PINA

With global temperatures soaring and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reaching unprecedented levels, dramatic climate action is needed to steer the world away from runaway climate change and align it to the objectives of the Paris Agreement, a major UN report has found. The 2023 Emissions Gap Report, released on Monday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), carried a clear message...

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says Fiji is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), being the first country to sign the Convention in 1982, in Jamaica. The Prime Minister while responding to a question in Parliament on the benefit of signing the Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction(BBNJ) Treaty, Rabuka said...

Tonga did not sign the Samoa Agreement, that took place in Samoa last week. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Fekitamoeloa 'Utoikamanu, said that there is a requirement in order to formalise Tonga’s commitment to sign the agreement, and at the time of the signing, it had not been concluded. “The impact of this, is that Tonga will not be able to access...

Climate advocates are urging the Pacific Islands Forum to exercise caution in considering Saudi Arabia’s climate financing commitment. Saudi Arabia pledged US$50 million making it one of the first donors for the newly established Pacific Resilience Facility(PRF). Saudi Arabia is currently the largest exporter of petroleum in the world. Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) Regional Coordinator Lavetanalagi Seru is calling on...

Summing up the Pacific Leaders meeting earlier this month in Rarotonga, Tonga's Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni said the meeting reassured the Pacific leaders commitment to its 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific continent, and also allowed leaders to be in one mind, especially for the upcoming COP28. In a media briefing the PM held last Friday, he said the...

Senior leaders from Christian, Muslim and Buddhist faiths visited key Ministers and MPs in Canberra last Thursday to urge the federal Labor government to put an end to all new fossil fuel projects in Australia, and to listen to the voices of Pacific Island nations calling for Australia to phase out fossil fuels. The faith leaders met with Climate Minister...

Cuba stressed the importance of having multilateral ties with South Pacific Island States and reasserted its commitment to friendship and cooperation at the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting, held in the Cook Islands. “Our links with the Pacific Islands are based on deep feelings of friendship, solidarity and brotherhood,” said the deputy minister of Science, Technology and the...

National Invasive Species Coordinator of the Tonga Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC), Viliami Hakaumotu and has been honoured as the 2023 Battler of the Year. Described by David Moverley, SPREP Invasive Species Adviser, as one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the calendar, this year's Pacific Invasive Species Battler of the...

The 2019 Pacific Games Champion New Caledonia leads the 2023 Pacific Games medal tally at the end of the fourth day of competition in Honiara on Monday night. They took over from hosts the Solomon Islands late on Monday following their dominance in the pool, during the swimming competition. New Caledonia have claimed eight gold medals so far plus seven silver...

Solomon Islands' Golden Girl Jenly Tegu Wini claimed the first gold medals at the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara on Monday, claiming three gold medals in the weightlifting competition. She claimed the three gold in the women's 55 kilograms category. Wini, her country's flagbearer at the opening ceremony on Sunday, lifted 82kg in the snatch and 108kg in the clean and...