PINA

A high-tech subsea cable system with new landing points will securely pipe the highest possible volume of data from the United States, Australia and Asia. As well as setting the nation up to be a data warehouse for the region, the Australia Connect project unveiled by Google Cloud and its partners on Tuesday is designed to plug the Pacific more...

By Wesley Morgan Australia and Pacific Island nations had hoped to leave this year’s global climate talks in Azerbaijan having won a bid to host the 2026 summit. Instead, that decision on who will host the 31st “conference of the parties” (COP31) has been deferred until June next year – after Australia’s next federal election. Turkey, the only other country in...

As with many Small Island Developing States, Fiji faces the starkest impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, natural disasters and biodiversity loss. But even with these issues at hand, local communities throughout the archipelago are leading approaches to address environmental challenges. At the heart of this grassroots movement are organisational partners such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF)...

Papua New Guinea has been told to address the Bougainville Independence issue head-on and not to hide behind political correctness and overblown sensitivity. Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) President Ismael Toroama told a Bougainville joint supervisory board: “While the work of the moderator is a challenging one, we cannot simply expect him to provide us with answers in negotiating the Independence...

Over 190 governments now negotiating a new treaty on plastic pollution have been urged to deliver a global agreement that will protect everyone’s health. More than 900 independent scientists have signed a new declaration calling UN negotiators to agree on a comprehensive and ambitious global plastics treaty based on robust scientific evidence to end plastic pollution by 2040. Day one of...

“We must end plastic pollution before plastic pollution ends us.” With these words, the host country of the fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5), the Republic of Korea, called on negotiators, delegates and officials to make Busan a defining moment in the world’s efforts to end...

The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Elisa Morgera, will visit Vanuatu from 27 November to 05 December 2024. Morgera will focus on the adverse effects of sudden and slow onset climate events on human rights, the scope and extent of international climate cooperation and their impacts on human...

By Evan Papageorgiou and Maria Gonzalez After economic shocks, it’s time for this small Pacific Island nation to proceed with bold reforms and policy decisions. Support from global institutions and bilateral partners will be crucial in this effort. Vanuatu, the Pacific archipelago nation of about 350,000 people between Australia and Fiji, finds itself at a crucial crossroads. The IMF’s recent staff report...

As the Solomon Islands begins final preparations for its hosting of next month’s 2024 Oceania Rugby Sevens Tournament, Tourism Solomons has described the event as yet another major opportunity for the country to show off its prowess in staging a major international sporting event. The destination is bracing for the arrival of more than 500 athletes, officials, delegates and media,...

-The European Parliament has voted 62-1, with two abstentions, to end Vanuatu’s visa-free access to the Schengen Area. Parliament Rapporteur Paulo Cunha notes this marks “the first time we have removed a third country from the visa-free list.” The European Commission had temporarily suspended Vanuatu’s visa waiver privileges in March 2022, citing “risks posed by Vanuatu’s investor citizenship schemes.” The initial suspension...