Results for Climate change

A goal of year round agricultural harvesting of top quality organic vegetables is within reach for Tonga, except that farmers need to understand just how valuable pig shit really is in order to achieve this. A remarkable method of “biogas farming” using pigs and their waste to produce high yield top quality produce could transform subsistence farming incomes. It’s been demonstrated that a properly run biogas farm in Tonga can earn $200,000 or more a year - yet the opportunity is not being fully realized. By Eleanor Gee

The new Pacific Ecosystem Based Adaptation to Climate Change project (PEBACC) has set up an office in Suva, Fiji.

Exceptionally heavy, unseasonal rainfall fell across Tongatapu on June 10-11 causing flooding in Nuku’alofa, and turning the capital into a city of lakes, during what is supposed to be the “dry season”. Fua’amotu recorded 273.1mm of rainfall in the 24 hours between 1:00pm Friday and 1:00pm Saturday, according to Tonga Met., a record rainfall for a single day in the month of June.

Tonga, as the third “most vulnerable” country in the world, is making a commitment to reduce disaster and climate-related risks, Tonga’s delegation told the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey, that opened on Monday May 23.

Australian Police arrested 66 activists in a climate change protest that shut down a coal port in Newcastle city last Sunday May 8 according to local reports. Over 1,000 protesters includied members of the Pacific Islander activist group “Pacific Climate Warriors”.

New climate resilient buildings for twelve schools that have been rebuilt and refurbished in Ha’apai after being badly damaged by Tropical Cyclone Ian in 2014, were handed over to the Tonga government last week on 26 February.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Russel, will travel to Apia, Samoa; Nuku'alofa, Tonga; and Koror, Palau, February 20-25, for bilateral meetings and regional consultations. Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift will accompany Assistant Secretary Russel.

Before it has even been agreed upon, the world is already failing the current proposal for the new Climate Change agreement to reduce global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. While the Pacific islands call for the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees, the reality is the combination of all national pledges now on the table takes it to over 3 degrees Celsius. - SPREP

Action Day at COP 21 in Paris, France has thrust the environmental leadership of the Pacific islands at the forefront of a Pacific Press Conference featuring the Heads of State from the Cook Islands, Palau and Tuvalu.