PINA

The Vanuatu Government will not be sending delegates to this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) starting soon in Scotland, due to COVID-19. The National Advisory Board (NAB) on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction has decided that delegates refrain from travel abroad to attend the global climate summit, Acting Manager of the NAB Secretariat, Florence Iautu, said. The Vanuatu Government...

Former Australian prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull, and former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr, have accused the Morrison government of “cynical indifference” and “empty rhetoric” when it comes to climate action, saying the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 was the “bare minimum” that needed to be done. The broadside came in a letter to Pacific...

Pacific Island climate action groups have demanded countries including Australia end support for the fossil fuel industry during the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow. The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), which includes environmental activist group Greenpeace, issued a list of demands to world leaders on Friday, saying they must provide "a safe and habitable future for the Pacific...

Climate change is more of a threat to the Indo-Pacific region than a great power war, the president of the Pacific’s Federated States of Micronesia has warned in an interview with The Telegraph. “Saving humanity is way paramount and more important than the geopolitical competitions that happen around the world,” said President David Panuelo, urging the United States and China...

Telstra has announced that it has partnered with the Australian Government to acquire Digicel Pacific, the biggest mobile operator in the South Pacific region. Australia has deep personal, historical and cultural ties with the Pacific, forged over decades of sustained engagement, and Telstra, via our International team has been doing business there for decades. A statement from Telstra said its mobile...

The Australian Government welcomes today’s announcement by Telstra of its decision to enter into an agreement to acquire and run Digicel Pacific. Digicel Pacific is the leading telecommunications operator in the South Pacific, providing mobile and network services in Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and Fiji. The Government has committed to provide a financing package through Export Finance Australia...

The Pacific is likely to experience a rare occurrence of what is called a double dip La Niña in the coming months, Climate models and predictions tools used by Pacific National Meteorological and Hydrological services (NMHSs) show. The prediction, based on anomalies identified by the climate models and tools, was revealed in a statement on the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO),...

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has predicted that between nine to twelve tropical cyclones could impact the the Pacific region this cyclone season. Three or more could develop into severe tropical cyclones. The prediction was revealed during the Ninth Pacific Island Climate Outlook Forum (PICOF-9) this week. Ben Noll, Meteorologist at NIWA, said the Pacific would...

Six current and one former Member of Parliament appeared in court today in relation to charges laid by the Fiji Independent Commission against Corruption. SODELPA MPs Salote Radrodro, Peceli Vosanibola, Niko Nawaikula, Adi Litia Qionibaravi, Simione Rasova and Ratu Suliano Matanitobua are charged with giving false information to public servant and obtaining financial advantage. Also in court was former government MP...

The U.S government—through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)— is providing an additional US$1.9 million to help Pacific Island countries manage the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This assistance was obligated to UNICEF Pacific headquartered in Fiji to support both emergency commodity and supply assistance to Fiji and vaccine technical assistance activities to countries throughout the Pacific. “This additional...