Results for Pacific Islands

Tonga is among Pacific Islands countries that have identified important marine areas that are ecologically or biologically significant, and Vava'u is one area that has sites that need protecting. “There is an urgent need for follow-up activities to manage and mitigate threats on 22 sites identified as priorities. Seven of these sites are awaiting to be gazetted as conservation areas, with different levels of protection,” said Tonga's representative at the global biodiversity conference (CBD COP13) in Cancun, Mexico this week.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key surprised his country today by announcing his resignation after eight years as PM. He said he would back his deputy Bill English as the new leader of the National Party which is to meet on December 12 to decide on a new party leader and prime minister.

A tourism destination brand ‘South Pacific Islands’ was launched in Asia’s largest professional travel show, the China International Travel Mart (CITM) in Shanghai, China this month by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) aimed at attracting Asian tourists to the region.

A four-day regional training workshop to support school readiness and reading for Pacific children and teachers, is underway in Nuku’alofa this week with 50 participants from eight Pacific Island countries and development partners including practitioners attending. The workshop is part of the Pacific Early Age Readiness and Learning (PEARL) Program funded through the Global Partnership for Education and led by the World Bank.

A new Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC), jointly funded by the Governments of Japan and Samoa as well as the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP) will be based in Apia, Samoa and ready by 2018 to address climate change challenges in the region.

A US$7.5 million Regional Disaster Resilience project, under a partnership between Russia and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) was launched on 17 October in Nadi. The Regional Disaster Resilience in the Pacific Small Island Developing States (RESPAC) Project will cover 14 countries including Tonga.

Superintendent Tevita Vailea (44) was awarded the 2016 Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Chair’s Award for outstanding servicing to policing in the region. This is the first time Tonga had submitted nominations for the award, since it started in 2005. Tongan officers were in the top two nominations for the award.

A young Samoan women who has claimed stigmata on a few occasions since Easter this year, has converted to the Catholic faith in order to fulfill her mission of travelling to Rome after she says she received messages from God.

A device to use ocean waves as an energy source in the Pacific Islands has been invented by staff and a student at the University of the South Pacific and was recently patented by Intellectual Property Australia.