pacific island of Midway less than a week after the US President created the world's largest protected marine reserve in the area surrounding the tiny atoll.

It's a big green feather in Obama's cap as he seeks to cement his environmental legacy before he leaves office.

China-Pacific trade doubles

Trade statistics released by Pacific Islands Trade & Invest China show that the 14 countries of the Pacific Islands Forum exported $2.5 billion worth of goods to China last year, up from $2 billion in 2014.

RNZ reports exports from China doubled to $5 billion over the same period including some significant ship sales for the fishing industry.

Papua New Guinea accounted for nearly $2 billion of the region's exports as the largest exporter of timber to China and an important exporter of Liquid Natural Gas.

Partnership growing from strength to strength

On 25 August, 2016 at SPREP's Apia headquarters, representatives from both agencies formally signed the Meeting Minutes related to the formulation of the second phase of the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Promotion of Regional Initiative on Solid Waste Management in Pacific Island Countries, known as J-PRISM II.

MSC recertification for PNA's tuna fishery

A third party independent auditor, Acoura Marine, has been contracted by the PNA to undertake the reassessment.

Pacifical c.v., the global tuna marketing company jointly set up by eight PNA countries in 2011 to promote its MSC certified sustainably caught tuna, said that the process should go smoothly and that deliveries of Pacifical MSC tuna will continue uninterrupted through 2017.

Energy specialist says Pacific can lead the way

RNZ reports the World Bank's Kamleshwar Khelawan said the Pacific has some unique problems which also create unique opportunities.

Mr Khelawan said only 20 percent of Pacific households had access to electricity, although this was skewed by the larger populations of Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands.

He said many of the islands were dispersed over a large area, were small, and had very small loads so economies of scale were hard to achieve.

Coherence between Pacific trade and health policy needed to combat NCDs

RNZ reports heart disease, cancers, lung disease and diabetes are the leading causes of death in the Pacific with most countries losing their productive citizens to NCDs.

The United Nations Development Programme's Ferdinand Strobel says health and trade interests in the region are often developed in silos and end up undermining each other’s' efforts.

He said with the right legal framework they could be made to work together to help in the fight against NCDs.