Results for Pacific Islands

Rising temperatures caused by climate change would be catastrophic for countries in Asia and the Pacific by the end of the century - unless countries work to mitigate it, says a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released last month. Crops yields in the Pacific region will be in decline by 2050. By 2100, “all coral reef systems in the subregion will collapse due to mass coral bleaching if global warming increases by 4 degrees Celsius”.

The Pacific region will soon benefit from a new Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science after an agreement was made by Pacific Island countries and territories at the Pacific Community’s (SPC) governing body conference, held in Noumea, New Caledonia late last month.

The Governor of Guam, Eddie Baza Calvo, yesterday dismissed statements made by the North Korean military threatening to attack Guam with long range missiles. The threat was made by a North Korean Army Spokesman on Wednesday only hours after "fire and fury" threats were made by U.S. President Donald Trump.

French authorities from New Caledonia intercepted the yacht L'Alfina off Tongan waters on July 27, seizing what is said to be the largest-ever drugs haul in the South Pacific, according to French media reports today.

There was a decline in the flow of tourists from Australia to the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga during the first four months of 2017, according to the July 2017 issue of the Asian Development Bank Pacific Economic Monitor.

A prominent Australian economist, Dr Patricia Ranald, has called the Pacer-Plus agreement a “failed” regional agreement, because it excluded Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

Concerns over El Nino impacts in the Pacific region during the planet's warmest half-year year on record between January to June 2016 is leading to better preparedness for coordinating humanitarian responses to disaster affected people in the Pacific.

“As Pacific islanders, we have been made custodians of our greatest assets – our people, our culture, our land and our oceans, by our forefathers. A duty we need to fulfill because if we are not careful, we will not only lose our home but we will lose the economic benefits that sustains our livelihoods,” said Christopher Cocker, CEO of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), at the Climate Action Pacific Partnership Event held last week in Suva, Fiji.

Tonga Police's final contingent to the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) returned to Tonga when the 14-years regional peacekeeping mission ended on 30 June in Honiara.