Results for Environment

Tonga is finding it difficult to manage illegal dumping of rubbish, including plastic bags, in Nuku'alofa, as it celebrated World Environment Day on 5 June with the worldwide theme "Beat Plastic Pollution". Filimone Lapao’o, the Tonga goverment's Senior Environmentalist, said after Cyclone Gita, the amount of rubbish at Sopu increased so much that his department cannot manage it properly. By Eleanor Gee.

A rare "super blue blood" Moon lit up the sky last night in Tongatapu, followed by a full lunar eclipse in the early hours of this morning when the spectacularly bright moon went dark for over an hour.

Land that was once frozen in the Yukon Territory in Northern Canada is becoming agriculture friendly due to global warming and is being offered for free to small farmers. The Yukon borders on Alaska and its government has already given away nearly 8,000 acres of farmland over the last 10 years, with a dozen applicants currently being considered.

Important questions over massive environmental damage caused by site works for the Va'epopua 18-holes golf course and its associated commercial developments remain unanswered, in spite of fears that the project is killing the reef and endangering the health and fishing livelihoods of its coastal communities.

"Deeply disappointing," is how the incoming President of COP23, Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, this morning responded to the decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Bainimarama said the impacts of climate change "are obvious, and humankind ignores these facts at its peril."

A plaque was unveiled at Maui's Rock (also thought to be a tsunami rock) at Kala'au, Tongatapu on Tuesday, 2 May to raise awareness on the significance of the site.

If Pacific Islands Countries could improve the efficiency of their electric lighting, by replacing incandescent bulbs with new types of lights, it would reduce not only their Green House Gas emissions but also reduce the cost of electricity, and boost their economies, according to a report that was published this month by the Pacific Community (SPC).

Litterbugs have yet to fined for littering by the Environment Department in Nuku’alofa since the enforcement of an Environment Management (Litter and Waste Control) Regulations 2016, that came into force on 1 April, in Tonga - but they have been warned.

The Pacific Whale Declaration was endorsed and signed today by 11 Pacific countries at the Whales in a Changing Ocean conference, ending on a high note in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. The declaration focuses on stronger whale conservation in the Pacific region with Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Tonga signing on today.