Results for Pacific Islands

Overfishing of tuna in the Pacific Islands has led to calls to substantially reduce fishing effort for Big-eye and Bluefin and to introduce strengthened catch limits for Albacore. Meeting in Cairns, Australia this week, Pacific islands delegates to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) are renewing their efforts for sustainable management of tuna stocks.

The economic loss suffered by the Pacific region could range from 2.9% to as high as 12.7% of annual GDP by 2100, according to Economics of Climate Change in the Pacific, a new study from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that was published recently.

Central bankers from six Pacific Island countries including Tonga, are in Sydney this week, looking at ways to strengthen mobile banking in the region.

The Commissioner of a newly established Global Ocean Commission, Aliki Faipule Foua Toloa from Tokelau is visiting Tonga this week. He aims to voice Pacific Islands concerns on the ocean to world leaders.

Democracy is founded on the participation of all members of society, both men and women, and this concept is at the core of a modern parliament, said Brigitte Filion, a spokesperson from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at a two day Pacific Parliamentary Partnerships Meeting that opened today, November 7, in Nuku'alofa.

The Prime Minister, Lord Tu'ivakano is leading a Tongan delegation to the Second China Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum to be held in Guangzhou, China from 7-8 November.

Trade Pasifika 2014, a three-day trade expo to be held in Suva, Fiji, from April 2-4 next year will be supported by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) which has agreed to assistance in technical areas, such as marketing and event promotion, to provide a showcase for Pacific enterprises.

Pacific Forum Secretary General, Tuiloma Neroni Slade (SG Slade), told delegates at a regional meeting in Suva on Monday, 14 October, that pollution, mismanagement and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources must not be allowed to continue.

Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon has invited Pacific Island Forum leaders to a Climate Summit he will host in September 2014, reminding them that Pacific Islands are among those that contribute least to global warming, "yet suffer most".