Pacific

The aid agency said that New Zealand must immediately act on promises made under the new global climate agreement, as evidence suggested climate change may increase the frequency of extreme El Niño occurring.

Around 4.7 million people face hunger, poverty and disease across the Pacific alone due to El Niño-related droughts, erratic rains and frosts. Globally, 18 million people are already in need of assistance.

This is consistently recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in its annual resolutions on oceans and the law of the sea, the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and by the Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway adopted in 2014.

Marine scientific research is also at the core of the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and the Sustainable Development Goal 14a officially adopted by the General Assembly in September 2015.

EU’s Head of Delegation to Fiji and the Pacific Andrew Jacobs has praised Pacific leaders for making their voices heard by the developed countries to combat climate change that’s affecting the region.

Jacobs says the EU has lauded the coordinated efforts from the Pacific as the outcome worked out well.

This responds positively to the demands of the Pacific Island Countries in the PACER Plus negotiations, which seek to enhance their participation in international trade. 

In June 2015, Australia took the unprecedented step in lifting the cap under the Seasonal Workers Program and extended it to the entire agriculture sector and to the accommodation sector in selected locations in the country. 

At climate talks in Paris, experts called for strong language on respecting human rights and the rights of indigenous people to be included in the agreement.

Craig Mokhiber of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says the climate crisis is a human rights crisis and it needs to be addressed as such.

Yesterday was Human Rights Day, which was marked across the Pacific.

The UNHRO Pacific head, Catherine Phuong, says ratification of human rights treaties is still very low in the region - one of the lowest in the world.

She says understanding of human rights is limited in some countries, rates of violence against women and children are very high and more needs to be done to address allegations of police brutality.

Diabetes Fiji will host youths from Tuvalu, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Its project manager Viliame Qio says the first-of-its-kind event will train participants in how to lead diabetes associations and help others with the disease in their countries.

He says part of the conference involves a health camp, where participants will meet with doctors and learn more about food, oral care and eye health.

The assurance was conveyed during a one hour dialogue led by Foreign Affairs Minister, Julie Bishop, on Wednesday morning with ministers from 12 of the 16 Forum Island Countries.

Australia is a key member of the Umbrella Group comprised of Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Kazakstan, Norway, Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United States.

Minister Bennett refused to give New Zealand’s support to an explicit goal in the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to a 1.5 degree increase, despite growing support from allies including Australia

The Island Climate Update, compiled by New Zealand's NIWA with other meteorological agencies and the Pacific Regional Environment Programmme, says each of those countries has experienced significantly lower than expected rain levels in the past five to six months.