PINA

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called for urgent action to ensure improved climate resilience of small states and promised to amplify the concerns of small and other vulnerable states around climate change at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow this November. During visit to The Bahamas last week, the Secretary-General said: “Without a doubt, we are...

Fiji has recorded 128 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday, increasing the total number of cases in the island nation to 48,916 and 533 deaths since the outbreak that started in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 90 cases are from the Western division and 38 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu, Fiji's main island. “There have...

New Zealand has opted to take a “cautious approach” to Fiji's future travel initiatives as the Pacific island nation prepares to reopen its borders amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade says New Zealand will be guided by public health considerations. Fiji is preparing to reopen its borders on November 1 and only fully vaccinated travellers will...

The Fijian Government welcomes the appointment of Sefanaia Nawadra as the new Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Nawadra's appointment was announced following the 30th SPREP Meeting of officials on Thursday 09 September 2021. In his new role, Nawadra will lead SPREP, a regional organisation guided by its vision for: “A resilient Pacific environment, sustaining our...

Pacific island workers employed at a Victorian abattoir are taking home little more than $9(US$6.62) an hour after hundreds of dollars are deducted from their weekly pay to cover airfares, visas, phone plans, housing and furniture rentals. Contracts between Pacific islander meat workers and labour hire firm Regional Workforce Management Pty Ltd show some workers are left with just $310...

The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands has called on the population to take seriously the threat from climate change. In November Mark Brown will represent the Cook Islands at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, where the aim is to complete the Paris Agreement, which seeks to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees...

Australia recognises the importance of reopening of travel to Fiji but borders between the two countries will only open “when it is safe to do so”, Australian ambassador John Feakes said. He said the COVID-19 pandemic was the biggest challenge to the reopening of borders. The Fiji Times had asked Feakes on progress of discussions around a travel bubble between Australia...

By Neena Bhandari The UK Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme (IPP) Commonsensing is led by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) through its Operational Satellite Applications programme (UNOSAT), which is working with selected partners including the Commonwealth Secretariat, to improve resilience to the effects of climate change in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Vineil Narayan, Climate Finance...

Ministers from around the Pacific Friday gathered virtually to participate in a ‘Talanoa’ to discuss some of the pertinent key priority issues bearing direct impact on responsive and pragmatic actions for a resilient Blue Pacific. The talanoa was conducted through three focus panels with Ocean being the overarching theme – Ocean and Climate Change, Ocean and Pollution, and Ocean and...

‘Protektem yu, famili, komuniti mo fiuja blong Vanuatu’ is a familiar jingle resounding through households in Vanuatu on TV and radio as well as emphasised through the new COVID-19 vaccine communication products launched on 07 September. The Vanuatu Ministry of Health, together with UNICEF and Wan Smolbag Theatre group and with funding support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), launched...