Results for Pacific Islands

Roger Pikia, the head of a New Zealand Maori tribe that owns the operation of over 700 hectares of forestry on Tonga's ‘Eua Island, is under fraud investigation.

Only one Pacific Islands heritage site – the Taputapuātea Marae on Ra’iatea Island - has been nominated among 35 world-wide sites under consideration for UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2017, after the people of Opoa in French Polynesia worked for many years to win recognition for its important place in Polynesian voyaging history. The nomination by France asserts that the Pacific region is under-represented in the system of World Heritage properties.

Meeting in Nuku'alofa today, military participants from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Australia, United States, and Tonga’s HMAF are taking part in a three-day military legal workshop, relating to defence forces' deployment to another country in times of crisis.

Illegal fishing operators will now find it harder to offload and sell the fish they catch, under enhanced United Nations measures to stamp out llegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The University of the South Pacific (USP) Convention, which legally embeds the university in member countries, was signed by eight country governments including Tonga at the USP’s 84th council meeting in Majuro, Republic of Marshall Islands on 25 May.

The PACER Plus Trade Agreement will be signed by 14 Pacific Island countries including Australia and New Zealand on Wednesday, June 14 in Nuku’alofa, Tonga.

The Pacific Games Council CEO Laurent Cassier, told Matangi Tonga this evening that “as far as we are concerned the projects are still ongoing”. The Pacific Games Council has not received any confirmation from the Tongan Government regarding the cancellation of their hosting of the 2019 Pacific Games as stated by Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva during a radio interview in New Zealand two days ago.

As climate change negotiators meet in Bonn, Germany, between 8 – 18 May, to discuss rules and processes to implement the Paris Agreement, the Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, Gebru Jember Endalew is concerned little is being done to support poor and small countries vulnerable to climate change. Underdeveloped Pacific Island nations such as Tonga also lack the capacity to adequately protect their population from natural disasters, increased drought and sea level rises.

Ms Marga Morrisey, a travel expert with Flight Centre in New Zealand has won an 8-day trip to Tonga after entering a draw specifically for travel agents who completed an online South Pacific Specialist Program that provides essential knowledge of the Pacific region as a tourist destination.