Pacific Islands

For Tokelau, this is now underway with a special inception workshop held in Samoa, to plan implementation of the different activities.

With the Tokelau General Fono recently endorsing the Tokelau Climate Change Strategy – 'Living with Change' the protection of the ocean is featured as a high priority.

 Being part of the New Zealand Pacific Partnership on Ocean Acidification (NZPPOA) regional project to build resilience to ocean acidification is especially important for Tokelau and her community.

Sweden and Fiji are co-hosting the conference in June at the United Nations' Headquarters in New York.

Fiji just held a regional meeting in Suva to prepare, which was attended by small island states, New Zealand and Australia.

Its Fisheries Minister, Semi Koroilavesau, said the meeting went well and he was feeling hopeful about what the UN's conference can achieve.

He said Fiji and other small Pacific islands would be the first to suffer from ocean pollution and rising sea levels and there needs to be global consensus on what action to take.

The historic event is targeted towards rallying global action to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) through its Pacific sub-regional office are partnering together to implement several different initiatives to support Pacific island countries as they prepare for the UN Oceans Conference.

Co-hosted by the Governments of Fiji and Sweden, the UN Oceans Conference will be held in New York from 5 to 7 June this year.

The Pacific has some of the most expensive electricity prices in the world with much of its energy coming from diesel.

The IFC and the Australian-based company, Smart Commercial Solar, will launch its project by offering a free energy report to Pacific businesses calculating how much they can save if they switch to solar.

The IFC's spokesperson, Subrata Barman, said it's time for Pacific nations to look at moving away from traditional models of power supply.

New Zealand Rugby has two years to run on its contract with World Rugby, but it struggled to get 10,000 people each day into Westpac Stadium.

After 18 years of Wellington playing host, there's fresh calls to take the tournament to Fiji, the home of the Rugby Sevens Olympic champions.

The NZR General Manager of Relationships, Planning and Operations Nigel Cass says the tournament has been arguably the world's most successful but it's not as fresh as it once was.

The Blues announced yesterday they will host the Reds in Apia in June.

It will be the first Super match played in Samoa and coincides with Samoa's 55th Independence Celebrations.

Fifteen players the Blues squad have Samoan heritage, along with head Coach Tana Umaga.

Jerome Kaino, who was born in American Samoa, said the team was already looking forward to the game.

"We're really proud of that fact that we're pioneers to be able to take that game to Samoa - you know being the first franchise to take it there. And it's only fitting that we get to do that.

Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Tonga are party to the Protocol which is linked to the Convention on Biodiversity, which, helps to protect Pacific communities and biodiversity from the consequences of living modified organisms.

The Cartagena Protocol was adopted on 29 January 2000 as a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force on 11 September 2003.

This protocol helps to ensure the safe transport, handling and use of these LMO's from biotechnology.

All delegates and countries come together united in their commitment to halt the loss of biodiversity.

Fourteen Pacific island countries are Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity for which the 13th Conference of the Parties started last week in Cancun, Mexico (CBD COP13).

All have committed to achieving the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets with the ultimate goal of reducing biodiversity loss.
 

The Pacific Community (SPC) and the Fiji National University (FNU) have signed an agreement for the further development, implementation and accreditation of the region’s Postgraduate Certificate in Field Epidemiology, also known as the Pacific Data for Decision Making Training course.

 “We’re very pleased with this new agreement with FNU that will help in building sustainable human resources for public health data analysis, surveillance and epidemiology in the Pacific,” said SPC Director of Public Health, Dr Paula Vivili.

RNZ reports Paula Bennett was speaking in Marrakech where countries which signed up to the Paris Agreement are holding the first meeting of the Parties to the Agreement.

The minister said New Zealand's latest step was significant for Tokelau and the Pacific.

She said New Zealand and Pacific countries were serious about addressing climate change at home and in the world.

According to Mrs Bennett, New Zealand is providing up to $US142 million dollars for climate-related aid over the next four years, with most of it going to the Pacific.