Pacific Islands

India offers Pacific help on climate

Leaders and delegates from 14 island nations are in Jaipur for the second Summit of the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation.

India's Economic Times quotes the country's External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, saying India stands ready to share its expertise and technology with the island nations to help them adapt to and to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The paper says India will push for greater cooperation with the island countries in sectors like oil and natural gas, mining, IT, healthcare, fishing and marine research.

Call for Pacific workers in NZ fishing industry

During recent Pacer Plus trade negotiations, Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilapea Sailele Malielegaoi called on New Zealand unions to consider expanding the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme to areas such as construction and fisheries.

Mr Jones says a pilot fisheries training programme in Kiribati, funded by the New Zealand government, will allow some of its graduates to work in New Zealand.

He says regional leaders are keen to see similar programmes in other parts of the Pacific.

Pacific tuna catch hits record high

This week's Purse Seine Bigeye Tuna Management Workshop in Majuro was told commercial fishing boats caught over 2.8 million tons of tuna in 2014, an all-time record.

Most of those fish were caught by purse seiners.

The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority scientist, Berry Muller, says the bigeye tuna catch at 161,299 tonnes was a five percent increase.

He says this maintains bigeye's "over-fished" state.

City being decked up to host meet of Pacific island nations

The international conference will be held on August 21.

The local administration and civic bodies have been pressed in to make the city beautiful while general administration department is overseeing the arrangements for the delegates.

The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has intensified efforts for the beautification of the city. Hotels where delegates will stay and visit have been earmarked and 10 teams have been deployed for cleaning and landscaping works in the city. Apart from that, officials from the electricity cell too are taking stock of the situation.

Asylum seekers: Andrew Wilkie takes Australia to international criminal court

The independent Tasmanian MP has sent the application, naming the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and his 19-member cabinet, including the immigration minister, Scott Morrison.

“In my application I have particularly named crimes against humanity, such as the forced relocation of people, obviously to the Republic of Nauru or Papua New Guinea,” Wilkie said.

He also claims that the government’s hardline immigration policies contravene the Refugee Convention, Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Storm warnings cancelled for Guam and CNMI

It says the Typhoon Watch has also been cancelled.

This morning, 9am local time, Tropical Storm Goni was 144 kilometres west of Saipan, 128 kilometres west of Tinian, 120 kilometres northwest of Rota and 168 kilometres north-northwest of Guam, packing 104 kph sustained winds. Tropical storm-force winds extend 120 from its centre.

Lead forecaster, Michael Ziobro, says Tropical Storm Goni will develop into a Typhoon either tonight or early tomorrow morning but it will be too faraway from Guam and the CNMI.

He says Goni is moving at 14 kilometres per hour.

Tuvalese leaders discuss climate change

That's how the people of Tuvalu feel.

It's predicted the Island nation, the smallest archipelago in the Pacific, could be underwater in the next 30 to 50 years due to rising sea levels.

Tuvalese leaders spoke of their plight at a breakfast event in Mangere last week as part of a Climate Change Tour hosted by NZ NGOs including Tear Fund and Oxfam. The tour aims to create awareness around the effect climate change is having on our pacific neighbours, and continues in Christchurch and Wellington this week.

Pacific Islands encouraged to increase use of FADs

The use of anchored, nearshore FADs is widely recognised as being one of the few practical ways of increasing the tuna catches of small-scale fishers. In the Pacific Islands region, greater local catches of tuna are needed to help supply the fish required by growing urban and rural populations.

Already more than 300 anchored nearshore and offshore FADs are in use among various Pacific Island countries. Many more will be needed in the future. However, considerable planning, monitoring and research must be done to enable the full benefits of nearshore FADs to be harnessed.

100 Days: Countdown to Paris COP 21

The vulnerability of the Pacific Islands to climate change has been the subject of significant round table dialogue and discussions based on reliable scientific information.

It is a global problem with wide-ranging impacts and in the South Pacific region, it is essential that the messages are communicated successfully with the various stakeholders to the local communities.

As the chair of the next COP21, France is fully mobilized to achieve an ambitious and legally binding agreement. And its diplomatic network is also mobilized for this.

Pacific Islands call on NZ to ‘do more’ on climate change

The very existence of many of the island nations is threatened by the impact of climate change and they feel that their “big brother”, New Zealand, isn’t doing enough to help them.

Among the leaders speaking out, is the general secretary of the Christian Church of Tuvalu and founder of the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network, Rev Tafue Lusama.

His homeland, Tuvalu, is projected to be underwater in less than 50 years.