Results for Pacific Islands

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has provided Tongan communities with more than half a million litres of fresh water and continues to transport much-needed aid to Tonga with a fourth Hercules flight scheduled tomorrow, Tuesday.

On the spot fines for failure to abide by COVID-19 protocols will be issued in Fiji to individuals and businesses, starting today, January 10. Fines include $250 for not wearing a face mask in required settings, Fiji’s Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport said.

Corruption is a problem across both the Public and Private Sectors in 10 Pacific Island Countries, according to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer – Pacific 2021, released in November. Two thirds of respondents (66 per cent) in Tonga think that levels of corruption in their government had increased. While 55 per cent of respondents in Tonga think that corruption in the business sector increased over the 12 months prior to the survey.

A new investment fund to support COVID-19 recovery in the Pacific was announced by the New Zealand government on December 13. New Zealand is committing $17 million to the fund which is expected to attract an additional $40 million in private investment, and will offer both flexible capital and a technical assistance facility to accelerate investments across the Pacific region.

Tonga's critical shortage of sand for construction purposes has motivated a local man to find an alternative source of fine aggregate. Viliami Lolohea is currently building a small house at Fangaloto, trialling bricks made with imported Ferronickel slag. Last Friday, 10 December, King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau'u visited the building site to view the foundations of what will be the first house to be constructed locally with cement and slag

New COVID-19 cases in Fiji continue to decline with 12 new cases reported between November 27-28 and zero cases on November 29, Fiji’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services reported. Fiji opened its borders today to fully vaccinated international travellers, repatriates and Fijians visiting families and friends.

New York Times Reporting by Yan Zhuang: After days of riots in the Solomon Islands during which protesters called for Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to resign, set buildings ablaze and looted stores, authorities on Saturday said they had found the bodies of three people in a burned-out building of a store in the Chinatown district. They are the first reported deaths after days of violent protests in Honiara, the nation’s capital. Australia sent around 100 police officers and soldiers Thursday and Friday to help stabilize the situation, and Papua New Guinea sent 35 police and correctional service personnel Friday.

A sea level rise of one metre will be devasting for Tongatapu where, “Under this scenario, 25% of buildings, 11% of roads, 16% of water, and 29% of power infrastructure would be permanently lost,” new modelling shows. The findings of a groundbreaking report analyzing climate and disaster risk management in the Pacific nation of Tonga, one of the most vulnerable in the world to the impact of climate change, was discussed at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow this week. New assets need to be developed away from low-lying high risk locations, it says.

Fiji is on track to open its borders to fully vaccinated travellers as the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to decrease in the country, while a high percentage of its adult population have been inoculated. About 96.2% of eligible adults have received their first dose, and 86.3% are now fully vaccinated in the country.