Results for Climate change

The successful relocation of Tukuraki, a Fijian village in the highlands of Ba, Viti Levu, to a new site is a prime example of the future of climate resilience, a reality faced by communities vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters in the Pacific. Their new houses were built to withstand Category 5 cyclones and cost less then FJD$26,000 each with bathrooms. By Eleanor Gee.

Each year, some 700,000 people die from drug-resistant infections worldwide. But superbugs also pose a threat to the effectiveness of modern medicine; if left unaddressed, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could make more infections untreatable, cancer therapies ineffective, routine surgeries impossible, and even childbirth unsafe. By Seth Berkley and Jeremy Farrar

The Juliana v United States trial is about more than the environment; it will have far-reaching implications for intergenerational justice more broadly. Consider the issue of public debt. There have always been moral objections to one generation burdening the next with excessive debt, effectively limiting young people’s future liberty by impinging on their ability to form families, educate children, and create wealth. By Robert Dugger.

A National Climate Change Donor Roundtable, discussing Climate Change Initiatives in Tonga and its linkages to national, regional and international policy instruments under the Joint National Action Plan (JNAP) will be held on 18 and 19 October.

Tonga’s effort in promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency has been recognized when it was elected as Vice President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) representing the Asia Pacific region at its first General Assembly in New Delhi, India, on 1-3 October 2018.

There is unprecedented global momentum to build a low-carbon, climate-secure future. However, in fact, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are still accumulating at a rate that will soon take us well above the 1.5°C threshold, beyond which some of the worst effects of climate change cannot be staved off. Extreme weather already is becoming more common, as exemplified by record-high temperatures worldwide this year. On current trends, average global temperatures could well rise by 3°C, imperiling vital natural systems like coral reefs, rainforests, and the polar regions. All relevant stakeholders need to strengthen their climate commitments. By Patricia Espinosa and Anne Hidalgo

A toolkit aimed at empowering and encouraging Pacific Media to write more articles on the Pacific ocean’s health was launched at a two-day workshop by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) on 24 July in Suva, Fiji.

International observer organizations, concerned with the environment, are urging rich countries to stop holding back their climate change financial support to developing countries, after the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting on the Paris Agreement Work Program, attended by Tonga and other parties, was held between 30 April – 10 May, in Bonn, Germany.

Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu will be able to access $15 million to strengthen resilience to disasters after the Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on 18 December it would provide policy-based loans and grants under its Pacific Disaster Resilience Program.