PINA

A series of high-level Ministerial Meetings of the Pacific Islands Forum will begin this month in Suva, bringing together senior officials, government ministers, and leaders from across the region to progress key regional priorities. Throughout July, Pacific ACP Trade Ministers, Forum Trade Ministers, Forum Economic Ministers, and Pacific Islands Forum Women Leaders will convene, followed by Forum Foreign Ministers who...

With pressure mounting inside and outside the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the Council has agreed to continue work on the long-awaited draft regulations for commercial exploitation of deep-sea minerals. A major sticking point emerged over the operationalisation of the Economic Planning Commission (EPC), a UN-mandated body meant to guide the ISA Council on economic aspects of seabed mining, including market...

The Office of the Electoral Commission has recorded the highest number of Samoa election candidates at the close of nominations last Saturday. According to the Electoral Commissioner Toleafoa Tuiafelolo John Stanley, the 191 candidates registered at the close of registrations, is the highest compared to 2021 with 187 candidates, 164 in 2016 and 127 in 2001. He said the increase in...

As the world accelerates action to address climate change, the question is no longer whether to pursue a just transition—but how to embed it meaningfully into national climate strategies. To help answer that question, the Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI), with the support of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, released a...

Two Torres Strait community leaders are shocked and devastated after the federal court dismissed a landmark case that argued the Australian government breached its duty of care to protect the Torres Strait Islands from climate change. The lead plaintiffs, Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai from the islands of Boigu and Saibai, sought orders requiring the government to take...

Fiji's Minister for Policing, Iowane Naivalurua announced in Parliament Tuesday a professional Fiji Counter Narcotics Bureau will be set-up in the country. He said the new unit will be responsible for designing and implementing national drug policies, intelligence frameworks, enforcement operations and multi sectoral partnership to disrupt the production, trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. “The gravity of Fiji’s drug crisis...

Wealthy nations risk undermining the loss and damage fund’s plan to deliver US$250 million in aid next year to climate-vulnerable countries hit by extreme weather, board members from developing nations said last week. While rich nations have pledged US$789 million, they have only transferred US$348 million so far to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), which all...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape and two of his ministers are against deep sea mining in Papua New Guinea’s exclusive economic zones. The proposed mining activity around New Ireland’s Bismarck Sea by Deep Seas Mining Limited (DSMF) has brought this response. Fisheries and Marine Resource Minister Jelta Wong and Culture and Tourism Minister Belden Namah joined Marape in expressing...

The largest-ever war-fighting drills in Australia, Exercise Talisman Sabre, are underway and expected to attract the attention of Chinese spy ships. Australia launched missiles from its M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS, on Monday during live-fire exercises at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, a 4,500 square kilometre (1,700 square mile) Outback expanse in Queensland state. The HIMARS...

Fiji’s Minister for Fisheries and Forestry, Alitia Bainivalu, says the $24.9 million(US$12.45 million) budget allocated to her ministry is aimed at overhauling the country’s fisheries sector, warning Parliament that Fiji’s fishers ‘do not need just words of support — they need cold storage that works, boats that are seaworthy, markets that are accessible, and ecosystems that are alive’. In her...