PINA

The Pacific's coral reef systems and coastal fisheries are set for extinction if wealthy nations don't drastically and immediately cut greenhouse gas emissions. An Intergovernmetal Panel on Climate Change report released Monday night pegs temperatures hitting as much as 3.9 degrees above industrial times, twice the 1.5 degree target. Anything above 2 degrees is viewed as a death-knell in the Pacific. A...

The latest report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has prompted one of the co-authors to warn that it represents a looming line in the sand for the Pacific. Without further reductions in emissions before 2050, the IPCC's vice chair, Professor Mark Howden, says the world is likely to exceed warming of two degrees Celsius before the...

Only rapid and drastic action against climate change can prevent a climate breakdown, according to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released Monday. Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, stressed the urgency to heed this warning and act now to protect Commonwealth Small States. “For over thirty years the Commonwealth has been raising the alarm on climate change, yet...

Climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and some trends are now irreversible, at least during the present time frame, according to the latest much-anticipated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released on Monday. Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Scientists are also observing changes across the whole...

Global heating above 1.5C will be “catastrophic” for Pacific island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century, experts have warned. The Pacific has long been seen as the “canary in the coalmine” for the climate crisis, as the region has suffered from king tides, catastrophic cyclones, increasing salinity in...

The United Kingdom is calling for urgent global action in response to a UN report published today on the science of climate change, that says the planet has warmed more than previously estimated. This latest report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a stark warning from scientists around the world that human activity is damaging the...

Fiji has recorded 603 new cases of COVID-19 and 18 new deaths Monday, increasing the total number of cases to 37,512 and 315 deaths in the island nation since the outbreak that started in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 223 cases are from the Western division and 380 cases are from the Central division, in Vitilevu,...

The UK government is planning to relax key Covid-19 restrictions for delegates to the UN Cop26 climate conference to be held in Glasgow for two weeks this November. Delegates from 196 countries are expected to attend the talks, viewed as one of the last chances for the world to agree limits on greenhouse gas emissions that would avoid the worst...

Fiji's Health Ministry says it is aware that there may be a need for booster shots of COVID-19 vaccines if the Delta strain were to mutate. Delta has been identified as highly transmissible, however, tests overseas have confirmed that the AstraZeneca vaccine is highly effective against the strain. Head of Vaccination Taskforce, Doctor Rachel Devi said as of now, local authorities...

Leaders of Pacific regional countries and territories have agreed that the region's maritime boundaries need to be recognised globally in perpetuity. They met in a Pacific Islands Forum virtual summit on Friday marking the regional body's 50th anniversary. New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern emerged from the summit saying they had “endorsed a declaration on maritime zones: to protect the ocean...