Results for Environment

An estimated 30,000 scrapped cars are piled high on dumping sites in Tonga. To help reduce the waste for recycling, car compacting machines will be introduced under a cooperation agreement with the Government of Japan. “Please imagine, how splendid it is, if we could get rid of all the abandoned, discarded cars which now we can see everywhere. WAL is trying to make it happen, and Japan is going to support its plan by providing scrap equipment,” said Japan’s Ambassador.

On a visit to Australia this week, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Lord Tu'i'afitu, visited Geoscience Australia and extended Tonga's gratitude to staff, who responded to the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcanic eruption on 15 January. They have a shared interest in improving the monitoring and understanding of geohazards, as the January eruption generated a tsunami that reached Australia.

Data collected from the tsunami affected small islands of ‘Atata, Malinoa and Fafa will be used for inundation forecast modeling for future volcanic tsunami events in Tonga. TGS stated that 'Atata, Malinoa and Fafa Islands were badly damaged by the tsunami with wave heights estimated to have reach 7m, 6.5m and 6m above sea level on each island respectively.

The storage and disposal of refrigerants at the Customs area is a concern for Tonga's National Ozone Unit, while more research is needed on the control of methyl bromide by the Quarantine Division. These concerns were raised at a meeting, held to oversee Tonga's obligations to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, on 15 June in Nuku'alofa.

New York Times reporting: When consumers in the United States and other wealthy nations shed their gas-fueled cars for more environmentally friendly, cleaner ones, like hybrids and electrics, they feel like they are being good citizens, helping to improve air quality and make the planet better. But where do their old cars go and what harm can they cause? Global dumping of substandard, ‘dirty’ cars in developing countries is a huge problem, that threatens health, safety and the environment, contributing significantly to air pollution and hindering efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

This year’s worldwide mountain of waste electronic and electrical equipment will total an estimated 57.4 million tonnes – greater than the weight of the Great Wall of China, the world’s heaviest artificial object, said the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Forum (WEEE), on International E-Waste Day, yesterday. By weight discarded big appliances such as stoves and refrigerators constitute the largest component or e-waste. These large appliances contain steel, copper and aluminium.

An NZD$7.2 million Climate Resilient Islands Programme focusing on nature-based solutions to climate change in rural communities in Tonga was launched in Nuku'alofa on September 7.

Tonga’s Marine Atlas was launched to commemorate World Ocean’s Day under the theme ‘The Ocean: Life and Livelihoods” (Ko e Oseni- hono ngaahi me’a mo’ui pea koe ma’u’anga mo’ui) by Minister for Environment (MEIDECC), Hon Poasi Tei, at an official event on June 8 at Davina House in Ma’ufanga.

New York Times reporting: For most scuba divers, few places underwater match the visual thrill of a kaleidoscopic coral reef teeming with colorful fish. For Jeff Milisen, a marine biologist and photographer in Kona, Hawaii, there is no better place to dive than an open stretch of deep ocean. At night. “There’s a whole lot of nothing,” he said. “There’s no bottom, no walls, just this space that goes to infinity. And one thing you realize is there are a lot of sea monsters there, but they’re tiny.”