Pacific delegates in the United States Congress are warning efforts to fast-track deep-seabed mining could sideline island communities and cause irreversible damage to fragile ocean ecosystems.

The concerns were raised at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing in Washington last week, held a day after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finalised new rules streamlining permits for seabed mining.

The changes allow companies to apply for exploration and potential commercial recovery through a single process, replacing regulations dating back to the 1980s.

• READ MORE: Other deep-sea mining reports

NOAA says the update reflects advances in deep-sea science and technology and does not weaken environmental safeguards.

But Guam Delegate James Moylan said decisions made in Washington had real and lasting consequences in the Pacific.

“The ocean is how we live. It feeds our families, holds our history, and connects our people to generations before us,” Moylan said.

American Samoa Delegate Aumua Amata Radewagen warned seabed mining could threaten fisheries, which she described as the lifeblood of island economies.

Northern Marianas Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds said Pacific territories “don’t get the luxury of being wrong” on ocean policy, warning that damage to the seabed would be permanent.

Industry representatives told lawmakers the streamlined process would provide certainty without weakening environmental reviews, while scientists warned deep-sea ecosystems could take decades to recover, if at all.

For Pacific delegates, the message was clear — faster permitting must not come at the expense of island voices or ocean protection.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Internationally, we are marking the 2025 Human Rights Day at a time of extraordinary retreat from human rights protection across the World. Every human right, every breach of human right and every advance in the protection of human rights must matter equally to us.

The frameworks for human rights protection are well established internationally reflecting the genesis of the international system in the horrors of the Second World War. Social, cultural, political, women’s, indigenous, children’s, and all fundamental human rights are well protected in international laws that have evolved since then.

What may seem like a paralysis in protection of fundamental human rights internationally today does not arise from the absence of protections in international law but from the fractures that characterise the international interstate system in a phase of severe disruption.

• READ MORE: How climate change is threatening human rights
• Climate change demands a step up on human rights protection

The significant advances in protection of human rights internationally arose from a rare postwar geopolitical consensus. That global consensus is dead.

Though the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have their origins in this context, it was not until 2008 that the UN made an explicit resolution on human rights and climate change stating that climate change posed a real and substantial threat to the full enjoyment of human rights.

The Pacific’s human rights story
When the Blue Pacific discusses human rights impacts of climate change, it is shaped by our lived realities. The fundamental right to life in the Pacific is persistently harmed by heat stress.

It is estimated that more than 1200 deaths annually are now attributed to heat stress.

The fundamental right to health is eroded by growing illnesses and diseases arising from rising temperatures. Across the Pacific, well in excess of 1000 deaths are already attributed to climate change related illnesses annually.

The fundamental right to water faces worsening pressures arising from sea water intrusion into ground water, more frequent and prolonged droughts and sewage contamination of water systems as a result of floodings.

The fundamental right to food is persistently harmed by rising surface and ocean temperatures and experienced through failed crops, subsistence farms destroyed by winds and rains, collapse of coral reef systems and with that oceanic foods.

Indigenous people’s rights are similarly persistently harmed as communities across Melanesia undertake climate change induced migration without corresponding transfer of land and other social and cultural rights.

In Tuvalu and atoll states these are likely to lead to more unsettling outcomes as their small and culturally compact communities get thinly dispersed across larger countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.

Policy choices are needed to respond to worsening human rights protection that are a consequence of climate change.

Climate change and human rights in Pacific education
The right to education is one of foundational rights in international law. Having access to continuous, safe and quality education is the foundation for the enjoyment of this right.

Every time a student misses school because the river that she crosses is flooded or at risk of flooding, that student is denied the full enjoyment of this right. Learning days lost are increasing in Fiji and Melanesia generally. This has lifelong consequences.

The more painful reality is that learning loss is felt so unevenly. It is often people in our poorest households who stay in most flood-prone areas.

In Fiji’s case it is also the case too many I-Taukei settlements/villages are in flood prone areas or in areas more likely to be cut off from school access roads and bridges.

The average day time surface temperatures has increased between 1-3 degrees Celsius across the Pacific within a space of four decades. It may be much higher in schools in urban areas. The safe classroom temperatures for children are 24-26 degrees Celsius at the upper end.

In many schools, classroom temperatures are well above 30C for days on end. The health impacts of prolonged exposure to these temperature are seen through general weaknesses, fainting, headaches and fatigue.

I know of no school that systematically monitors classroom temperatures. I have heard of schools closing down for a day or two when the risks of flooding are high. I have not heard of schools being closed when temperatures are in the mid-30s during periods of high humidity.

Quite shockingly, school building and major repairs are still being carried out in so many schools in exactly the same way as they were done 4-5 decades ago.

The human rights context in education is profoundly gendered. Some of these simply arise from the fact that decisions are made by male leaders.

When reconstruction of several schools in Vanua Levu happened a few years back, boys’ and girls’ hostels needed to be rebuilt following one of the recent cyclones.

The boys’ hostels were reconstructed within a year of two back-to-back cyclones. A 100 percent of the hostel boys were back in school.

The girl’s hostel took another year to be up and running. Only one girl returned to school from those who were resident in hostels during the cyclone year.

A whole generation of girls in the middle to high schools from one of the most disadvantages regions of our country and from some of the most economically disadvantaged communities had simply dropped out of school.

This is a story that repeats itself in so many ways each across the Pacific.

Health, human rights and climate change
As with education, universal access to the sufficient health care constitutes yet another core human right.

One of the worst and least understood aspects of the health and climate change interface in the Pacific is its impacts on mental health.

Following extreme weather events — mental health consequences linger for long periods and most intensely among young children. When winds pick up ever so slightly, many children in schools get frightened — scared — quietly reliving their trauma in full view of teachers who are poorly trained to understand what is happening.

But the health consequences of climate change are far broader. Influenza, dengue including in off seasons, leptospirosis are profoundly impacting our communities. Loss of concentration, performance and worsening learning outcomes are some of these harsh trendlines inside classrooms.

Growing food insecurity
The right to food is a core part of our global human rights architecture. A few years back I had the great pleasure of visiting several schools in Vanua Levu.

I have taught in Fiji’s high schools. I know what I am talking about in a deeply personal way. Nothing prepared me for this.

The numbers/percentages of children who came to schools without lunch was just shocking. Nearly a third of students in one the classes that I visited came to school without lunch that morning.

Rates of stunting rates of children in primary schools (in peri and urban areas) in Fiji can be as high as 10 percent. Stunting rates are much higher in PNG at nearly 50 percent — one of the highest in the world.

Nutritional deprivation leads to delayed cognitive development and over time harms performance. Damage from stunting has life long and intergenerational consequences.
How does climate change feature in this?

The most obvious one is that global warming impacts on our coral reef systems. There is a near collapse of oceanic foods across so many Pacific’s coastal communities.

Equally on the high lands of PNG, delayed precipitation, prolonged rains and droughts harm and overtime irreversibly erode food security. This has widespread consequences.

Food insecurity, gender violence and inter-community conflict are a growing part of the Blue Pacific’s climate story.

Human rights, climate change and cultural and political rights
Nowhere does climate change demonstrate the scale of its destructiveness as in our closest atoll state neighbour.

Tuvalu may be uninhabitable within 4-6 decades even with the adaptation measures underway. It is forced to contemplate the real prospects of near total loss of land. The state has taken protective measures by amending its constitution to preserve sovereignty under any scenario.

Fiji and fellow PIF members have undertaken to respect its sovereignty under any climate scenario.

Compared with PNG, Solomon Islands and Fiji where communities are being relocated, the human rights and climate story of Tuvalu is of a different order altogether. Land rights, cultural rights are rooted and grounded. They do not move when communities are relocated. Relocations are deeply disrespectful of all rights — including cultural, social rights.

It is indeed possible that its whole populations in time may come to be dispersed outside of Tuvalu — in Australia through the Falepili Treaty, in Fiji and in New Zealand. Small and dispersed communities will over time lose their language. They are over time likely to lose many elements of their Tuvaluan identity.

Indigenous and cultural rights are rooted to land and oceans in such deep ways. These rights are recognised as fundamental human rights internationally. Global warming and rising seas treat these rights with callous disregard.

From a 1.5 to 2.8C world
The Blue Pacific has to fight the battle of our lives to return the planet to a 1.5C pathway. No one will do this for us. All our economic forecasting today are based on 1.5C  temperature increase. But the reality is that we are on course for a 2.8C or perhaps even a post 3.0C world.

The consequences of a 3.0C future on human rights of people across the Pacific Islands are unimaginable. For a start, most of the existing infrastructure, school buildings , health centres, data centers are simply not built to withstand 450 km/h winds.

Most of the Pacific’s towns and settlements are coastal. Our entire tourism infrastructure is barely a few metres above sea level. In Melanesia alone there are more than 600 schools that need to be relocated and/or rebuilt.

Several hundred health centres need to be moved. These are estimates based on 1.5C — not twice that. The near total collapse of coastal fisheries is almost a foregone conclusion at anywhere above 2.0C. The silliest thing we can do as a region and as a people is to not prepare for a 3.0C world.

Shaping our story of hope
On the 2025 Human Rights Day, I have reflected on the broad and deep impacts on human rights that directly result from climate change. Ours is a story of hope.

On this day, then let me celebrate the extraordinary leadership shown by Pacific’s students who took the world to court — to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and won.

We owe such an extraordinary gratitude to Fiji’s Vishal Prasad, Cynthia Houniuhi, Solomon Yeo from Solomon Islands and that small group of university students at USP who decided to take on the world. We celebrate Vanuatu’s leadership on all our behalf. Collective action matters.

We make a difference as individuals. We make a difference as a people and as large ocean states. I urge that we deepen our shared understanding of the unfolding universe of elevated human rights vulnerabilities across the Pacific.

Sharing our stories, deepening our understanding of interlinkages between human rights and global warming and beginning honest conversations about things taboo are foundational starting points.

In universities, this may mean adding climate change and human rights legal studies so that graduates leave with a firmer understanding of the world they will enter into.

At medical schools, this means integrating climate change into how human health is studied and researched.

In social science schools, that means advancing our understanding of the rapid evolution of kinship, leadership and culture in traditional Fijian and Pacific societies in a climate changed context.

In communications and journalism programmes, this may mean preparing students to communicate climate crisis with humility, sensitivity and empathy.

As responsible employers, we may be able to lead by ensuring that human rights protection arising from climate change are as mainframed as is possible. Being able to provide the level of sociopsychological support to students and staff bearing the silent scars of slow onset or climate catastrophes would be another great start.

This may include, as well, the simplest of things such as allowing paid compassionate leave for staff to recover from climate change related extreme weather events. In the longer term, the employment laws of Pacific Island states will need to catch up.

I have advised many Pacific island countries to take a hard look at even their school calendar. Few schools measure class room temperatures today.

Our colonial legacy has shaped the school year. We today subject our students to their final examinations when the temperatures inside class rooms are the highest. We today pressure students to prepare for their exams in the months when the chances of catastrophic events are the highest and the chances of illness that are climate change induced are the highest.

A school calendar that is climate informed and that protects human rights in the education context is more likely to commence the school year in September (third term) and conclude exams by August (end of second term).

All of these things are within our gift. We do not need international conferences or even international assistance to do all of these as the changes needed are so simple and so basic.

Building blocs for advancing human rights in a climate changed world:

• First is that individual and communities need to know how their fundamental rights are impacted by climate change. This is a task for all of us — not governments alone.
• Across the region, so many laws and legislative frameworks need to be revised to reflect how climate change and human rights play out. How many hours should an agricultural worker or road construction worker be working when temperatures are higher than 1.5C.
• For employers and service providers, what are the human rights obligations in a climate changed context? What does the waiting room in a health care facility look like in a 1.5C temperature increase and in a 3.0 degree world? They surely cannot be the same.
• National human rights and legal settings need to pay systematic attention to human rights and climate change. This means ensuring that national human rights agencies and courts build up their capabilities to provide the necessary jurisprudence; and our citizens both supported and empowered to approach courts and relevant agencies.
• Internationally, the Pacific Island states including Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) are well advised to ramp up their presence internationally. The next decade must be the decade when the region pushes the boundaries of international law. The decade following that may just be too late.

A Pacific Pre-COP31
I am delighted to have been invited to deliver my remarks so soon after COP30 and well in time for reflections for Pacific’s preparations for Pre-COP31. This climate conference to be held in the Pacific next year will be a great opportunity to bring a consolidated understanding of how fundamental human rights are being harmed by runaway climate change.

Shape this well — together, respectfully and with humility. We can present our agenda for advancing human rights protection in the Pacific powerfully at this Pre-COP.

As a region, we need to begin to win the argument about climate change in the theatres of international public opinion. Lobbyists and interests groups — including much of the global mainstream media — so wedded to petro interests appear to be winning.

We need to tell our stories with clarity and with impact. We need to back that with strategic bargains in all our international relations. A Pre-COP in the Pacific gives us a real chance of doing so.

Thank you for marking the 2025 International Human Rights Day in this way.

This speech about climate change and human rights was delivered by Dr Satyendra Prasad, the climate lead at Abt Global and Fiji’s former ambassador to the United Nations, during the 2025 Human Rights Day on December 10 at the University of Fiji. It is republished from Wansolwara News as part of Asia Pacific Report’s collaboration with the University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme.

The future of the Manawanui wreckage and potential compensation payments remain a major talking point in Samoa.

The Royal New Zealand Navy vessel ran aground on a reef off the south coast of Upolu in October last year and sank.

New Zealand paid NZ$6 million to the Samoan government over it — however communities are yet to see any money.

• READ MORE: Other Manawanui shipwreck reports

Tafitoala village has been directly affected by the maritime disaster.

Resident Fagailesau Afaaso Junior Saleupu said the New Zealand High Commission and Samoa government held a short meeting regarding potential compensation options this week.

Three options were tabled around the distribution process. One involved the Samoa government being responsible for the distribution of payments among families and affected businesses. Another involved the district authority being responsible for distributing payments.

The Samoa government has previously said it intends to finalise the compensation process once it passes a budget, which it reportedly intends to do at the end of this month.

Tight timeframe
Fagailesau said this week’s meeting, which involved representatives from Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, seemed to be on a tight timeframe.

“It’s not enough time for us to raise questions and . . . give them our opinion about the problem.”

He believed the Samoa government should be responsible for distributing the money directly to those affected and said many people were concerned that the wreckage remained on the reef.

“I don’t think it’s good for us in the long run.”

Fagailesau also said many locals feared the compensation amount — which equates to WST$10 million — simply was not enough to manage the long-term impacts of the wreckage on the environment.

He also said families in Tafitoala had been severely limited by the 2km prohibition zone around the wreckage.

“My village — we are fighting for a big amount for us because we are the . . .  people that are really affected.

“The 2km zone — it covers the area that we access for fishing every day. We’re eating tinned fish.”

More meetings
Fagailesau also said the Samoa government told locals it intended to hold more meetings over compensation in the future.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he had not been aware of any locals eating tinned fish due to the wreckage.

Peters spoke to RNZ Pacific Waves about the Manawanui. He reiterated that the Sāmoa government was leading the ongoing process around compensation and the wreckage, which included any discussion around its removal.

He also denied there was any cover-up over the environmental impacts of the wreckage.

To date, no environmental report on the impacts of Manawanui sinking has been made public.

“It’s not a matter of being covert or secretive about it,” Peters said.

“It’s analysing what we’re dealing with, and I think that probably better explains what’s happening here.”

Open and transparent
Peters said the New Zealand government had been open and transparent in it’s dealing and continued to work with the Sāmoa government over the Manawanui incident.

“This terrible tragedy happened, which we massively regret — no one more than me.”

But Samoa surf guide Manu Percival said the New Zealand government’s behaviour had not been good enough.

For months, Percival had been in contact with the New Zealand High Commission about compensation for the boat fuel he used in the immediate aftermath of the disaster to assist with clean-up.

“It’s real crazy. No one’s got any compensation.”

He also said it had been difficult to get any concrete answers from the Sāmoa government over the future of the wreckage and compensation.

“It’s kind of getting tossed between two different government departments.”

Percival believed New Zealand should remove its wreckage and that the compensation amount paid to the Samoa government was “an absolute joke”.

However, Peters said the NZ$6 million was the amount requested by the Samoa government.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Greenpeace says moves to weaken ocean protection through dodgy fisheries “reforms” will be met with strong opposition, as Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announces he wants to proceed with a raft of proposed changes to fisheries laws.

The controversial changes are some of the largest in decades, and would restrict public access to cameras on boats footage, remove the requirement for fishers to land all their catch, and stop legal challenges to catch limits that have been successful in protecting species in recent years.

The reforms will also give the minister the ability to set catch limits for five years.

• READ MORE: Other fisheries protection reports

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper said these proposals would give the industry carte blanche on ocean destruction, weaken transparency and block the public from having input into fisheries decisions.

“These changes spell disaster for the already struggling ocean around us,” she said.

‘More destruction’
“These reforms will mean more destruction, more decline in fish populations, and will allow the industry to go back to operating in the dark — hiding the impact they have.”

“There are far more people in this country than just the commercial fishing industry who have a right to know how the ocean is being impacted, and have a say on what happens about protecting it.”

“During a biodiversity and ocean crisis, we will strongly oppose moves to expedite destruction at the hands of the commercial fishing industry, as will the tens of thousands of New Zealanders who also back ocean protection.”

Republished from Greenpeace News.

Greenpeace activists on board the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior disrupted an industrial longlining fishing operation in the South Pacific, seizing almost 20 km of fishing gear and freeing nine sharks — including an endangered mako — near Australia and New Zealand.

Crew retrieved the entire longline and more than 210 baited hooks from a European Union-flagged industrial fishing vessel, including an endangered longfin mako shark, eight near-threatened blue sharks and four swordfish.

The crew also documented the vessel catching endangered sharks during its longlining operation.

• READ MORE: Pacific civil society groups challenge France over hosting UN oceans event as political ‘rebranding’
• French Polynesia president announces huge highly protected marine area
• Other UN Ocean Conference reports

The at-sea action followed new Greenpeace Australia Pacific analysis exposing the extent of shark catch from industrial longlining in parts of the Pacific Ocean.

Latest fisheries data showed that almost 70 percent of EU vessels’ catch was blue shark in 2023 alone.

The operation came ahead of this week’s UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, where world leaders are discussing ocean protection and the Global Ocean Treaty.

On board the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Georgia Whitaker said: “These longliners are industrial killing machines. Greenpeace Australia Pacific took peaceful and direct action to disrupt this attack on marine life.

“We saved important species that would otherwise have been killed or left to die on hooks.

“The scale of industrial fishing — still legal on the high seas — is astronomical. These vessels claim to be targeting swordfish or tuna, but we witnessed shark after shark being hauled up by these industrial fleets, including three endangered sharks in just half an hour.

Rainbow Warrior crew disrupt longline fishing in the Pacific.  Video: Greenpeace

“Greenpeace is calling on world leaders at the UN Ocean Conference to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 from this wanton destruction.”

Stingray caught as bycatch is hauled onboard the Lu Rong Yuan Lu 212 longliner vessel in the Tasman Sea.

The Rainbow Warrior is in the South Pacific ocean to expose longline fishing and call on governments to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and create a network of protected areas in the high seas.

Greenpeace Aotearoa is calling on the New Zealand government to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and help create global ocean sanctuaries, including in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand signed the agreement in 2023.

More than two-thirds of sharks worldwide are endangered, and a third of those are at risk of extinction from overfishing.

Over the last three weeks, the Rainbow Warrior has been documenting longlining vessels and practices off Australia’s east coast, including from Spain and China.

Emma Page is Greenpeace Aotearoa’s communications lead, oceans and fisheries. Republished with permission.

• The Rainbow Warrior III will be in Auckland on July 9 — the day before the 40th anniversary of the bombing of the original RW by French secret agents — and will host open days on July 12-13 and July 19-20.

French Polynesia’s president has announced his administration will establish one of the world’s largest networks of highly protected marine areas (MPAs).

The highly protected areas will safeguard 220,000 sq km of remote waters near the Society Islands and 680,000 sq km near the Gambier Islands.

Speaking at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, President Moetai Brotherson pledged to protect nearly 23 percent of French Polynesia’s waters.

• READ MORE: Pacific civil society groups challenge France over hosting UN oceans event as political ‘rebranding’
• These Pacific Islands are building walls to stop rising seas. Will it work?
• Other UN Ocean Conference reports

“In French Polynesia, the ocean is much more than a territory — it’s the source of life, culture, and identity,” he said.

“By strengthening the protection of Tainui Atea (the existing marine managed area that encompasses all French Polynesian waters) and laying the foundations for future marine protected areas . . .  we are asserting our ecological sovereignty while creating biodiversity sanctuaries for our people and future generations.”

Once implemented, this would be one of the world’s single-largest designations of highly protected ocean space in history.

Access will be limited, and all forms of extraction, such as fishing and mining, will be banned.

Together, the zones encompass an area about twice the size of continental France.

President Brotherson also promised to create additional artisanal fishing zones and two more large, highly protected MPAs within the next year near the Austral and Marquesas islands.

He also committed to bolster conservation measures within the rest of French Polynesia’s waters.

Donatien Tanret, who leads Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy’s work in French Polynesia, said local communities had made it clear that they wanted to see stronger protections that reflected both scientific guidance and their ancestral culture for future generations.

“These protections and commitments to future designations are a powerful example of how local leadership and traditional measures such as rāhui can address modern challenges.”

Samoa announces MPAs
Before the conference, Samoa adopted a legally binding Marine Spatial Plan — a step to fully protect 30 percent and ensure sustainable management of 100 percent of its ocean.

The plan includes the establishment of nine new fully protected MPAs, covering 36,000 sq km of ocean.

Toeolesulsulu Cedric Schuster, Samoa’s Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, said Samoa was a large ocean state and its way of life was under increased threat from issues including climate change and overfishing.

“This Marine Spatial Plan marks a historic step towards ensuring that our ocean remains prosperous and healthy to support all future generations of Samoans — just as it did for us and our ancestors.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The Trump administration has issued a new executive order opening up vast swathes of protected ocean to commercial exploitation, including areas within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument.

It allows commercial fishing in areas long considered off-limits due to their ecological significance — despite overwhelming scientific consensus that marine sanctuaries are essential for rebuilding fish stocks and maintaining ocean health.

These actions threaten some of the most sensitive and pristine marine ecosystems in the world.

• READ MORE: Other President Trump executive order reports

Condeming the announcement, Greenpeace USA project lead on ocean sanctuaries Arlo Hemphill said: “Opening the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing puts one of the most pristine ocean ecosystems on the planet at risk.

“Almost 90 percent of global marine fish stocks are fully exploited or overfished. The few places in the world ocean set aside as large, fully protected ocean sanctuaries serve as ‘fish banks’, allowing fish populations to recover, while protecting the habitats in which they thrive.

“President Bush and President Obama had the foresight to protect the natural resources of the Pacific for future generations, and Greenpeace USA condemns the actions of President Trump today to reverse that progress.”

President Trump signs executive order on Pacific fisheries     Video: Hawai’i News Now

Slashed jobs at NOAA
A second executive order calls for deregulation of America’s fisheries under the guise of boosting seafood production.

Greenpeace USA oceans campaign director John Hocevar said: “If President Trump wants to increase US fisheries production and stabilise seafood markets, deregulation will have the opposite effect.

“Meanwhile, the Trump administration has already slashed jobs at NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] and is threatening to dismantle the agency responsible for providing the science that makes management of US fisheries possible.”

“Trump’s executive order on fishing could set the world back by decades, undoing all the progress that has been made to end overfishing and rebuild fish stocks and America’s fisheries.

“While there is far too little attention to bycatch and habitat destruction, NOAA’s record of fisheries management has made the US a world leader.

“Trump seems ready to throw that out the window with all the care of a toddler tossing his toys out of the crib.”

‘Slap in face to science’
Hawai’i News Now reports that a delegation from American Samoa, where the economy is dependent on fishing, had been lobbying the president for the change and joined him in the Oval Office for the signing.

Environmental groups are alarmed.

“Trump right here is giving a gift to the industrial fishing fleets. It’s a slap in the face to science,” said Maxx Phillips, an attorney for the Centre for Biological Diversity.

“To the ocean, to the generations of Pacific Islanders who fought long and hard to protect these sacred waters.”

Republished from Greenpeace USA with additional reporting by Hawai’i News Now.

The executive orders, announced on April 17, 2025, are detailed here:

• Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness
• Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Unleashes American Commercial Fishing in the Pacific

Norway is stopping the first licensing round for deep sea mining in Arctic waters — and Greenpeace Aotearoa says this is putting pressure on the Luxon government to follow suit.

“This move by Norway to stop the seabed mining in its tracks is a historic win for ocean protection and for the growing movement opposed to the damaging new extractive industry,” said Greenpeace spokesperson Juan Parada.

“This puts the spotlight firmly on the Luxon government to do the same.”

• READ MORE: Other deep sea mining reports

In January 2024, the Norwegian government opened its Arctic waters to deep sea mining across an area equivalent to the size of Italy, but after resistance grew across civil society and the fishing industry, the government has agreed to stop the first licensing round for at least the whole of 2025.

“This decision by Norway puts even more pressure on the Luxon government not to be the first in the world to allow commercial seabed mining to take place in its waters,” Parada said.

“Millions of people across the world are now calling on governments to resist the dire threat of seabed mining to safeguard oceans worldwide and one by one they are listening.

“The Luxon government needs to read the room, listen to the growing opposition and put an end to the Australian-owned mining company Trans-Tasman Resources’ destructive plans to mine the South Taranaki Bight.” says Parada.

Last week, Greenpeace activists, along with representatives of Taranaki iwi Ngāti Ruanui, disrupted the annual general meeting of Manuka Resources, the owners of TTR.

The Ocean Declaration that will be agreed upon at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this week will be known as the Apia Ocean Declaration.

In an exclusive interview with the Samoa Observer, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland said members were in a unique position to bring their voices together for the oceans, which have long been neglected.

“The Apia Ocean Declaration aims to address the rising threats to our ocean faces, especially from climate change and rising sea levels,” she said.

• READ MORE: Other CHOGM reports, October 21-26

Commonwealth pushes for ocean protection with historic Apia Ocean Declaration. Video: Samoa Observer

Scotland, reflecting on her tenure as Secretary-General, noted the privilege of serving the Commonwealth, a diverse family of 56 countries comprising 2.7 billion people.

“I am very much the child of the Commonwealth. With 60 percent of our population under 30 years, we must prioritise their future.”

Scotland reflected that upon assuming her role, she recognised immediately that addressing climate change would be a key priority for the Commonwealth.

“Why? Because we have 33 small states, 25 small island states and we were the ones who were really suffering this badly,” she said.

Pacific a ‘big blue ocean state’
“We also knew in 2016 that nobody was looking at the oceans. Now, the Pacific is a big blue ocean state.

“But it’s one of the most under-resourced elements that we have. And yet, look at what was happening. The hurricanes and the cyclones were getting bigger and bigger.

“Why? Because our ocean had absorbed so much of the heat, so much of the carbon, and now it was starting to become saturated. So before, our ocean acted as a coolant. The cyclone would come, the hurricane would come, they’d pass over our cool blue water, and the heat would be drawn out.”

The Apia Ocean Declaration emerged from a pressing need to protect the oceans, especially given the devastating impact of climate change on coastal and island nations.

“We realised that while many discussions were happening globally, the oceans were often overlooked,” Scotland remarked.

“In 2016, we recognised the necessity for collective action. Our oceans absorb much of the carbon and heat, leading to increasingly severe hurricanes and cyclones.”

Scotland has spearheaded initiatives that brought together oceanographers, climatologists, and various stakeholders.

Worked in silos ‘for too long’
“We worked in silos for too long. It was time to unite our efforts for the ocean’s health.

“That’s when we realised that nobody had their eye on our oceans, but of the 56 Commonwealth members, many of us are island states, so our whole life is dependent on our ocean. And so that’s when the fight back happened.”

This collaboration resulted in the establishment of the Commonwealth Blue Charter, a significant framework focused on ocean conservation.

“Fiji’s presidency at the UN Oceans Conference was a turning point. Critics said it would take years to establish an ocean instrument, but we achieved it in less than ten months.”

“We are not just talking; we are implementing solutions.”

Scotland also addressed the financial challenges faced by many small island states, particularly regarding climate funding.

“In 2009, $100 billion was promised by those who had been primarily responsible for the climate crisis, to help those of us who contributed almost nothing to get over the hump.

Hard for finance applications
“But the money wasn’t coming. And in those days, many of our members found it so hard to put those applications together.”

To combat this issue, the Commonwealth established a Climate Finance Access Hub, facilitating over $365 million in funding for member states with another $500 million in the pipeline.

“But this has caused us to say we have to go further,” she added.

“We’re using geospatial data, we have to fill in the gaps for our members who don’t have the data, so we can look at what has happened in the past, what may happen in the future, and now we have AI to help us do the simulators.

“The Ocean Ministers’ Conference highlighted the importance of ensuring that countries at risk of disappearing under the waves can maintain their maritime jurisdiction,” Scotland asserted.

“The thing that we thought was so important is that those countries threatened with the rising of the sea, which could take away their whole island, don’t have certainty in terms of that jurisdiction. What will happen if our islands drop below the sea level?

“And we wanted our member states to be confident that if they had settled their marine boundaries, that jurisdiction would be set in perpetuity. Because that was the biggest guarantee; I may lose my land, but please don’t tell me I’m going to lose my ocean too.

Target an ocean declaration
“So that was the target for the Ocean Ministers’ Conference. And out of that came the idea that we would have an ocean declaration.

“It is that ocean declaration that we are bringing here to Samoa. And the whole poignancy of that is Samoa is the first small island state in the Pacific ever to host CHOGM. So wouldn’t it be beautiful if out of this big blue ocean state, this wonderful Pacific state, we could get an ocean declaration which could in the future be able to be known as the Apia Ocean Declaration? Because we would really mark what we’re doing here.

“What the Commonwealth has been determined to do throughout this whole period is not just talk, but take positive action to help our members not only just to survive, but to thrive.

“And if, which I hope we will, we get an agreement from our 56 states on this ocean declaration, it enables us to put the evidence before everyone, not only to secure what we need, but then to say 0.05 percent of the money is not enough to save our oceans.

“Oceans are the most underfunded area.

“I hope that all the work we’ve done on the Universal Vulnerability Index, on the nature of the vulnerability for our members, will be able to justify proper money, proper resources being put in.

“And you know what’s happening in this area; our fishermen are under threat.

“Our ability to use the oceans in the way we’ve used for millennia to feed our people, support our people, is really under threat. So this CHOGM is our fight back.”

As the meeting progresses, the emphasis remains on achieving consensus among the 56 member states regarding the Apia Ocean Declaration.

Republished from the Samoa Observer with permission.

New Caledonia’s domestic carrier Air Calédonie is set to launch a biweekly international connection to neighbouring Vanuatu.

The new link is set to start operating from October 3 with two return flights, one on Mondays and the other on Thursdays.

The company said this followed a recent code-share agreement with New Caledonia’s international carrier Air Calédonie international (Air Calin).

• READ MORE: Other Kanaky New Caledonia crisis reports

The domestic company’s ATR 72-600 planes will be used to link Nouméa’s international La Tontouta airport to Port Vila, the company said.

Air Calédonie said the new agreement to fly to Vanuatu comes at a “difficult time”, almost four months after riots broke out in the French Pacific archipelago.

Seeking new markets
The ongoing unrest has made a huge negative impact on the economy and — because of long periods of curfew and state of emergency — has also heavily impacted domestic and international flights, causing in turn huge losses in business for the airlines.

“This new connection therefore is a vital opportunity to maintain employment and a sufficient level of business that are necessary to the company’s survival”, said Air Calédonie CEO Daniel Houmbouy, who also mentioned a “necessary capacity to adapt and evolve”.

New link to Paris
As part of a stringent cost-cutting exercise, Air Calin has had to cut staff numbers as well as reduce its regional connections.

It is also currently considering putting one of its aircraft on lease.

However, Air Calin is also preparing to launch a new direct Paris-Nouméa connection, via Bangkok, sometime in 2025, using a 291-seater Airbus A330-900neo on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The company is currently recruiting 12 pilots and 20 navigating flight assistants who would be based mainly in Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.

Here again, the plan is directly connected to New Caledonia’s unrest and its impact on the economy.

“It’s all about continuing to generate an acceptable level of revenue to be able to bear fixed costs, in response to the consequences of the local economic context’s recent upsets”.

On a similar destination, Air Calin has also recently opened another connection via Singapore.

But regional routes have also been affected, sometimes suspended (Melbourne), sometimes significantly contracted (Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, Papeete).

As part of the restructuration, the new long-haul route via Bangkok would effectively replace the older connection to Paris via Tokyo-Narita.

Collateral damage for fishing industry
This has already caused major concerns from local fishing industry stakeholders, especially those exporting extra fresh tuna directly to Japan by plane.

“This will directly threaten the future of our industry. The repercussions will be catastrophic both in terms of employment in our industry and for [New Caledonia’s] economy,” commented Mario Lopez, who heads local tuna fishing company Armement du Nord, writing on social networks.

He said what was at stake was “300 to 400 tonnes of yellowfin sashimi-grade tuna which until now were sent each year for auction on Japanese markets”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Vanuatu has taken a leading role in a bloc of nations fighting to keep marine environment protection on the main agenda of the UN organisation responsible for developing global regulations for seabed mining.

The assembly of the Kingston-based International Seabed Authority is meeting this week with a packed programme, including a vote to pick the next secretary-general who could significantly influence the environmental constraints set on mining.

Deep-sea mineral extraction has been particularly contentious in the Pacific, where some economically lagging island nations see it as a possible financial windfall and solution to their fiscal challenges but many other island states are strongly opposed.

• READ MORE: Tuvalu joins growing Pacific tide of opposition to deep-sea mining
• Other deep-sea mining reports

Vanuatu Minister of Climate Change Ralph Regenvanu, at the ISA meeting of the 168 member nations plus the European Union, said an environmental policy was “critical” because it’s likely the body will receive an application to approve commercial seabed mining by the end of this year.

“When you make deliberations in the coming days, please think beyond your national boundaries and think as custodians of our ocean and of the real threat mining the seabed poses for the Pacific region,” Regenvanu said in remarks he explicitly directed at the Pacific island nations which favour deepsea mining.

“Financial exploitation of our ocean may be beneficial for the next decade for our nations, but it could be devastating for the future generations,” he said.

Mining of the golf ball-sized metallic nodules that litter swathes of the sea bed is touted as a source of the rare-earth minerals needed for green technologies, like electric vehicles, as the world reduces reliance on fossil fuels.

Irreparable damage
Sceptics say such minerals are already abundant on land and warn that mining the sea bed could cause irreparable damage to an environment that is still poorly understood by science.

Deep-sea mining opponents have been pushing for the ISA to prioritize protection of the marine environment at the full assembly rather than keep discussion of the issue within its smaller policy-setting council.

Some see such a policy as the prerequisite for an international moratorium on deep-sea mining in the vast ocean areas outside national boundaries that fall under the ISA’s jurisdiction.

Along with Vanuatu, several nations including Spain, Chile and Canada expressed backing for the assembly to begin discussion of an environmental policy.

China, a powerful voice at the ISA, reiterated its reservations because of the packed agenda, but said it was willing to be flexible. Saudi Arabia was among the nations that criticised the proposal sponsored by Vanuatu and seven other nations but did not formally object.

The assembly is also expected to vote on candidates for the ISA’s secretary-general. The long serving incumbent Michael Lodge has been criticized by organizations such as Greenpeace, who say he has taken the part of deep-sea mining companies rather than being a neutral technocrat.

The British lawyer’s candidacy is sponsored by the pro-mining Pacific nation of Kiribati against Brazil’s Leticia Carvalho, an oceanographer and former oil industry regulator of the South American nation, who has also been critical of his leadership.

Vanuatu also made its mark at the assembly by blocking two organisations linked to deep-sea mining companies from gaining NGO observer status at the ISA.

Regenvanu told the assembly that one of the organisations was made up of subsidiaries of The Metals Company, which has been testing its equipment for hoovering up the metallic nodules from the ocean floor.

The Metals Company is working with the Pacific island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga to possibly exploit their licence areas in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The 4.5 million square kilometer area in the central Pacific is regulated by the ISA and contains trillions of polymetallic nodules at depths of up to 5.5 km.

Nauru in June 2021 notified the seabed authority of its intention to begin mining, which started the clock on a two-year period for the authority’s member nations to finalise regulations.

The Cook Islands, meanwhile, is allowing nodule exploration by other companies in its own waters and does not need ISA approval to mine in them.

Sonny Williams, Assistant Minister to the Cook Islands Prime Minister, told the assembly that his country is proceeding with caution to ensure both conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.

“Deep seabed minerals hold immense potential for our prosperity,” he said. “To unlock and develop this potential we must do so responsibly and sustainably, prioritising the long-term wellbeing of our people.”

Greenpeace deep-sea mining campaigner Louisa Casson said the ISA assembly would not complete the complicated process of agreeing on deep-sea mining rules at its current meeting.

Non-governmental organisations and governments that want to take a cautious approach to deep sea mining are hoping the assembly meeting will make incremental progress toward achieving a moratorium on mining, she told BenarNews.

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with permission of BenarNews.

The 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is being held in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Adam Wolfenden, who is there on behalf of Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), says the concerns of small Pacific nations centre on the subsidy provided by larger nations to fishing companies.

He said Fiji, in particular, was seeking a strong outcome on fisheries subsidies’ negotiations.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Pacific fisheries

Wolfenden said the reason they were so concerned around fisheries subsidies was because of “the revenue and the importance of fisheries to the Pacific both at a governmental level, but also for the livelihoods of Pacific Islanders is enormous”.

He said this then raised concerns about how countries deal with overfishing and overcapacity, but did not prevent the small island nations from “developing their own domestic fleets to fish their resources and create a development pathway built on fisheries”.

Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister, Manoa Kamikamica, who is at the meeting, said: “Fiji will ask from its partners for stronger disciplines on subsidies contributing to overfishing and overcapacity in the negotiations that has caused the global depletion of fish stocks.”

“For us, this is more than a matter of national interest — it is a matter of national survival,” he said.

“Additionally, Fiji will highlight the importance of special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries, including small island states, to ensure that trade policies take into account the specific challenges and vulnerabilities faced by these nations.”

Solomon Islands Foreign and Trade Minister, Jeremiah Manele, said the deliberations continued to undermine the responsible growth in his country’s fisheries sector “and further, the preservation of our fishing arrangements and differential licensing arrangements”.

“The current text maintains the status quo, leaning favourably towards the major subsidisers, with a mere focus on notifications and sustainability.”

MC13 is also focusing on reform of the WTO and Samoa’s Trade Negotiations Minister, Leota Laki Lamositele, said last year that “we reaffirmed that special and differential treatment for developing and Least Developed Country Members is an integral part of the WTO and its agreements”.

“As such, Samoa concurs with others in supporting the work of the WTO and that MC13 should ensure inclusive, transparent, and rules-based outcomes, to accommodate the diversity of WTO Membership in implementing current.”

‘A lot of uncertainty’
Civil society organisations have found themselves being shut out at this WTO meeting.

Wolfenden said there was a lot of concern about how non-government organisations were being treated in Abu Dhabi.

He said a lot of the activities that the groups would normally have been able to do — even just providing leaflets to journalists or directly engaging in advocacy — was being restricted.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and a lack of clarity around what the security situation is with, you know, colleagues being detained for sending information to journalists for taking photos.

“We have sent a letter to the WTO director-general, I know this has been raised by a number of governments, including New Zealand, and the concerns around the way civil society is being treated.

“Yet there’s still no clarity and if anything, it feels like the way that we have been dealt with by local security is escalating.”

He added there was a lot of concern for participants and their safety within the conference venue.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Tuvalu Campus, located in the capital Funafuti, is perhaps the smallest university in the world, but it offers a distinctive service.

The nation of Tuvalu comprises nine small atoll islands which have a combined population of just 11,400. The Tuvalu Campus itself is restricted to one small building with three classrooms, a conference room, a couple of office spaces and several mobile teaching and learning units.

Regardless of the size of the campus, USP Tuvalu’s campus director Dr Olikoni Tanaki from Tonga is positive about the university’s role and contribution.

• READ MORE: Other Kalinga Seneviratne articles at Asia Pacific Report

In a message on its website, he argues it is the people that “make this campus distinctive and we continuously strive to explore better ways to provide the best services to our communities, and that sustains our distinctiveness”.

In an interview in Funafuti, Isikeli Naqaya, a student-learning specialist at USP Tuvalu, said: “Every semester, the university caters to about 330 students who come from all nine islands.”

He added that some students were based in outer islands and study online, while the majority were based in Funafuti.

The campus was first established as an extension centre in the early 1980s. It is referred to as USP Tuvalu because of the multi-campus nature of USP.

USP is a single university with 11 branch campuses across the Pacific.

It is one of two regional universities in the world — the other is in the Caribbean — and is owned by 12 Pacific Island countries, with Tuvalu being one of them.

USP’s main campus is located in Suva, Fiji, and is known in the region as Laucala Campus, which is also the university’s administrative centre.

Catering to local needs
Tuvalu Campus is basically a regional centre of USP which helps to deliver courses that are designed at the Laucala Campus.

Local students can take certificate, diploma or degree courses of USP via the Tuvalu Campus but they need to register through the central administration at Laucala. USP Tuvalu also offers short courses and workshops catering to local needs.

“The majority of our students do the online mode, particularly those who are involved in degree courses,” Naqaya said. “A majority of those doing face-to-face [courses] are those who do foundation programmes”.

The foundation programmes include the compulsory module, English language skills for tertiary studies, that is taught in-person by Naqaya.

He explains that there are three delivery methods on campus: if there is a tutor available on campus to deliver the programme, it’s face to face. If there is no tutor, it is usually a blended mode or purely online.

Many of the in-person courses are short courses offered as adult education programmes to improve the skills levels needed for the local economy.

“We have just completed one on business communication with our Department of Fisheries here in Tuvalu. It went on for two weeks. These programmes are very popular here.

“Different government ministries and even non-governmental organisations come to us for this type of programme,” said Naqaya. “We have also delivered a course in the small seafood business.”

Fisheries staff
Most of the students for the small business course were staff of the Tuvalu Fisheries Department. USP Tuvalu advertised the course and staff interested in it sent in their applications which went to Laucala campus for selection.

The certificates for the graduates of the short courses are issued by USP in Fiji.

Because it is a branch campus, for USP Tuvalu to deliver a programme, it has to undergo a process. First, the Fiji campus consults with their Tuvalu counterparts to see whether they have a suitable person to deliver the course.

If there is one, Tuvalu receives the course material from Suva and the course is delivered in Tuvalu.

“If we don’t have the specialised staff, like [for a subject such as] cybercrime, for example, we would have someone to come over and deliver it. We first advertise it locally and if there is someone qualified here to do it, they will come and deliver it,” said Naqaya.

“Many of the small courses I have been delivering.”

School leadership programme
On November 27, USP Tuvalu officially launched the Graduate Certificate of School Leadership (GCSL) programme in Tuvalu, marking a crucial step towards empowering the country’s school leaders.

This is a collaborative effort between the USP’s Institute of Education (IoE), the Tuvalu Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports, and the Tuvalu Learning Project. The GCSL programme was developed in response to a request from Tuvalu, and emphasises the collaborative effort required for success.

IoE director Dr Seu’ula Johansson-Fua, delivering the opening remarks at the launch of the GCSL programme, described it as an uncommon instance of a member country seeking university-designed programmes, and highlighted the institution’s commitment to tailoring education to meet the specific needs of member countries.

The guest of honour for the launch ceremony, Director of the Tuvalu Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports Neaki Letia, highlighted the necessity of the GCSL programme and acknowledged the challenges faced by school leaders in the absence of proper leadership and management training.

“In your role as school leaders we demand reports, we demand . . . attainments. At one point in time, we sit around the table and ask each other, ‘Have we provided proper training for the tools that we ask them to provide?’ and the answer is ‘No, we have not’,” he said.

“So, this is why we requested USP, especially the Institute of Education, for support — to help us contribute ideas and instil knowledge to be a leader,” he explained.

Local research capacity
Another role of USP Tuvalu is to develop local research capacity, especially in local knowledge to tackle climatic change.

Vasa Saitala, a Tuvaluan, was the community research officer at USP Tuvalu until recently. She told University World News that a campus like Tuvalu is important to unite communities as some Tuvaluans have never been to school.

“There are changes due to climate change and through consultations with communities they would . . .  learn of what’s happening around us,” she said. “We have to do the studies about traditional knowledge and peoples’ awareness of climatic change, etcetera.”

Saitala has conducted a research project on gathering traditional knowledge about local indicators for different seasons and has developed a curriculum for community training on how to use this knowledge to protect against cyclones, droughts and so on. She has also been involved in a regional project of USP that gathers information about community understandings of climatic change issues.

“USP Laucala outsources the research to us. We do the research here and send the reports to Laucala,” she said.

“For short-term fisheries training and also gender issues, people from USP Fiji come here and work with us.”

Kalinga Seneviratne is a journalist, radio broadcaster, television documentary maker, media and international communications analyst. During 2023, he was a journalism programme consultant with The University of the South Pacific. This article was first published by University World News and is republished with permission.

A Japanese government spokesperson says it is “not wilfully trying to divide the Pacific” over the Fukushima treated nuclear wastewater release.

Japan is set to start discharging more than one million tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean tomorrow (local time).

This comes 12 years after a tsunami slammed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant resulting in what has been labelled as the largest civil nuclear energy disaster since Chernobyl.

• READ MORE:  NZ women’s peace group protests over imminent Fukushima nuclear wastewater release
• Other Fukushima reports

Palau, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia have publicly backed the plan or at least placed their faith in Japan’s word that it will be safe.

The release is forecast to take 30 to 40 years to complete.

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is the most recent Pacific leader to speak out in defence of Japan.

He said he is satisfied their plan is safe after reading the UN nuclear agency’s report.

Rabuka’s voice is important because he is in the Pacific Islands Forum leadership team — known as the Troika — as the past chair of the Forum. The other two are current chair Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown and future chair, the Tongan Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni.

Since making that statement Rabuka has apologised for speaking ahead of the recent Troika meeting, but he has not backtracked on his view.

‘Discharged’ into Japan’s own backyard
Rabuka has taken to social media in response to criticism of his statement of support.

“Comparisons between the nuclear legacy in the Pacific and Japan’s nuclear wastewater release is fear-mongering,” he wrote.

He also said the wastewater was not being dumped but discharged into Japan’s “own backyard”, over 7000km from Fiji.

1/3 One of my critics at the weekend appeared to be somehow connecting the wastewater discharge with the cataclysmic power of the nuclear bombs dropped in the Pacific as part of weapons testing.

— Sitiveni Rabuka (@slrabuka) August 22, 2023

That in itself has been the centre of debate with nuclear activists continuing to call it a dump.

One nuclear expert appointed by the Pacific Islands Forum said there was an argument that it was a dump over a release.

But the International Atomic Energy Agency has gone to great lengths — even travelling to New Zealand and Rarotonga — to explain why this is not a dump.

Director-General Rafael Grossi told RNZ Pacific earlier this year that he condemned dumping which he said had happened in the past and was not the case for Japan’s plan.

Against and on the fence
Vanuatu’s Foreign Minister has drafted a declaration urging Japan to stop the discharge.

He wants the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting in Port Vila today to support the declaration.

Tuvalu has also spoken out, expressing opposition to Rabuka’s stance.

Tuvalu’s Minister for Finance, Seve Paeniu told FBC News that if Japan was genuinely confident, why did it not consider disposing of it within its own lakes and waters.

TEPCO assures the Pacific
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) spokesperson Junichi Matsumoto told the first media briefing today that his team was “moving quickly” to prepare the release which would depend on the conditions.

“The final decision will be made on the morning of the [August] 24 based on the climate conditions or weather conditions,” he said.

“A very small amount will be carefully discharged using a two-step process.”

RNZ asked TEPCO about the nuclear legacy in the Pacific.

“To the members of the PIF, we have been providing explanations on the discharge into the sea,” Matsumoto said.

“So we would like to continue to provide the explanation on our initiative.

“And in terms of assurance, it may be a bit different in terms of nuance, but the result of sea area monitoring will be communicated.

Matsumoto said anyone wishing to could check the results of the sea area monitoring on the TEPCO website.

When questioned about when Pacific nations would see the effects of the release, he said that according to dispersion models particles would arrive on the shores of Papua New Guinea and Fiji in “a few years’ time or a few decades”.

“It will be impossible to distinguish that [discharged] tritium [in the Pacific Ocean] from that already existing in nature,” Matsumoto said.

A Japan government spokesperson said Tokyo was not wilfully trying to divide the Pacific and no compensation would be given to Pacific nations for potential reputational damage.

“The Japanese government has been taking opportunities at international conferences and at bilateral meetings to thoroughly and meticulously explain and disseminate information to the world through its website, as well as through social network media including X [formerly Twitter],” the spokesperson said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Japan plans to start releasing treated nuclear wastewater from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean as soon as later this month, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun daily is reporting, citing government sources.

The newspaper said the release was likely to come shortly after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets US President Joe Biden and the South Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, next week in the US, where Kishida planned to explain the safety of the wastewater.

Japan’s nuclear regulator last month granted approval for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to start releasing the water, which Japan and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) say is safe but nearby countries fear may contaminate food.

• READ MORE: Anti-nuclear group condemns Fiji PM Rabuka’s Fukushima wastewater stance
• Other Fukushima reports

Bottom-trawling fishing was scheduled to start off Fukushima, north-east of Tokyo, in September, and the government aimed to start the water discharge before the fishing season got under way, the newspaper said.

In July the UN’s nuclear watchdog approved plans by Japan to release the water, despite objections from local fishing communities and other countries in the region.

About 1.3m tonnes of water stored in huge tanks on the site has been filtered through TEPCO’s advanced liquid processing system (ALPS) to remove most radioactive elements except for tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is difficult to separate from water.

500 Olympic pool sized
The treated water will be diluted with seawater so that the concentration of tritium is well below internationally approved levels before being released into the ocean 1km from the shoreline via an undersea tunnel.

The water — enough to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools — became contaminated when it was used to cool fuel rods that melted after the power plant was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Discharging the water is expected to take 30 to 40 years to complete.

Attempts by Japanese government officials to win regional support for the plan have had limited success.

China denounced the plan as “extremely irresponsible” when it was announced in 2021. Hong Kong has threatened to ban food imports from 10 Japanese prefectures if the water release goes ahead as planned.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

As Pacific communities protest the Japanese government’s plan to dump more than a million tonnes of radioactive waste water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, Australian anti-nuclear activists are highlighting the complicity of Australian uranium exporting companies.

While the Fukushima Daiichi power station operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), claims that the water will be treated to reduce radioactive content, anti-nuclear activists have no faith in TEPCO’s assurances.

The Candlelight Alliance, a Korean community group in Sydney, is organising a protest outside the Japanese consulate this Saturday.

• READ MORE: Other Fukushima nuclear power plant reports

Spokersperson Sihyun Paik told Green Left: “We have a great fear that it may already be too late to stop Japan’s release of radioactively contaminated waste water into our largest ocean, an action by which every Pacific Rim nation will be impacted.

“There are serious, global ramifications,” he said. “It will directly endanger the marine life with which it comes into contact, as well as devastate the livelihoods of those reliant on such marine life, such as fisherfolk.

“All living organisms will be implicitly affected, whether it is the unwitting consumer of contaminated produce, or even beachgoers.

“The danger posed by the plan cannot be contained within just the Northeast Asia region. In two to three years, it will eventually reach and contaminate all ocean waters to certain, yet significant degrees according to scientists.

Korean fishery victims
“The local Korean fishery industry is the first commercial victim of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and it raised deep concerns to the Korean government immediately after the explosion of the nuclear reactors.

“This was in conjunction with Korea’s progressive action groups during the term of the previous Moon Jae-In administration.

“However, since the current administration (2022), the voice of protest has been extinguished at the government level, invariably raising suspicion of possible under the table dealings between Japan’s Kishida government and current Korean President Yoon [Suk Yeol] during the latter’s recent visit to Japan.”

Epeli Lesuma, from the Fiji-based Pacific Network on Globalisation, told Green Left that “for Pacific people the Ocean represents more than just a vast blue expanse that Japan can just use as a dumpsite.

“Our Ocean represents the economic, spiritual and cultural heart of Pacific countries.

“Pacific people know all too well the cost of nuclear testing and dumping. The Pacific was used as a nuclear test site by the UK, France and the USA who carried out a total of 315 tests on Christmas Island in Kiribati, Australia, Māohi Nui or French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands.

“These nuclear legacies have cost us countless lives and continue to impact the health and well-being of our people; it has impacted access to our fishing grounds and land to plant crops to support our families; and it has cost us our homes, with Pacific people displaced (on Bikini and Enewetak) due to nuclear contamination.

Japan, Pacific share trauma
“Japan and the Pacific share the trauma of nuclear weapons and testing.

“So it comes as a deep disappointment to us that the Japanese government would consider actions that threaten not only Pacific people and our Ocean but the health and well-being of all the planet’s oceans and the people who depend upon them.

“The Pacific Ocean also contains the largest tuna fish stocks which are a source of economic revenue for our countries. The Japanese government’s plans to dump its nuclear wastewater into our Ocean pose a direct threat to the economic prosperity of our countries and in turn our developmental aspirations as well as being a fundamental breach of Pacific people’s rights to a clean and healthy sustainable environment.”

Australian anti-nuclear activist Nat Lowrey delivered a statement of solidarity from the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance when she visited affected local communities in Fukushima in March.

The statement acknowledged that uranium from the Ranger and Olympic Dam mines was in TEPCO’s Fukushima reactors when the meltdowns, explosions and fires took place in March 2011.

The ANFA statement said that “Australian governments, and mining companies BHP and Rio Tinto, are partly responsible for the death and destruction resulting from the Fukushima disaster. They knew about the corruption in Japan’s nuclear industry but kept supplying uranium.”

Lowrey said that since it was Australian uranium that fuelled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, “the Australian government has a responsibility to stand with local communities in Fukushima as well as communities in Japan, Korea, China and Pacific Island states in calling on the Japanese government not to dump radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean”.

‘Fundamental self-determination right’
“We must support Pacific peoples’ fundamental right to their sovereignty and self-determination against Japan’s nuclear colonialism.

“If Japan is to go ahead with the dumping of radioactive waste, Australia should play a lead role in taking a case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea against Japan.”

Paik said no Australian government had taken serious action since the Fukushima disaster.

“Despite the Japanese government’s decision to release nuclear contaminated water into the ocean, no official statement or comment has been made by the [Anthony] Albanese government.

“We did not expect any form of government level protest on this issue due to conflicts of interest with Australia’s member status in the Quad partnership which is a key pillar in Australia’s foreign policy, and an influential determinant of our stance on nuclear energy.”

When the G7 met in Tokyo, the Japanese government urged the summit to approve the planned radioactive water release.

Tanaka Shigeru, from the Pacific Asia Resource Centre in Japan, said: “Japan did not get the approval by the G7 as it had hoped, but it stopped at saying the G7 will adhere to the conclusion of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

‘IAEA approves release’
“The IAEA is of course approving of the release, so it is a way for them to say they have approved without explicitly saying so.”

Shigeru said that despite a three-year propaganda campaign over Fukushima, most people polled in Japan in April said that “the government has not done enough to garner the understanding of the public”.

Only 6.5 percent of those polled believe that the Japanese government has done enough.

Yet it has “done enough to keep people from the streets”, Shigeru said.

“While there are, of course, people who are still continuing the struggle, I must say the movement has peaked already after what has been a fervent three-year struggle.”

Japanese opponents of the radioactive water release, including fisherfolk, have been fighting through every administrative and legal step but now “there are no more domestic hurdles that the Japanese government needs to clear in order to begin the dumping”, Shigeru said.

“The opposition parties have been so minimised in Japan that there is very little realistic means to challenge the situation except for maybe international pressure. That is really the only thing standing in the way of the dumping.

Ambassador propaganda
“So Japan has been taking ambassadors from the Pacific nations on lucrative paid-for trips to Fukushima to spread the propaganda that the dumping will be safe.”

Lesuma confirmed the impact on swaying some Pacific Island governments, such as Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia.

“Pacific Islands Forum member states have been some of the most vocal opponents at the international level of the Japanese government’s plans to dump their nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean,” he said.

“The PIF leaders had appointed an Independent Panel of Experts who have engaged with TEPCO scientists and the IAEA to provide advice to Pacific governments on the wastewater disposal plans … the Panel has concluded unanimously that Japan should not release nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean and should explore other alternatives.

“The Fiji government has been one such Pacific government consistent in coming out strongly in opposing Japan’s plans.

“The PNG Fisheries Minister, Jelta Wong, has also been vocal and consistent in expressing his disapproval of the same, going as far as saying that the nuclear wastewater discharge would create a ‘Pacific Chernobyl’ with the potential to cause harm to Pacific people for generations to come.”

Peter Boyle is a Green Left activist and contributing writer. Republished with permission.

A call for the first reading of a member’s bill banning seabed mining altogether was voted down at Parliament today, with Labour, National and ACT turning in 106 votes against the Prohibition on Seabed Mining Legislation Amendment Bill.

The Green Party, Te Pāti Māori and independent MPs Elizabeth Kerekere and Meka Whaitiri made up the 13 votes in favour.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said her member’s bill was born in response to an application to mine 66 kmsq of seafloor near Patea, over 35 years, and frustrations iwi had experienced in dealing with existing seabed legislation.

• READ MORE: Other seabed mining reports

The application by Trans-Tasman Resources involved taking: “Millions of tonnes of iron, titanium, vanadium from the seabed… by dredging up millions of tonnes of the sea floor, extracting the mineral, and dumping the unwanted sludge back into the sea, smothering the surrounding area with a sediment film — which would spread all the way down from Taranaki to Wellington, affecting marine life, biodiversity, and Māori,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

But TTR chair Alan Eggers previously said if the company’s application for seabed mining near Patea was granted it would create “a major new $1 billion export industry employing best practice sustainable environmental approach to mineral recovery, with minimal impact on the environment”.

Ngarewa-Packer’s bill asked for a nationwide ban on seabed mining consents within Aotearoa’s exclusive economic zone and the coastal waters governed under the Resource Management Act (RMA), as well as the withdrawal of all existing seabed mining consents and a ban on any rights to exploration being granted under the Crown Minerals Act.

Inquiry announced
Earlier this month Labour’s Environment Minister David Parker announced a select committee inquiry to investigate seabed mining rules in New Zealand waters, and the potential benefits and drawbacks of seabed mining.

But Ngarewa-Packer said public opinion did not support that approach.

“The opposition to seabed mining has been strong . . .  we already know an enormous amount about seabed mining. The government does not need an inquiry to understand that this industry would trash our moana; it’s abundantly clear,” she said.

“Iwi don’t want it. Our community don’t want it. The public doesn’t want it. Nor does the technology sector.”

There had been 13,000 submissions against seabed mining presented to the government, she said: “With only a handful in favour. We have also delivered 40,000-signature petitions to the government”.

“Ocean advocates from across Aotearoa have called on this government to urgently ban seabed mining. More than 30 hapū and iwi, environmental NGOs, KASM (Kiwis Against Seabed Mining) and Greenpeace Aotearoa have called on the prime minister to support my bill.”

Ngāti Ruanui and Ngā Rauru had led a long fight against seabed mining in Taranaki, Ngarewa-Packer said.

There had been strong participation from fishers, divers, farmers and community leaders, and the opposition group included many with in-depth technical expertise in the sector.

‘Battle taken to every court’
“This battle has taken them to every court in this nation, resulting in successfully winning in the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

“From our iwi’s perspective, seabed mining is a violation of our kaitiakitanga and as defenders of the ecosystems, we are gravely concerned it will affect everything. This is a part of who we are, where we are, and it must be protected.

“The government has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stop this dangerous industry before it starts.”

Parker said while the government did have concerns about the environmental impacts of seabed mining, this bill was not the right tool to tackle the issue. Particularly because it would cancel existing consents and exploration rights – including for gas, he said.

“It has been clear from the start of this bill that the effect of this legislation would have been to, amongst other things, close down the Maui platform, and it would have done that retrospectively, it would have done it without compensation, and it would have done it without any transition period.”

That would have “threatened the security of supply of electricity in the short to medium term”, and would cause the government to reneg on previous agreements to the oil and gas sector, Parker said.

Instead, he said that if the select committee inquiry found there were genuine concerns about seabed mining, those could be addressed at the wider Pacific regional level.

‘Genuine concern’
“If there is a genuine concern, as I do think there is about mining at sea, then, if we can coalesce with the Pacific around a solution to protect the Pacific from deep-sea mining, then, effectively, we will be protecting a big part of the world’s oceans.”

National Party spokesman for energy and resources Stuart Smith said blanket bans were unhelpful: “We have more than adequate processes to deal with environmental challenges and issues when we exploit resources — and exploit resources we do.

“Our very standard of living is totally dependent on the resources industry”.

Offshore seabed mining for aggregates was common overseas, he said: “Those sorts of things are happening all the time”.

New Zealand did not yet have the energy infrastructure to move away from using gas, and if less gas was available it would make the country more dependent on using coal to generate electricity, which was worse for the environment, he said.

The broad reach of the bill and its retrospective component would also dissuade trade and investment, Smith said.

“This bill would send a massive shock wave through the international community, particularly the sovereign risk that New Zealand has always been seen as very low, until the oil and gas exploration ban, which did send a massive shock wave through the international community.

Sovereign risk ‘too high’
“So much so that, in fact, I’ve been told from companies trying to raise funds for other projects — nothing to do with the oil and gas sector — that they weren’t going to be supported by independent financiers because they see the sovereign risk in New Zealand now, as a result of that ban, as too high for them; they would rather invest their funds elsewhere.”

The issue had been a hot topic globally as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) planned to begin taking applications for industrial-scale deep-sea mining in Pacific waters in July.

However, critics were worried about potential environmental damage and the effects mining could have on coastal communities, with some saying better regulations were needed.

And there has been an increasing international call for an end to seabed mining, with France, Canada, Tuvalu, Fiji and Nauru among those who have called for a moratorium.

Ngarewa-Packer said the government’s stance was confusing, considering their support of a conditional moratorium against seabed mining in international waters.

“We cannot fathom for the life of us how Labour today is able to face themselves,” she said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

An advocacy group opposed to seabed mining has accused the government of “deliberately misinterpreting” a draft bill aimed at banning the industry from New Zealand waters.

Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) said in a statement today that the government was “failing the tens of thousands who have opposed the destructive industry”.

The bill, introduced by Te Pāti Māori’s Debbie Ngarewa-Packer in Parliament today, was voted down by all parties except TPM and the Greens.

• READ MORE: Seabed mining bill punt a missed opportunity
• Other seabed mining reports

While the bill included a retrospective clause to remove existing seabed mining permits, Environment Minister David Parker reportedly claimed that it would ban oil and gas drilling in the South Taranaki Bight.

“The government today wilfully misled the public by deliberate misinterpreting the bill, trying to argue it could cut off gas supplies, which is complete nonsense,” said KASM chair Cindy Baxter.

She said the minister knew that his government could “easily have tightened the bill’s language” in select committee.

‘Incredibly destructive’
It could also have gone on to ban “this incredibly destructive industry” from New Zealand’s waters.

“Protecting the ocean from seabed mining has nothing to do with our energy supply,” Baxter said.

“it’s about ensuring our ocean ecosystems are in a healthy state to help protect us from climate change, and to ensure the coming generations of our coastal communities can continue to fish, to surf, to collect kaimoana.”

The government has not immediately responded.

KASM said in its statement that it would continue to fight any seabed mining efforts.

The seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources has until next Friday, May 19, to lodge its reapplication with the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

A flotilla of crafts surrounding a massive “ban bottom trawling” banner protested off Auckland’s Mission Bay today against bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf marine park.

Hundreds of people turned out on the beach and on the water for the event organised by Greenpeace Aotearoa and Forest and Bird.

More than 60 vessels from yachts to kayaks and paddleboards joined the flotilla, surrounding a huge banner calling for an end to bottom trawling in the Gulf.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific fisheries reports

“We’re here to call for an end to destructive bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana to protect our big blue backyard for the future,” said Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper.

“All these people are here today because they want a thriving, vibrant Hauraki Gulf, free from the threat of destructive bottom trawling.

“Trawling has no place in this precious marine park and the public mandate for change is clear – more than 84 percent of people surveyed want trawling gone from the Gulf.

“It’s time the government listens and bans bottom trawling so the Gulf can recover.”

‘Biodiversity hotspot’
Forest and Bird Hauraki Gulf coordinator Bianca Ranson said: “Tīkapa Moana is a biodiversity hotspot, it is a taonga, and we must do everything we can to revitalise the mauri and life-sustaining capacity of the Gulf.

“Everything is connected in an ecosystem and it is deeply disappointing that bottom trawling is still being allowed to continue.

“From Byrde’s whales to manta ray and tarakihi to tāiko,  the Hauraki Gulf is home to a treasure trove of marine life and bottom trawling puts all that life at risk, destroying the seafloor and indiscriminately catching more than the Gulf can sustain.”

Bottom trawling is an indiscriminate fishing method that involves dragging large weighted nets across the seafloor, bulldozing ocean life and destroying precious ecosystems.

A single trawl can create a sediment plume comparable in size to the entire Goat Island Marine Reserve, choking filter-feeding animals and smothering photosynthesising organisms.

ANALYSIS: By Ming Wang

Public opinion will dictate how Japanese seafood is received after the wastewater is disposed of into the Pacific Ocean.

The global seafood market faces turmoil with the release of the Fukushima nuclear wastewater from Japan into the Pacific Ocean, computer modelling predicts.

Japan announced in 2021 it will release more than 1.25 million tonnes of treated Fukushima radioactive wastewater into the sea as part of its plan to decommission the power station when its storage capacity reaches its limit this year.

• READ MORE: Other Fukushima nuclear waster reports

Seafood is one of the most important food commodities in international trade, far exceeding meat and milk products.

According to the United Nations Comtrade database, global seafood trade has grown from US$7.57 billion in 2009 to US$12.36 billion in 2019, an increase of 63.2 percent.

The Japanese nuclear wastewater discharge raises global worries about the safety of Japanese seafood as public opinion influences consumers’ preference for seafood.

In this empirical study involving American consumers, 30 percent of respondents said they reduced their seafood consumption following the Fukushima nuclear plant accident and more than half believe Asian seafood poses a risk to consumer health due to the disaster.

Temporary bans
Most of Japan’s seafood trading partners, such as China, Russia, India and South Korea, imposed temporary bans on food from several districts around Fukushima in the wake of the accident in 2011.

My research models the potential impact of the Fukushima nuclear wastewater disposal on the global seafood trade using the import and export data for 26 countries which make up more than 92 percent of the world’s trade in marine products.

A community classification theory of complex networks was used to classify seafood trading countries into three communities. Seafood trade is frequent among countries within each individual community and less between the communities.

The first community contains Ecuador, Italy, Morocco, Portugal and Spain. The second contains Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The third community contains China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan of China, Russia, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Modelling shows China, South Korea, and the US maintain a steady trade of seafood imports and exports between them. Data used for the modelling shows that the rate of change in trade between China and Korea, China and the US and between Korea and the US is very close to zero.

However, China, South Korea and the US are expected to increase their seafood imports from Denmark, France, Norway and other community group two countries while reducing seafood exports to them. This is because these three countries have already reduced their seafood trade with Japan.

The increase in exports from community group three to community group two nations leads to a decrease in imports and exports between countries within community group two. For example, the study notes that Denmark, Norway and France are all experiencing a decrease in seafood exports and imports between each other.

While the rates of change in trade between countries look very close, the size of each country’s import and export market is different, so the actual trade volume can vary greatly.

The model also divided the global seafood market into two segments — the first being the Japanese market and the second comprising 25 other countries. It calculated that Japan’s seafood exports fell by 19 percent in 2021, or US$259 million.

Different impacts
Public opinion after the Fukushima wastewater is discharged will have different impacts on the import and export trade of seafood for each country, especially for countries which trade with Japan.

What people think (about the discharge) is closely related to the amount of Japanese seafood imported by each country. The higher the amount of Japanese seafood imported by a particular country, the more negative public opinion is likely to be, according to computer modelling.

Japanese imports of seafood will also be reduced, predicts the computer model. However, the amount of reduction depends on how well the Japanese public accepts local seafood after the discharge of the nuclear wastewater.

The Japanese government has announced it will spend US$260 million to buy local seafood products if domestic sales are affected by the release of Fukushima wastewater.

If the Japanese public is more accepting of seafood caught in waters around the discharge area, seafood imports from other countries to Japan will likely fall. However, if public opinion does not go this way, Japan will have to import more seafood to meet local demand.

Reduced imports
If 40 percent of the reduction in Japanese seafood exports is absorbed by its own market, the modelling shows this would result in a US$272 million reduction in Japanese seafood imports from other countries.

The table pictured above from the computer model shows the predicted decrease in the trade volume of seafood exports from 25 countries to Japan. The impact of seafood exported to Japan is also related to the community classification.

Countries in the same community as Japan show a more significant reduction in their seafood exports to Japan while countries not in the same community have less impact. The planned Fukushima nuclear wastewater disposal will mainly affect countries in the same seafood trading community as Japan.

These countries will see more significant reductions in their imports of Japanese seafood and in the exports of their seafood to Japan compared to countries in other communities.

Ming Wang is a doctoral candidate in econometrics, complex networks and multi-modal transportation at the School of Maritime Economics and Management, Dalian Maritime University, China. He declares no conflict of interest. Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info via Wansolwara.

Breaking down barriers between Pacific islands to spur economic development, visioning 21st century skills that island youth must have for jobs locally or globally, action needed to reverse the non-communicable disease pandemic sweeping the region, and reinventing governance systems for governments to successfully navigate the future of their nations — these are among priority issues that Dr Transform Aqorau believes need to be on the agenda for island leaders.

But for the most part they are not in the conversation.

“There isn’t enough discussion about the future,” said Dr Aqorau, who took up the Solomon Islands National University’s vice-chancellor position in January.

Dr Aqorau was in Majuro recently for the official opening of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement or PNA Office. He was the founding chief executive of the PNA Office from 2010-2016, guiding it from a decision of the leaders on paper to establish the first office of the PNA to becoming one of the most powerful fisheries organisations in the world.

“This is a conversation that isn’t just for universities,” he said. “Governments need to be discussing their vision for the future and work in tandem with national universities.”

It was not simply a theoretical exercise. The conversation could have much needed practical impact on islands in the region, he said.

PNA model ‘has clout’
The PNA model had shown the clout of a regional effort and the governance systems that supported the vision of the nine nations involved in PNA, he said.

“All Pacific islands need to create opportunities in agriculture, fisheries, tourism and other areas,” he said. “It’s difficult, but in the region, we should ask ourselves: What kind of collective brand can we create?”

He thinks the Pacific could offer itself to visitors as a tourism package, not in competition with one another.

“What did we learn from covid?” he asked. “Those that relied on one thing, such as tourism, struggled.”

“We shouldn’t see ourselves as separate. Instead, we should see ourselves as a single economic bloc (and by doing so) we could help ourselves more (during times like the covid pandemic).”

Tourism and trading blocs would work to the advantage of different islands, combined with technology and educational initiatives.

“In our Blue Continent, we should tear down national barriers and work together,” he said.

‘What future for our children?’
“If we don’t do these things for the people, respect for governments as institutions will decline. We need to be asking: What is the future we want for our children?”

Pacific youth should have global skills so they are citizens of the world, Dr Aqorau said.

Seeing NCDs undermine the health of people across the Pacific is great concern too Aqorau. “We need to manufacture our own healthy snacks and alternative foods from our own resources,” he said.

Governments need to get behind incentivising production of island “super foods” and phasing out imported junk food to attack the health crisis “so our next generation can live healthy like their forefathers”, he said.

“These are conversations with impact,” said Dr Aqorau. “They create jobs.”

He expressed worry about the present levels of governance in the region.

“Current structures of government are not working,” he said. “I don’t see their ability to manage this change unless there is a foundational change in the way governments are designed.”

Worsening corruption
He said he saw worsening corruption undermining governance in the region.

“I see increasing alienation of people and increased power in small groups of elite,” Aqorau said, adding that in the present governance environment there was “no way for youth and women to be involved.”

PNA was a shining example of governance that benefited people in the region, he said.

But in the area of resource extraction aside from fisheries — logging and forestry, fossil fuels, mineral mining and deepsea mining — there were no comparable levels of governance.

“PNA shows there is a lot that we can do with forestry, deep sea mining and other extraction resources,” he said.

“We need governance systems in place so we are not exploited. But it’s happening [exploitation] in forestry.”

In the context of the geopolitical competition that is putting additional stress on governance in the islands, Dr Aqorau offered this suggestion to donors.

“Instead of donating things we don’t need that add a level of burden on island countries, support constitutional reforms in governance.”

Dr Aqorau believes that “it won’t always be like this. Young people will demand change”.

Republished with permission.

Malake villagers in the Ra of western Fiji have flocked to their polling station eager to vote for a government who will have the interests of their community.

Nailati Rogolea, who ferried his entire family yesterday on a fiberglass boat to Malake Island from their settlement in Naria, said choosing the next government that could address issues they faced was important to his family.

“We want to choose someone that will not only listen to their people but also look after them,” he said.

• READ MORE: Other Fiji elections reports

“The previous government has been good. They have done a lot but there is still a lot to be done to help us.

“For example, I am a boat owner and this is my main source of income.

“There is no proper jetty at the Malake landing where my people often come to rest and wait for the next boat to take them to the island.

“We have waves coming into the village and threatening houses near the shore.

Every day life affected
“Some of these things are affecting every day life in the village.

“So we need someone that will help us get the work done.”

Also accompanying Rogolea was Inise Verevune who agreed that the Malake jetty did not have proper facilities to cater for their people.

“We need a place to come and rest while waiting for our boat to the island,” he said.

“This is why I wanted to come and vote.

“I want a government that can help us.”

Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Indonesia has lodged a diplomatic protest with Papua New Guinea after the alleged shooting of an Indonesian fishing boat captain within the PNG-Indonesia border last week.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape yesterday confirmed an investigation is being conducted into the shooting.

“PNG will be conducting a full investigation into this matter and will inform the nation and Indonesia government too as to what happened,” Marape said.

• READ MORE: Post-Courier editorial: Border patrol by soldiers or navy must be taken seriously
• Other PNG border reports

The fishing vessel was allegedly shot at by a PNG Defence Force Guardian-class patrol boat within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of PNG.

The fishing vessel escaped back to Merauke in Papua with the body of its captain while two other boats were rounded up and escorted to Port Moresby.

The Australian government has denied any involvement in the incident and in any recent joint fishing patrols with PNG.

The vessel that was shot at has been identified as KMN Calvin 02 with the captain of the vessel also identified by the Indonesian authorities.

Two other boats detained
It is reported that two other vessels have been detained by the PNGDF — the KMN Arsila 77 with a crew of seven and KMN Baraka Paris with a crew of six.

Indonesian Ambassador to PNG Andriana Supandy has already communicated with various PNG government officials.

The Indonesian Embassy in Port Moresby has also submitted an official diplomatic note to convey Indonesia’s various concerns.

The boats arrived in Port Moresby at midday yesterday and are being processed at the PNGDF Basilisk base.

On board these two vessels are 13 Indonesian fishermen who have also been detained.

In an interview with the Post-Courier, Ambassador Supandy said he had been advised that the boat crews would be prosecuted.

But the Indonesian government was still demanding an official explanation and a report which has not been received since their request for an investigation.

Indonesia summons officials
Ambassador Supandy said the Indonesian government had summoned PNG officials in Jakarta for an immediate investigation into this fatal shooting.

“Considering the strong and excellent bilateral relations between Indonesia and PNG, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia stands ready to proactively cooperate in the due process of law with the Government of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea,” Supandy said.

Last Thursday, Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry summoned the PNG interim charge d’Affairs in Jakarta to convey a demand for comprehensively investigating the shooting incident by PNG security forces that had killed an Indonesian fisherman.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeks an explanation from the Papua New Guinea government regarding the shooting incident and presses for a thorough investigation and strict punishment to be applied if procedural violations are found, including the possibility of excessive use of force,” said Judha Nugraha, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens.

The last such shooting incident happened in 2006 with then Deputy PM Don Polye saying at the time that there would be an inquiry into the incident.

An Indonesian fisherman was shot with further three wounded in the incident.

Miriam Zarriga and Gorethy Kenneth are PNG Post-Courier reporters. Republished with permission.

The alleged shooting of Indonesian fishermen by Papua New Guinean soldiers last week where one Indonesian was reportedly killed is a very serious matter and must be attended to immediately.

Prime Minister James Marape has given word that an investigation will be carried out to ascertain the facts behind the shooting.

Mr Marape said: “PNG will be conducting a full investigation into this matter and will inform the nation and Indonesia government too as to what happened.”

• READ MORE: Other PNG border reports

We hope the investigation that the PNG Defence Force Commander starts should include him urging his senior officers to quickly identify who among the soldiers had to use such extreme force in such a situation and the correct penalty should be placed on all who were responsible.

A few months back, a report came from the PNG-Solomons border where members of Solomon Islands police force forced a PNG fisherman to jump off his canoe and swim to shore.

Such bad tactics of border police officers or soldiers must be stopped by all governments, the PNG government or its neighbours.

The police and Defence Force hierarchies must monitor those officers who are patrolling the borders, whether at the western end or eastern end, are at all times aware of the rules and regulations that they should follow in policing the waters.

At no time, and under no circumstance, should an officer point a gun at a civilian, a fisherman or border crosser from either side of the border as part of conducting a routine check.

There is no need to threaten anyone with a gun, much less discharge a firearm.

Those fishermen or travellers are not terrorists or robbers.

They are not pirates, they are working people who may have got to the wrong side of the border.

The top hierarchies of the forces engaged in border patrols must also ensure that the soldiers or police officers engaged in such duties as policing a border must be the most intelligent of the lot, not some new graduate or someone with a bad history.

In these pandemic days where stress levels are high and opportunities for simple people to make ends meet are scarce, extreme care too much be taken by military or police personnel when conducting a check on a vessel.

Refrain from always using a firearm to make a point. Refrain from unnecessarily discharging a firearm.

Use your head and heart to do your job and do it properly.

We all hope that the investigation into the matter regarding the PNG soldiers and Indonesian fishermen is commenced quickly to hold people responsible with appropriate penalties to be effected forthwith.

The PNG Post-Courier editorial published today, 29 August 2022. Republished with permission.

Fiji police have evicted two Chinese defence attaches from a Pacific Islands Forum summit in Suva while US Vice-President Kamala Harris was delivering a virtual address, reports The Guardian Australia.

Kate Lyons, editor of The Guardian’s Pacific Project, reported that the the men were present at a session of the Forum Fisheries Agency when Harris announced the step-up of US engagement in the region, “believed to be in response to China’s growing influence”.

According to The Guardian, the officials had been sitting with the media contingent, but one was identified as a Chinese embassy officer by Lice Movono, an independent Fiji journalist who has been covering the forum for the Australian edition of the newspaper.

• READ MORE: US announces major Pacific push, embassies in Tonga, Kiribati
• Climate crisis top Pacific agenda item and it’s a security issue, says Ardern
• $10m climate funding to support Pacific seed crops
• More Pacific Islands Forum summit leaders pull out as crisis grows
• Pacific Islands Forum ‘on course’ as China issue casts shadow
• Kiribati exit from Pacific forum ‘out of order’, says founding president
• Other Pacific Islands Forum reports

“Movono said she ‘recognised him because I’ve interacted with him at least three times already’, including during the visit of the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, to Suva last month, at which journalists were removed from events and blocked from asking questions,” The Guardian report said.

“‘He was one of the people that was removing us from places and directing other people to remove us,’ she said. ‘So I went over to him and asked: “Are you here as a Chinese embassy official or for Xinhua [Chinese news agency], because this is the media space. And he shook his head as if to indicate that he didn’t speak English”.’

Movono alerted Fijian protocol officers, who told her to inform Fijian police, who then escorted the two men from the room. They did not answer questions from media, reported The Guardian.

Diplomatic sources later confirmed that the men were a defence attache and a deputy defence attache from China, and part of the embassy in Fiji, The Guardian said.

The report highlighted the intense geopolitical rivalry over growing Chinese influence in the region.

• Full report on The Guardian’s Pacific Project pages

Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio will attend the Pacific Islands Forum in Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s stead as she recovers from covid-19.

In a statement confirming the move this afternoon Aupito, who is also the Associate Foreign Minister, said he looked forward to the opportunity to talanoa with Pacific Island counterparts at the forum in Fiji next week.

“This will be the first in-person meeting of Forum Foreign Ministers since 2019,” he said.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific Islands Forum reports

“It has been challenging to bring all ministers together given the impact of the global pandemic and a number of national elections under way in the Pacific, but this talanoa is essential for our region.”

Mahuta said the forum was at the heart of New Zealand’s engagement with the Pacific, and this meeting came at a “critical time” considering the climate change challenge.

She confirmed over the weekend she had tested positive for covid-19, and would be unable to attend.

Aupito said the response to broader security challenges — including maritime surveillance and illegal fishing — economic resilience, and natural disaster response were also pressing issues that would be discussed.

The Forum will also be attended by heads of state, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Leaders’ meetings will take place from Monday to Thursday next week, July 11-14.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The global community needs to “be inspired” to defend the world’s oceans ahead of the second United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon at the end of the month, a Fijian policymaker says.

Fisheries Minister Semi Koroilavesau said the Pacific could not protect its greatest resource through advocacy and action on its own.

Safeguarding the ocean and its resources against future dangers “to make it truly sustainable” will require the “entire world” to show more commitment, Koroilavesau said.

• READ MORE: Other Blue Pacific articles

A former Navy commander and a self-professed marine advocate, he believes Pacific people’s future will be secured if “we will take whatever actions we must take”.

There are “enormous challenges before us and we need to turn our hopes into genuine ambition” to boost ocean action in the Blue Pacific, he told participants attending the World Oceans Day celebrations in Suva on Wednesday.

“As stewards of the Ocean, our task is to lead, to be a beacon of Blue leadership that inspires the world to turn away from the model of development that harms our ocean and threatens to strip off our life given resources,” he said.

This year’s theme for the international day — marked annually on June 8 — is “Revitalisation: Collective Action for the Ocean”.

Collaboration called for
Koroilavesau said it calls for “wider commitment” and urged stakeholders to collaborate to realise the changes necessary to protect the ocean.

“Our shared commitment towards collaboration will inspire and ignite actions that will certainly benefit us and our future generations,” he said, adding “the health and wellbeing of the Pacific Ocean and “the state of our climate are an interconnected system.”

The Pacific Ocean spans approximately 41 million square kilometres and is a fundamental part of the livelihoods and identity of the Pacific people.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) deputy director-general Dr Filimon Manoni said the ocean was at the heart of the region’s geography and its cultures.

“It’s all we have…[and] all we return to in times of need, either for daily sustenance, for economic development, and nation building aspirations,” Dr Manoni said.

“We are inextricably linked to the ocean in all aspects of our everyday life.”

The ocean is home to almost 80 percent of all life on Earth. But its state is in decline, as it faces a range of threats due to human activity.

Critical year for the ocean
“Its health and ability to sustain life will only get worse as the world population grows and human activities increase,” the United Nations has said.

This year 2022, therefore, is regarded as a critical year for the ocean and an opportunity to reset the global ocean agenda at the Portugal conference.

This week, regional stakeholders gathered in Suva during the fourth Pacific Ocean Alliance (POA) meeting convened by the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) to prepare for the UN conference.

The gathering was scheduled to align with the World Oceans Day to drive regional and global awareness of the region’s priorities for global ocean action, according to OPOC.

Over two days, the alliance aimed to identify the collective priorities for ocean action and approaches to drive global support.

Ocean’s Commissioner and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna said “much has evolved” since the last time the Alliance met in 2019, prior to the covid-19 pandemic.

Puna said the region now finds itself “in a much more contested and challenging environment…faced with heightened geostrategic competition” as it “navigates the impacts of a global pandemic”.

Ocean health still suffers
“Yet the health of our ocean and indeed our planet continues to suffer as a result of climate change and other anthropogenic depressions,” he said.

“This challenging context will place significant pressure on our ability to realise our political and sustainable development aspirations.”

Several high-level ocean-related events have already been held this year with the Our Ocean Conference in Palau in April and the One Ocean Conference hosted by France in May.

Puna is expecting the conversations held during the POA meeting will strengthen the Pacific’s collective vision to conserve and sustainably use the world’s oceans and marine resources.

“I am hopeful that this gathering of the POA will provide an opportunity for us all to share our experiences and reflect on how we can work together, how we can collaborate and engage better, and how we can do more to ensure the health and survival of our ocean,” he said.

The UN Oceans Conference will be held from June 27 to July 1.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

China has been successful in signing multiple bilateral agreements with almost a dozen Pacific Island nations during its Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to the region.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi started his region-wide tour last Thursday in Solomon Islands and has since met Pacific leaders from Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands and Vanuatu.

He is on his final lap as he wraps up with visits to Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste today and tomorrow.

• READ MORE: China wanted a swift diplomatic victory in the Pacific – but Pacific leaders won’t be rushed
• RSF condemns Chinese curb on reporters during Pacific island tour
• Other China in the Pacific reports

Beijing’s approach has alarmed Pacific geopolitics-watchers as well as its traditional Western partners, who are cautioning Pacific nations to tread carefully when entering into deals with China, particularly in the sensitive area of security.

But the Asian superpower has declared its efforts to strengthen its relationship with the region does not have any political strings attached to it, even as its efforts to win-over Pacific foreign ministers over a multilateral trade and security deal received a major pushback, which is being seen as a “a big win” for the region.

However, Wang has struck several development agreements focusing on economy, health, disaster response, and technology, among others during his whirlwind visit to enhance China-Pacific Island countries relations.

Here is what we know so far:

Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands has been at the centre of regional political debate for the past few weeks because it signed up a controversial security agreement with China.

Aside from that deal, Beijing and Honiara signed up further mutual development cooperation agreements in the areas of economic cooperation, health cooperation, sectorial cooperation. These include:

• Non-Reciprocal Trade Arrangements.
• Visa waiver exemption agreement for diplomats, officials/service and Public Affairs passport holders for China.
• Civil Aviation Agreement.
• Memorandom of Understanding (MoU) on health between Solomon Islands China .
• Exchanged letters for construction of National Referral Hospital Comprehensive Medical Center.
• MoU on Disaster Risk Reduction.
• MoU between the two countries ministries of commerce on Deepening Blue Economy Cooperation to open up cooperation on infrastructure, marine industries, energy amongst other sectors.
• Commitment to complete 2023 Pacific Games facility and training Solomon Islands sportspeople for the Games.

“The two countries reaffirm their commitments to work together on all issues of mutual concerns,” Solomon Islands government said in a statement.

There was speculation that Kiribati was the potential target for the security pact.

But there were agreements formalised on security.

The Kiribati government confirmed the discussions, instead, ranged from China’s readiness to assist on climate action, covid-19, medical cooperation, and fisheries production and processing to maximise Kiribati’s benefits from our abundant resources.”

Up to 10 bilateral agreements were signed between the two countries in a range of areas. These included:

• Further elevating cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiaitve.
• 2022 Economic and Development Cooperation.
• Livelihood projects.
• Climate Change.
• Disaster Risk Reduction.
• Buota Bridge and adjacent road infrastructure development.
• Tourism.
• Protocols on Dispatching Medical Teams.
• Marine Transportation for the Line Islands.
• Covid-19 medical supplies.

“In just slightly over two years after the resumption of our diplomatic ties, both our countries have embarked on a very fruitful cooperation to cultivate our bilateral relations. These projects will deliver meaningful and tangible impacts on the lives of our people,” Kiribati president Taneti Maaau said.

Analysis – China has been successful in signing multiple bilateral agreements with almost a dozen Pacific Island nations during its foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to the region.https://t.co/FXJK9wRStu

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) June 3, 2022

Samoa
In his stopover at Samoan, Wang signed three agreements. These were:

• Economic & Technical Cooperation Agreement for projects to be determined and mutually agreed between the respective Countries.
• Handover Certificate for the completed Arts & Culture Centre and the Samoa-China Friendship Park.
• Exchange of Letters for the Fingerprint laboratory for Police complementary to the construction of the Police Academy.

Samoan prime minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa said the bilateral cooperation agreements were initiated “a number of years ago” and were not new development.

Fiame has also labelled China’s proposal to push through its multilateral economic and security deal “abnormal” and such an agreement could not be agreed to if the “region has not met to discuss it.”

Fiji
China has enjoyed much favour in its relationship with Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. This trip was no different.

According to China’s Ambassador to Fiji, the two countries signed three agreements focusing on economic cooperation but further details were not provided.

Wang said after meeting with Bainimarama: “Our two sides agreed to further synergise our strategies, expand cooperation in economy, trade, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, civil aviation, education, law enforcement and emergency management and other areas within the framework of Blet and Road cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.”

Bainimarama stressed the two countries “have a solid foundation”.

He downplayed the geopolitical tussle taking place in the region between Beijing and Western countries as the most central issue facing the region.

He reinforced that climate change was the greatest threat facing the Pacific and sought greater commitment from China on climate action.

“I’ve sought stronger Chinese commitment to keep 1.5 alive, end illegal fishing, protect the #BluePacific’s ocean, and expand Fijian exports,” he said via a Tweet.

The Pacific needs genuine partners, not superpowers that are super-focussed on power. At an excellent meeting with Minister Wang Yi, I’ve sought stronger Chinese commitment to keep 1.5 alive, end illegal fishing, protect the #BluePacific‘s ocean, and expand Fijian exports. pic.twitter.com/vBSVJtDf6a

— Frank Bainimarama (@FijiPM) May 30, 2022

Tonga
Wang arrived at Nuku’alofa on Tuesday, where he met with King Tupou VI, Tongan prime minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, and minister for foreign affairs Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu.

The Tongan government announced it had signed “several bilateral agreements” with China after discussions focusing on mutual respect and the common interest of the people of the two countries.

• MoU on Cooperation in the Area of Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response.
• MoU on Deepening Blue Economy Cooperation.
• Handover Certificate on the China-Aid Non-intrusive Imaging Inspection Equipment Project to Tonga Customs.
• Letter of Exchanges on the Provision of One Fingerprint Examination Laboratory.
• MoU on the Grant-Aid Assistance provided by Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China to the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga in 2022.
• Agreement for the Peripheral Area of Mala’ekula Royal Tomb Improvement Project.

According to the China’s foreign ministry, China and Tonga “reached extensive consensus on deepening cooperation in various fields and advancing Belt and Road cooperation, and signed a batch of economic cooperation agreements.”

RNZ Pacific’s Tonga correspondent Kalafi Moala said China has been behind many development projects in the Kingdom.

“There’s been a lot of local developments in Tonga by the Chinese, and that includes the restoration of Nukualofa since the riots of 2006 and we still have a loan from China that we still need to make payments on, it’s about $118 million dollars,” Moala said.

Vanuatu
Vanuatu was Wang’s sixth stopover.

He met with prime minister Bob Loughman and his cabinet ministers on Wednesday, where the two countries finalised cooperation agreements in the areas of economic technology, medical and health case, and marine economy.

No further details on the agreements have been provided.

In a statement, China’s foreign ministry said Loughman “spoke highly of the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China with Xi Jinping at its core.”

Loughman, on the other hand, said China “has proved to be a true friend of Vanuatu with concrete actions”.

He “firmly believes that cooperation with China will better help PICs seize development opportunities, and will further enhance bilateral cooperation between PICs and China.

Loughman has also indicated his government’s full support towards China’s “important role” in the region and its plans to expand its common development vision with Pacific Island countries.

Cook Islands (Virtual)
Wang met Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown on Thursday.

Brown said China was willing to discuss and plan the next step of cooperation according to the development needs of the Cook Islands.

According to Wang, the two sides could expand cooperation in tourism, infrastructure and education at the sub-national level to help the economic recovery of the Cook Islands.

“China is also willing to discuss and conduct more trilateral cooperation on the basis of past successful experience,” he said.

Brown said, “the Cook Islands firmly believes that the future of the Cook Islands is closely tied to China, and is ready to work with China to push for even greater development of bilateral relations in the next 25 years.”

“The Cook Islands attaches great importance to the China-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers’ Meeting mechanism and the next cooperation initiatives proposed by China,” he said.

Although there were no details for any formal agreements signed, China’s foreign ministry said “the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in Chinese language education, support and encourage young people in the Cook Islands to learn Chinese, and cultivate more friendly envoys”, adding “Both sides agreed to continue to support each other in the international community.”

Niue (Virtual)
Premier of Niue Dalton Tagelagi said Beijing had “made positive contributions towards Niue’s prosperity” and it is “pleased” the relationship between the two nations continues to grow.

“We will continue to progress our close relationship and friendship with China to further advance bilateral relations and achieve common development and prosperity,” Premier Tagelagi said.

“Joint initiatives with China, such as roading and other strategic development and investment opportunities, will ultimately improve the quality of life for everyone in Niue and are part of Niue’s key aspiration toward self-sufficiency. China has heard Niue’s call, and we are very grateful for that.”

He said Nuie “supports in principle” China’s proposal in investing in common development and prosperity in the region.

“We would like time to consider how the arrangement with China will support existing regional plans to ensure that our priorities are aligned and will be beneficial for all of us for regional prosperity.

“I am confident that Niue’s officials will work together to ensure that the final document will reflect our shared vision,” he said.

A working Sunday afternoon today @ForumSEC w the visit from the State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs of China, HE Wang Yi. Partnerships are fundamental to the realisation of our priorities but they must be built on mutual respect and joint collaboration. #BluePacific pic.twitter.com/PRuilRmGb5

— Sec-General of the @ForumSec, @PacOceanComm (@henrytpuna) May 29, 2022

Regional reactions
University of Hawai’is Centre for Pacific Studies associate professor Tarcisius Kabutaulaka said: “China’s rise has changed international geopolitics and its increased presence is changing the dynamics of Pacific regionalism.”

He believed countries in the region need to work out how to better manage the power imbalance in their relationships with China.

“The issue for me is that how do we manage that? How are we aware of that huge force in the form of China? And how do we manage that in ways that will benefit us and here I mean Pacific Island countries,” Dr Kabutaulaka said.

Former Fiji prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka warned against “new influences” coming into the South Pacific.

Rabuka said the Pacific was comfortable with the relationships it had had with traditional partners in Australia and New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

“New influences will probably take us time to get used to. I am hopeful that the government of our friends of our joint development partners will continue to help us as we try to map our way forward,” he said.

Former Tuvalu prime minister Enele Sopoaga said the growing influence on China in the Pacific was a “scary development” for the region.

Sopoaga said Pacific nations were being used as “canary in the coal mine.”

“The decision to take the draft [Common Development Vision] is up to individual respective countries in the Pacific. But I think this is a rather scary development that we are hearing about now,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

As world leaders meet in Glasgow for the UN Climate Summit (COP26), peaceful environmental activists are being threatened, silenced and criminalised around the world.

The host nation Scotland for this year’s meeting is one of many countries where activists are regularly facing rights violations.

New research from the CIVICUS Monitor looks at the common tactics and restrictions being used by governments and private companies to suppress environmental movements.

• READ MORE: Other COP26 climate reports

The research brief “Defenders of our planet: Resilient in the face of restrictions” focuses on three worrying trends:

• Bans and restrictions on protests;
• Judicial harassment and legal persecution; and
• The use of violence, including targeted killings.

As the climate crisis intensifies, activists and civil society groups continue to mobilise to hold policymakers and corporate leaders to account.

From Brazil to South Africa, activists are putting their lives on the line to protect lands and to halt the activities of high-polluting industries.

Severe rights abuses
The most severe rights abuses are often experienced by civil society groups that are standing up to the logging, mining and energy giants who are exploiting natural resources and fueling global warming.

As people take to the streets, governments have been instituting bans that criminalise environmental protests. Recently governments have used covid-19 as a pretext to disrupt and break up demonstrations.

Data from the CIVICUS Monitor indicates that the detention of protesters and the use of excessive force by authorities are becoming more prevalent.

In Cambodia in May 2021, three environmental defenders were sentenced to 18 to 20 months in prison for planning a protest against the filling of a lake in the capital.

In Finland in June, more than 100 activists were arrested for participating in a protest calling for the government to take urgent action on climate change.

From authoritarian countries to mature democracies, the research also profiles those who have been put behind bars for peacefully protesting.

“Silencing activists and denying them of their fundamental civic rights is another tactic being used by leaders to evade and delay action on climate change,” says Marianna Belalba Barreto, lead researcher for the CIVICUS Monitor.

Troubling indicator
“Criminalising nonviolent protests has become a troubling indicator that governments are not committed to saving the planet.”

The report shows that many of the measures being deployed by governments to restrict rights are not compatible with international law. Examples of courts and legislative bodies reversing attempts to criminalise nonviolent climate protests are few and far between.

Despite the increased risks and restrictions facing environmental campaigners, the report also shows that a wide range of campaigns have scored important victories, including the closure of mines and numerous hazardous construction projects.

Equally significant has been the rise of climate litigation by activist groups.

As authorities take activists to court for exercising their fundamental right to protest, activist groups have successfully filed lawsuits against governments and companies in more than 25 countries for failing to act on climate change.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and more than 60 environmental journalists of 34 different nationalities have appealed for respect for the right to cover environmental issues.

These journalists — who are from every part of the world and every kind of media, and who have all kinds of backgrounds and political views — have joined RSF in signing an unprecedented appeal coinciding with COP26 entitled “Climate emergency, journalism emergency”.

Men and women, some of them environmental experts and some of them more general reporters, some with a long history of covering “green” issues and some covering the environment more recently as it has become an increasingly alarming news story, they have denounced the obstacles that limit the right to provide information about these issues.

• READ MORE: Red alert for green journalism — 10 environmental reporters killed in 10 years
• Other COP26 climate reports

Climate change is crucial for all humankind.

The petitioners are asking governments to officially recognise that the right to information about these issues is inherent in the right to a healthy environment and the right to health.

The first journalists signing the appeal include Gaëlle Borgia, a 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner based in Madagascar, France’s Morgan Large, a food industry specialist, Russia’s Grigory Pasko, an RSF Press Freedom laureate who was awarded the Sakharov Prize in 2002, India’s Soulik Dutta, an expert in energy and land issues, South Africa’s Khadija Sharife, who investigates environmental crimes, and Lucien Kosha, a freelancer covering mining in the DRC.

Most of them have signed on an individual basis but the staff at some news organisations have wanted to sign collectively.

Environmental teams
This was the case with Afaq Environmental Magazine, a Palestinian media outlet, and Reporterre, a French news site covering environmental issues.

Crucially, the appeal points out that, although the right to cover environmental issues was established as a principle as early as the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, this right is still not being respected.

The signatories report that, in many countries, it is still very difficult to obtain information and scientific data about the environment, although such information is of paramount public interest. Their coverage can help change behaviour and help combat the unprecedented threat posed by global warming.

“Nearly 30 years after the right to cover environmental issues was proclaimed in the United Nations Earth Summit declaration in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, this right must finally become a reality, it must finally be applied and respected without exception, as something that is self-evident,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.

“At the hour of the climate emergency, this is a journalistic emergency. Environmental coverage is now vital.”

The dangers linked to covering environmental issues in some parts of the world has led to the killing of at least 21 journalists in the past 20 years for investigating these sensitive issues.

RSF and the journalists signing the appeal have also called for concrete implementation of international law on the protection of journalists.

For more information, see RSF’s report on the persecution of environmental journalists.

Auckland-based Pacific Media Watch is a collaborating project with Reporters Without Borders.

• Sign the citizen petition in support of the appeal Climate emergency, information emergency!

The story of how the Marshall Islands went from being a bystander in commercial fishing in the Pacific to operating the world’s busiest tuna trans-shipment port, two fish processing facilities, a purse seine vessel net repair yard, and a fleet of locally-flagged and based fishing vessels is documented in a groundbreaking new book.

Our Ocean’s Promise: From Aspirations to Inspirations — The Marshall Islands Fishing Story is a 196-page overview of the Marshall Islands expanding engagement in the tuna fishery value chain.

The book documents how the Marshall Islands has benefitted from purse seine fishery revenue rising from about US$4 million annually to more than $30 million a year since 2010 through the country’s participation in Parties to the Nauru Agreement’s (PNA) globally recognised conservation and management regime that ensures sustainable fishing as well as dramatically increasing the islands’ share of tuna revenue.

• READ MORE: Other books and video reviews

“I personally witnessed the transformation in Marshall Islands’ fisheries through the collective endeavors of the PNA grouping of countries that control most of the tuna that is taken in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean,” Dr Transform Aqorau, the founding PNA CEO, writes in a foreword to the new book.

“As host of the PNA Office, the Marshall Islands was instrumental in promoting the PNA purse seine Vessel Day Scheme, and was a vociferous advocate of the PNA initiatives.”

Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority Director Glen Joseph conceived the idea for a book narrating the history of commercial fishing in this central Pacific nation.

A partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency provided necessary support for the work on the book that was researched and written by Giff Johnson, long-time editor of the Marshall Islands Journal, the weekly newspaper published in Majuro.

‘Document our story’
Joseph recognised the FFA for its key role in supporting MIMRA “to document our story in the region”.

While the book takes the reader on a journey that begins in the 1920s, it focuses on the period from the late 1970s — as the Marshall Islands was gaining its independence and beginning to engage in the tuna fishery as a sovereign nation — to the present day.

It features a forward look at MIMRA’s latest initiatives to participate in the many levels of the tuna value chain, well beyond the limited role it once played as a collector of license fees from distant water fishing nations.

“The ‘oceanscape’ in 2021 is unrecognisable from the 1970s, with numerous opportunities at MIMRA’s doorstep and the agency well-prepared to pursue those opportunities,” writes Johnson in Our Ocean’s Promise.

“Our interest goes back to our humble beginning, and that is the ocean’s promise, which is our heritage, culture, food security, economic opportunity and highway to global engagement,” says Joseph in a quote from the new book. “All we aspire to is to sustainably and successfully manage our fishery.”

The book includes the first-ever detailed chronology of Marshall Islands and regional fisheries developments that catalogues the many challenges and roadblocks this nation and other independent Pacific islands faced as they worked to develop sovereign control first over their 200-mile exclusive economic zones and more recently to implement the PNA’s Vessel Day Scheme in order to shift the paradigm of the commercial fishery to one of rights-based management controlled by Pacific islands.

MIMRA will launch the new publication with a formal book ceremony in Majuro on October 8.

Marshall Islands President David Kabua is scheduled to keynote the launch event and FFA Director-General Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen is expected to deliver a virtual message to the programme.

• Our Ocean’s Promise: From Aspirations to Inspirations — The Marshall Islands Fishing, by Giff Johnson, Amazon Direct Kindle Publishing.

As we write this article, the delta strain of covid-19 is reminding the world the pandemic is far from over, with millions of Australians in lockdown and infection rates outpacing a global vaccination effort.

In the northern hemisphere, record breaking temperatures in the form of heat domes recently caused uncontrollable “firebombs”, while unprecedented floods disrupted millions of people.

Hundreds of lives have been lost due to heat stress, drownings and fire.

• READ MORE: The rise of ‘eco-anxiety’: climate change affects our mental health, too
• In a landmark judgment, the Federal Court found the environment minister has a duty of care to young people
• New polling shows 79 percent of Aussies care about climate change. So why doesn’t the government listen?

The twin catastrophic threats of climate change and a pandemic have created an “epoch of incredulity”. It’s not surprising many Australians are struggling to cope.

During the pandemic’s first wave in 2020, we collected nationwide data from 5483 adults across Australia on how climate change affects their mental health. In our new paper, we found that while Australians are concerned about covid-19, they were almost three times more concerned about climate change.

That Australians are very worried about climate change is not a new finding. But our study goes further, warning of an impending epidemic of mental health related disorders such as eco-anxiety, climate disaster-related post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and future-orientated despair.

Which Australians are most worried?
We asked Australians to compare their concerns about climate change, covid, retirement, health, ageing and employment, using a four-point scale (responses ranging from “not a problem” to “very much a problem”).

A high level of concern about climate change was reported across the whole population regardless of gender, age, or residential location (city or rural, disadvantaged or affluent areas). Women, young adults, the well-off, and those in their middle years (aged 35 to 54) showed the highest levels of concern about climate change.

The latter group (aged 35 to 54) may be particularly worried because they are, or plan to become, parents and may be concerned about the future for their children.

The high level of concern among young Australians (aged 18 to 34) is not surprising, as they’re inheriting the greatest existential crisis faced by any generation. This age group have shown their concern through numerous campaigns such as the School Strike 4 Climate, and several successful litigations.

Of the people we surveyed in more affluent groups, 78 percent reported a high level of worry. But climate change was still very much a problem for those outside this group (42 percent) when compared to covid-related worry (27 percent).

We also found many of those who directly experienced a climate-related disaster — bushfires, floods, extreme heat waves — reported symptoms consistent with PTSD. This includes recurrent memories of the trauma event, feeling on guard, easily startled and nightmares.

Others reported significant pre-trauma and eco-anxiety symptoms. These include recurrent nightmares about future trauma, poor concentration, insomnia, tearfulness, despair and relationship and work difficulties.

Overall, we found the inevitability of climate threats limit Australians’ ability to feel optimistic about their future, more so than their anxieties about COVID.

How are people managing their climate worry?
Our research also provides insights into what people are doing to manage their mental health in the face of the impending threat of climate change.

Rather than seeking professional mental health support such as counsellors or psychologists, many Australians said they were self-prescribing their own remedies, such as being in natural environments (67 percent) and taking positive climate action (83 percent), where possible.

Many said they strengthen their resilience through individual action (such as limiting their plastic use), joining community action (such as volunteering), or joining advocacy efforts to influence policy and raise awareness.

Indeed, our research from earlier this year showed environmental volunteering has mental health benefits, such as improving connection to place and learning more about the environment.

It’s both ironic and understandable Australians want to be in natural environments to lessen their climate-related anxiety. Events such as the mega fires of 2019 and 2020 may be renewing Australians’ understanding and appreciation of nature’s value in enhancing the quality of their lives.

There is now ample research showing green spaces improve psychological well-being.

An impending epidemic
Our research illuminates the profound, growing mental health burden on Australians.

As the global temperature rises and climate-related disasters escalate in frequency and severity, this mental health burden will likely worsen. More people will suffer symptoms of PTSD, eco-anxiety, and more.

Of great concern is that people are not seeking professional mental health care to cope with climate change concern. Rather, they are finding their own solutions. The lack of effective climate change policy and action from the Australian government is also likely adding to the collective despair.

As Harriet Ingle and Michael Mikulewicz — a neuropsychologist and a human geographer from the UK — wrote in their 2020 paper:

For many, the ominous reality of climate change results in feelings of powerlessness to improve the situation, leaving them with an unresolved sense of loss, helplessness, and frustration.

It is imperative public health responses addressing climate change at the individual, community, and policy levels, are put into place. Governments need to respond to the health sector’s calls for effective climate related responses, to prevent a looming mental health crisis.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline in Australia on 13 11 14.

By Dr Rhonda Garad, senior lecturer and research fellow in Knowledge Translation, Monash University; Dr Joanne Enticott, senior research fellow, Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI), Monash University, and Dr Rebecca Patrick, director, Sustainable Health Network, Deakin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Another 13 crew from the quarantined fishing vessel Viking Bay have tested positive to covid-19, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health says.

Two crew had previously been reported as confirmed with the virus.

All 15 mariners have been transferred to an a quarantine facility onshore in Wellington.

• READ MORE: 15-year-old girl among latest Fiji covid deaths as virus cases soar over 11,000
• Other Fiji covid crisis reports

Five remained on board to maintain the safety of the vessel and have returned negative test results so far. The ministry said they would be tested again in coming days.

Of the crew who had now returned a positive result, 12 were regarded as being in the early stages of their infection. One returned a result indicating either a very early infection or a historical infection.

The initial two mariners to test positive were in a group of nine who arrived in Auckland on 5 July without having to quarantine. They had provided negative covid-19 tests before they flew into Auckland and had been driven to New Plymouth as part of the ship’s crew change.

One of the crew was confirmed last week to have the delta variant. No link had been shown between this case and any other cases previously identified in New Zealand, the ministry said.

Genome sequencing begins
Genome sequencing of the 13 positive test results will begin today.

Slightly over half of the crew had been at sea since February.

The Viking Bay was anchored off the coast of Taranaki for almost a week after being denied permission to dock in New Plymouth, and sailed into Wellington on Monday.

The ministry said plans were in case any of the five crew members remaining on the Viking Bay developed symptoms or be confirmed with covid-19.

Bringing the ship back into port and transferring the crew to an onshore quarantine facility allowed the public health risks to be managed appropriately, and the crew to be kept in isolation until they had completed their 14 days isolation and recovered, the ministry said in a statement.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Three crew members from a Chinese-owned Fiji-flagged fishing vessel are being questioned by police after an alleged beheading at sea.

Six crew members from the vessel the FV Tiro II jumped overboard during the reported “violent incident” on Monday.

One person was  on board a liferaft, with the other five entering the water without lifejackets.

• READ MORE: Fiji Navy and RNZAF search for five missing fishing vessel crew members

The man in the liferaft has been found, with the Fijian Rescue Coordination Centre releasing photos of the moment he was located on Wednesday.

The Chinese-owned, Fiji-flagged tuna longliner Tiro II was found on Wednesday by the Orion about 90 nautical miles west of Fiji, with two crew members still onboard.

The Fijian Rescue Coordination Center has also released photos of the two men found on board the vessel being handed over to police.

After taking on water Thursday night, Tiro II sank yesterday morning.

3 survivors questioned
Fiji Navy commander Captain Humphrey Tawake said all three survivors were now being spoken to by the police in Suva in relation to the violence on board the trawler.

He said the search was continuing for the other crewmembers.

“They’ve been in the water since Monday, so your survival in the water without any lifesaving equipment is drastically reduced. But we remain optimistic,” he said.

Earlier, Captain Tawake told The Fiji Times newspaper they were aware of allegations that a Fijian national had beheaded a second Fijian national following a “heated argument”.

“However, we cannot comment on these allegations since police will carry out their own investigations to ascertain these claims,” he said.

“We are aware that part of the crew had jumped overboard while two remained on the vessel.”

An RNZAF Orion aircraft has also been helping in the search for the remaining five men.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

I am from the Papua New Guinea generation that was born in the 1980s, raised in the 1990s but neglected, cheated and robbed in 2000s.

We were sent to school to be educated. They told us if you work hard and do well in school, you will get a good job. That all will be well.

So with juvenile enthusiasm and youthful vigour, we went out to conquer academia. But at the turn of the last corner, a different destination awaited.

• READ MORE: Papua New Guineas in crisis over covid-19

Jobs were few. Nepotism had become entrenched. The economy wasn’t doing well. Tax was among the highest. Rent, utilities and cost of living had passed through the stratosphere!

Where is the promise? What happened to the dream? How did paradise go wrong?

Questions leading to more questions. We are told to just appreciate life, wake up at 6am, be at the office before 8am, give 40 hours of your life weekly for 50 weeks in a year, contribute to Nasfund, customary Obligations, “hevi” Pay Tax (which falls into a blackhole mostly) and die a sad miserable death after the struggle.

We’ve argued. We’ve protested. We’ve rallied. We’ve spoken out. On the streets. At private gatherings. On social media. But there is no change. It only gets worse.

More scandals… More abuse
More scandals. More deals. More abuse. More theft. A grim reality and a bleak future.

Papua New Guinea belongs to 9+ million people. Not only 111 home grown princes and kings (there are a few good men).

All lives should matter. Both in the Christian Context and our Melanesian Culture. Yet the system has been mutated to favor the haves. The elites. The connected. While sons and daughters of ordinary folks are left to scavenge and get by.

We fight for little contracts, compete for tea boy roles. While foreigners get mega kina contracts. The fishing, logging and mining permits. No downstream processing. It’s good for us but bad for them. So it must not happen.

Those connected get the top jobs. Get the good land while we live with mosquitoes in settlements and villages. We get by on minimum wage and high tax. Blackouts, POTHOLES, crowded classrooms and closed aid posts. Em normal ah?

When will this change? Who will change it? Our fathers came from the colonial era. Schooled by “masters” and disciplined by the “cane” to accept whatever treatment dished out by the powers that be.

Subconsciously, they passed this onto us. Unfortunate but inherent. Do we go on accepting all this? Are we spectators in another man’s land? Is this what we want the children we love and raise today to inherit tomorrow?

Change must come
Nay! No! Never! It must change. Change must come. Not through peaceful rallies and patriotic speeches. No! It must come through something more powerful and potent.

Change must come through the ballots. Yes. That’s how rubbish gets in. That’s how disaster is voted in. That’s how the status quo is maintained. And that’s how change must come!

I spent 17 years of my life to be a telecommunications engineer. I started out as a graduate engineer and worked hard because that is what I loved. Not to go sit in Parliament. But the way things are going, Parliament needs a complete overhaul. Because it affects everything that happens to us.

We are travelling in a bus on the journey of life. With our families and kantrimen. And the driver is drunk and careless. We cannot pretend all is well. Our families’ and our nation’s welfare is in the balance. We must act or crash! We must take back the driver’s seat!

Church, sports, work, farming, marketing, fishing and everything else will work well if the driver is sober and sound. Responsible and accountable. Parliament matters. It’s not a politician’s sport. It’s a country’s life.

But no. They come every 5 years and sponsor sports, donate to church groups, ground breaking and sky breaking ceremonies, lamb flaps, sips kola na 6 packs wantaim liklik koble and boom! We sell out future!

Issau, Jacob and the bowl of soup every 5 years. Then they go and deal with the foreigners, miners, loggers etc and sell our life, land and the future. And tax us heavily to redeem their carelessness and greed.

We are Melanesians
We are Melanesians. Our forefathers fought, killed and were killed protecting their land and families? Education was supposed to empower us. Not cage us. We pray for healing and deliverance.

While the enemy is actioning his faith by using money and getting results. No surprise there. Faith without action is dead. Israel left Egypt for their Promised Land. But they had to fight, die and struggle for that dream.

Not just pray for healing. Isn’t that our Christianity? Faith and action working in tandem to produce results?

There is work to be done. And it requires all of us. Not Highlanders, Coastals or Islanders. It requires All ye sons to Arise. We are not our own enemies. It’s not about you or me. No! Can’t we see what’s happening? They sponsor division and infighting to distract our attention while they help themselves to our resources and land.

Enough of our in-house issues. Let’s rise as Papua New Guineans. United in the effort to rescue, protect and preserve our land for us today and our children tomorrow.

While we still have the strength. My generation has to rise and take lead. Or tomorrow, our sons will complete college and clean a Chinese kaibar for minimum wage!

Politics affects everything. Look no further then the current covid-19 lockdown. You can say it’s fake. No to vaccines. Whatever. But 111 men sitting in an air conditioned building driving fancy cars and living the dream decide for 9+ million. So which is it?

Arise for #PNG4PNG
Young men and women must arise from all 4 corners of Papua New Guinea and unite with a single theme – PNG 4 PNG.

Government matters. It’s not for the wealthy and bigshots. It is where our land is protected or sold. Where our future is destroyed or preserved. We must complain less and start educating our families and communities. Get involved. It’s our land.

While soldiers are patrolling our borders from Vanimo to Daru, the real enemy is here with us. They don’t wear a uniform. They don’t carry guns. They use money to control elections and politicians.

We eat their money during elections and sell our land and future to their proxies. Their agents. Who come and promise to fight corruption and build a school. To alleviate our problems and give us the dream.

But they go in and serve the enemy. Why? Because they’re owned. Bought off and paid for. How gullible we are. Fighting for crumbs while they sit in restaurants and cut the biggest deals.

This has to stop. Good men still live here. My Land, My Future, My Vote – Not for Sale!

A new report has found that tuna fishing companies in the Pacific are doing little to stop slavery on their boats.

The canned tuna industry is rife with allegations of modern slavery in its Pacific supply chains, with little protection for workers from forced labour.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre report, All At Sea: Modern slavery in Pacific supply chains of canned tuna, surveyed dozens of the world’s largest canned tuna brands.

• READ MORE: Tuna fishing industry slavery allegations

While more than four in five of them have public commitments on workers’ human rights, this doesn’t translate into efforts to end slavery in their supply chains.

The covid-19 pandemic has also heightened the risk for workers of experiencing modern slavery.

New Zealand and other countries have been urged by the centre to legislate against products made using forced labour.

“Too many Pacific tuna fishermen that put food on our tables face abuse and confinement every day,” said Phil Bloomer, the executive director of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.

Failing to provide duty of care
“Put simply, the brands who put the cans on their shelves are failing to provide adequate duty of care to these workers who furnish their products.”

According to Bloomer, when the centre first approached these brands two years ago, many had made paper promises to improve their approach to human rights.

“Yet, two years on, the laggard companies have done next to nothing.

“This is not inevitable. A handful of companies – Tesco, Thai Union and Woolworths (Australia) – have shown it is both commercially viable and a moral imperative to emancipate workers caught in modern slavery.”

Only six companies of the original 35 surveyed by the centre have revised their human rights due diligence processes over the last two years: Ahold Delhaize, Coles, Conga Foods, Kaufland, REWE Group and Woolworths.

Bloomer said other brands must catch up and take urgent action to protect workers.

“Investors should also note that the laggards not only run major reputation risk, but also imminent legal risk as new laws in 2021 will leave their negligence exposed to legal challenge.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Docked and under some kind of arrest in Port Vila, Vanuatu, are two Chinese flagged fishing boats, allegedly caught in unauthorised waters.

Of course it makes headlines, but the truth here is decidedly murky.

The arrest of Donggongxing 13 and 16 is headline stuff; South Pacific nations seldom arrest Chinese boats. It causes too much trouble with Beijing.

• READ MORE: Vanuatu seizes Chinese fishing vessels
• Chinese vessels detained by Vanuatu, accused of fishing illegally

After all there are between 200 and 300 Chinese boats operating in Vanuatu’s 663,251 sq km exclusive economic zone. Few of them are ever seen in Vila or Luganville; they all operate out China’s biggest South Pacific fishing base – Suva, Fiji.

All of them are either longliners or purse seiners, taking tuna.

But not these arrested boats.

Now this is odd – this is a case of the arrests being less significant than the class of boat.

Known as ‘pot vessels’
In the Western and Central Pacific Fishing Commission (WCPFC) register of 3450 fishing boats there are just three – all three are Chinese – known as “pot vessels”.

The names of the exclusive three? Donggongxing 13, 16 and 17.

Why are the region’s only pot vessels sitting off Hiu in the Torres Islands?

The police map issued to the media shows they were arrested 32 km west of Hiu. That puts them inside Vanuatu’s territorial waters (not the EEZ) as defined by the Marine Zones Act 2018.

As the Global Fishing Watch screen grab shows, there are plenty of Chinese boats (out of Suva) around Hiu – in the EEZ but not in territorial waters. Even the Chinese avoid going into territorial waters; getting caught is too easy (especially if the French send a jet aircraft).

However, it should be noted that neither Donggongxing 13 nor 16 show up on Global Fishing Watch: they had their positioning systems switched off.

A tuna boat probably has no real reason to go into territorial waters, but WCPFC data gives a possible clue. The vessels were authorised to catch grouper and sea cucumber.

Both catches are lucrative
Although beche de mer and grouper are ocean species, they are also easy to catch closer to shore, inside territorial waters. It is why the Vietnamese “blue boats” were reaching into the South Pacific. Both catches are lucrative.

All three Donggongxing vessels are owned by Zhuhai Dong Gang Xing Long Distance Fishing Co. Beijing has given the relatively new company permission to fish in Mauritania in Africa, and Vanuatu.

Their permissions were given under the Chinese government’s “One Belt, One Road” (the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)).

Because China has given an international commitment to eventually cut back on building new fishing boats, Dong Gang Xing has been constructing them quickly. Ten are targeting for the Pacific.

And this is where it gets odd; the company says they have permission under BRI to build a base in Vanuatu.

Why they believe this is not clear. Vanuatu has not said anything but has instead arrested two boats.

But were the two boats in territorial waters because they believed that under the deal between Vila and Beijing, Chinese boats can now enter territorial waters?

And if so, is Vanuatu heading for a diplomatic row with China?

Michael Field, who writes for Nikkei Asia, has provided this article for Asia Pacific Report.

A Pacific-wide maritime surveillance operation this week discovered a few suspicious foreign vessels in Solomon waters.

The Pacific Islands Forum Agency (FFA) coordinates the surveillance operation with the Royal Australia Air Force (RAAF) supporting with one C-27J Spartan aircraft operating out of Solomon Islands.

After one of C-27J’s surveillance flights to the southern and western Exclusive Economic Zones of Solomon Islands on Tuesday, Flight Lieutenant Andrew Willersdorf said there were a few suspicious vessels spotted during the previous eight to nine days.

“Potentially there are a couple of suspicious vessels, which have been forwarded to FFA, so they would investigate further,” he said.

Tuesday’s surveillance flight was the eighth that Flight Lieutenant Willersdorf and his crew had made within Solomon Islands waters since this operation – known as Operation Kurukuru – began in mid-October.

A few local journalists were invited on board the flight last Tuesday which flew over the Indispensable Reefs, an uninhabited coral reef located about 50 km south of Rennell Island.

The six-hour surveillance flight was able to sight five fishing vessels which were all photographed and recorded as standard procedure.

Photographing fishing vessels
Flight Lieutenant Willersdorf said that what his team members normally do in a day was to photograph fishing vessels and gather intelligence which would then be taken back to FFA.

“FFA will then analyse those pictures along with the information we provided such as location, time and any activity that is happening on the boat at that time and they will make investigations further on that if they see any illegal activity or any unregulated fishing.

“It’s all part of a big effort for broader Pacific islands nations, including Solomon Islands, and working together to make sure that the EEZ are respected and that fishing is regulated to ensure sustainability for the future for the Solomon Islands and other Pacific islands nations,” he said.

Flight Lieutenant Willersdorf said Australia was proud to be able to assist in this operation and he thanked the FFA and Solomon Islands for hosting them for this period of the operation.

He said the Australian Defence Force was also happy to help with Operation Kurukuru.

Apart from the RAAF’s C-27J Spartan aircraft under Flight Lieutenant Willersdorf’s command, five other aircraft from the FFA and Quadrilateral regional partners of Australia, New Zealand, US plus France have been providing air surveillance under the Kurukuru Operation 2020 for FFA member countries including Solomon Islands.

The air surveillance by six aircraft was also conducting trials using satellites and emerging technologies.

In the sea, there were 12 Guardian class patrol boats from Pacific nations operating alongside five French Navy and US Coastguard vessels.

Operation Kurukuru 2020 has now ended.

The Pacific Media Centre republishes Island Sun articles with permission.

Hundreds of Russian fishing crew at a New Zealand covid isolation hotel in Christchurch are said to be in good spirits and those who have the virus are doing well.

Eighteen of the 237 foreign workers at the Sudima Hotel are infected with covid-19.

They will all be tested again today with more positive cases expected.

• READ MORE: NZ has 25 new covid cases – 23 at border, 2 related to port worker
• Covid-19 outbreak among Russian fishers at NZ isolation facility

Sealord is one of the three companies which bought the crew into the country to work on its deep-sea trawlers.

Chief executive Doug Paulin managed to speak to some of them yesterday.

“We’ve been able to find out that they’re feeling positive, they’re feeling well looked after.

“They appreciate the lengths that the facility are going to to make sure they’re kept isolated and that protocols are being followed.”

No ‘adverse affects’
Those who have tested positive are not feeling too unwell he said.

“As far as we know none of them have any significant adverse affects [and are] feeling very well-managed in that facility.”

Paulin said they understood they would probably have to stay in isolation longer.

That also meant the trawlers were left sitting in port but he said that was not the company’s top priority.

“Our concern is around the welfare of our crew, there will likely be a delay because the Ministry of Health need to work through everyone being covid-19 free before they leave the facility then it needs to be cleaned before the next plane arrives into the country.”

Anna Filippochkina from the Russian Cultural Centre in Christchurch is worried about the crew being sick so far from home.

She has not spoken to the crew directly but expects anyone in their situation would find it stressful.

“They might feel lonely, they don’t know what to expect in the future so support from the community is very important and that’s what we want to do.”

She said the Russian community is going to come up with a plan to make the workers feel more at home.

Next chartered flight may be delayed
Health Minister Chris Hipkins told RNZ Morning Report the next chartered flight, due on November 2, could be delayed.

“The next charter flight will not come to New Zealand until we have cleared this one which means that it will be delayed if we need to because we don’t want to overcrowd that facility,” he said

“There is a lot of cooperation from the fishing companies who are chartering these flights, bearing in mind that this is the facility that they are paying for, that this is 100 percent their cost and they are being cooperative.”

Hipkins said the ministry would need the majority of the crew currently staying at the Sudima to have been released before the next plane can arrive.

He said a review found all the PPE requirements had been met at the Sudima and the transport from the airport to the hotel.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Some 11 cases of covid-19 have been confirmed at a New Zealand managed isolation facility (MIQ) in Christchurch, with another 14 possible cases being investigated.

The Ministry of Health said last night it was investigating after the cases were detected during routine day three testing.

None involved cases in the community, it said.

• READ MORE: Covid-19: ‘Major outbreak’ at Christchurch isolation facility housing dozens of international fishermen

The ministry said the positive cases were part of a group who were the only people staying at this facility.

Further details would be reported today, it said.

Stuff has reported several new cases have been detected at the Sudima Hotel where a number of international fishers are staying.

RNZ reported last week that more than 400 foreign fishers were headed to New Zealand to crew deep sea trawlers after failing to find Kiwis to fill the jobs.

Charter flight from Russia
A charter flight from Russia arrived in Christchurch on Friday, where the first 200 crew began managed isolation.

The crew are mostly Russians with others coming from Ukraine. Russia has recorded more than 1.3 million cases of covid-19 – the fourth highest number of any country.

Seafood New Zealand chief executive Jeremy Helson said all the men were tested before they flew to New Zealand.

“All of these fishers were covid tested before they took the charter flight into New Zealand. All crewmen tested negative. This pre-flight test was beyond what the government required,” Helson said.

“While we wait to see how many cases there are, the fact that they were all detected in quarantine shows the system is working well.”

Healthcare, isolation stays to be paid by fishing companies
Sealord chief executive Doug Paulin told RNZ Checkpoint he only knew what had been reported in the media and had not been contacted by the Ministry of Health or managed isolation and quarantine.

“I imagine that will take place in the near future,” he said.

“They’ll have a protocol and a process they need to follow and I think the most positive thing we can take out of this is that border protection at work.”

A total 237 Russian and Ukrainian fishermen arrived in Christchurch on Friday – to work for Sealord, IFL and Maruha – with 69 of those from Sealord. Paulin said all the workers came in on a private charter flight from Russia and only fishers and air crew would have been on the plane.

Paulin said he had no regrets about bringing the workers to New Zealand.

“This is a significant economic issue for not only the fishing companies themselves, but to a raft of other companies across New Zealand.

“There are no Kiwi workers that can do these jobs. Some of these fishermen have been fishing for 25 years.

“They have qualifications which take many years to receive and – at this point in time – there are not enough New Zealanders who actually have those qualifications to do those roles.”

Paulin said any additional costs such as healthcare or longer stays would be looked after by the fishing companies.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Three crew members of an unnamed foreign ship intercepted by a Papua New Guinea Navy vessel near Kavieng, New Ireland, last month have denied violating local laws and withholding information from authorities.

In the Kavieng District Court before Magistrate Patrick Baiwan on Wednesday were ship’s captain Shi Kehu from Fujian province in China, second-in-command Ying Kit Lam from Hong Kong, and crew member Mariglen Dhimogjini from Albania.

They will return to court next Tuesday and have been ordered to stay on board the vessel berthed at the Kavieng port, under a 24/7 police guard.

• READ MORE: PNG linked drug bust and ‘black ship’

The unnamed vessel which police believe is linked to a K1.47 billion (NZ$642 million) drug bust recently in Australian waters, was intercepted in waters north of Kavieng on August 23 by the crew of the HMPNGS Moresby.

Shots were fired at the crew when they refused to stop.

The captain was later treated in hospital for a gunshot wound.

National Fisheries Authority (NFA) executive manager monitoring control and surveillance Giza Komangin told The National the three had violated provisions of the Fisheries Management Act 1998.

Captain charged
Captain Shi was charged with:

• REFUSING to divulge names and contacts of persons and vessels that the vessel was conducting bunkering activities at sea;
• REFUSING to stop the vessel for boarding and inspection by fisheries and navy officials when instructed to;
• DESTROYING and deleting electronic data and tracks to avoid seizure or detection by fisheries officers;
• FAILING to comply with requirements of gear stowage when navigating inside PNG waters; and,
• VIOLATING other state laws to supply fishing vessels with fuel and other supplies an activity requiring a valid fishing licence.

Yong was charged with knowingly giving information that is false and misleading about the operation of the vessel and refusing to divulge names of contacts of person to investigation officials.

Dhimogjini was charged with refusing to divulge names and contacts of persons and vessels engaged in its operation inside Pacific Island waters.

Vessel named Min Shi Yu
NFA officials during their investigations discovered that the vessel’s name was Min Shi Yu 00368 engaged in fishing activities, and supplying fuel and food to other fishing vessels at sea.

On May 1, 2020, it left Quanzhou in China with a crew of seven and picked up Kit Lam and Mariglen Dhimogjini in Hong Kong.

The vessel had no markings to show its name, flag or country of registry, or international radio call sign to show that it was legitimately navigating through PNG waters.

Only three of the nine crew members have passports, five have identification cards, and one has no identification at all and no logbooks or records were available.

Miriam Zarriga is a reporter for The National newspaper in Papua New Guinea. The Pacific Media Centre republishes National articles with permission.

Fiji’s Suva foreshore has been under “enormous” pressure from decades of destructive practices with little to no public awareness about the various afflictions, says prominent academic professor Vijay Naidu.

The problems have been exacerbated by no sustained public awareness campaign, absence of environmental issues in Pacific news media coverage and lack of leadership, Professor Naidu said.

Professor Naidu made the comment while delivering his keynote address at a two-day workshop this week organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme and the Earth Journalism Network (EJN).

• READ MORE: InfoPacific – the geojournalism project

The workshop looked at the causes and impacts of pollution in the Suva bay area and possible solutions.

“I have observed over 60 years massive changes to our foreshore including reclamation, destruction of mangrove forests, sewerage and solid waste, and the epidemic of plastic pollution,” he said.

“Fisheries in Suva Bay have been depleted enormously, and it is not safe to consume shell fish, or ‘kaikoso‘, collected here. Very sadly, there has hardly any systematic ‘fight back’!

“The public who use the water around the Suva Bay area for fishing have little or no idea about the state of the lagoon and what needs to be done to preserve such a wonderful resource for the people of Suva.

‘Need a penicillin injection’
“Some years ago, USP reported that if you fell in the waters of Suva harbour and Laucala Bay, you’d need a penicillin injection.”

The former head of the University of the South Pacific’s School of Government, Development and International Affairs was speaking as the chief guest at an environmental journalism workshop.

Professor Naidu said there was a need for greater collaboration between journalists and scientists to bring attention to these issues and to “help us begin the fightback”.

He commended the EJN for providing crucial support to Pacific journalists in the form of grants and training for stronger environmental reporting.

“The workshop is a great example of how scientists and journalists can work together for the greater good,” Professor Naidu said.

Such partnerships should make the public become more aware of the issues regarding the marine environment, and lead to stronger calls for change, Professor Naidu said.

Sheldon Chanel is the training editor for Wansolwara, USP Journalism’s student training newspaper and online publication. USP Journalism works in partnership with the Pacific Media Centre.

A new look Regional Fisheries Ministers (RFMM) group met for the first time virtually last week to discuss the state of the Pacific Ocean and voiced their concerns over the state of coastal fisheries, climate change and marine pollution.

Their decisions reflected regional priorities for the fisheries and marine sector.

The ministers and senior officials were led by Cooks Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna and ministers representing Australia, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Niue, Samoa and the Solomon Islands.

READ MORE: Forum Fisheries updates

Senior officials from French Polynesia, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu were also in attendance at the Noumea-hosted web forum.

Their talks reflected with concern on the results that have signalled a decline in the status of key indicator invertebrate and finfish species, and reef and ecosystem health, which have direct impacts on livelihoods and food security.

They called for the strengthening of coastal fisheries management.

Puna addressed the meeting, saying: “One undeniable and tangible resource, asset, and lifeline that we all possess is our shared fisheries resources”.

He called for initiatives to diversify the use of fisheries and marine resources, using innovative and collaborative approaches.

Statement of outcomes
While highlighting the Pacific’s strong response to the national and regional security threats the covid-19 pandemic has posed, he stressed the importance of enhancing fisheries management, maintaining food and economic security.

“Our collective response must always reflect how much we value our people, and the mana, resilience and Pacific community spirit that underpins the very fibre of our nations,” he said.

The meeting, chaired by the FSM’s Secretary for the Department of Resource and Development, Marion Henry, was hosted online, gathering Fisheries Ministers and officials from the Pacific Island Forum countries and territories as well as regional organisations

The talks covered regional coastal fisheries and aquaculture priorities and the impact of covid-19 on these fisheries, the 2020 Coastal Fisheries Report Card, and options for enhancing discussions on community-based management of coastal fisheries.

Ministers also endorsed the Regional Framework on Aquatic Biosecurity.

Papua New Guinean and Australian police have linked the “black ship” intercepted by the PNG Navy north of Kavieng, New Ireland, last Saturday to a drug haul valued at K1.47 billion (NZ$626 million) in Australian waters, a senior officer said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations Donald Yamasombi told The National that the Australian police and border authorities and the PNG police believe it was the vessel which took bags of cocaine and offloaded them to a commercial fishing vessel, Coralynne, near Lord Howe Island in Australia.

“The boat is alleged to be the boat that took the cocaine and transferred it to an Australian commercial fishing vessel,” he said.

READ MORE: Drama at sea – PNG Navy detains alleged pirates

Yamasombi said they were trying to piece together all the information and collate evidence – which they find very little of on board the vessel now anchored at Kavieng port.

“It is a black ship. It does not have a name and has no markings,” he said.

An Australian newspaper report said the boat was detected near Noumea a few days ago.

It was making its way through PNG waters when the HMPNGS Moresby, which was near Kavieng at the time, was alerted.

‘Morgado Square’
Captain Nathan Tombe and his men intercepted the foreign vessel in a fisheries protection  zone called the “Morgado Square”, north of Kavieng.

“We warned the crew of the ship by bullhorn to stop for inspection,” he said.

“However, the warning was ignored, as were warning shots fired over the bow of the ship.

“As a result, the HMPNGS Moresby drew alongside the vessel and fired wounding one crew member. The ship pulled up and was ordered to accompany us to Kavieng.”

Kavieng Hospital confirmed that the wounded crew member, reported to be the captain, was recovering after an operation.

Yamasombi said if the ship had a name, it would be easy to find out where it came from.

Police are hoping that Australia can provide some information “so we would be able to know the details of the boat”.

Tracking the ship’s route
“As it is, we are working with the National Maritime Safety Authority to track the ship, looking at the route it travelled.

“If the transponder had been switched on, it would be easy to track it,” he said.

The nine crew members are likely to face charges under the Migration Act and Fisheries Act, he said.

“The crew members are under investigation because it is alleged to be a fishing boat.

“We will let Fisheries do their side of investigation and then we see what possible charges we can lay on them,” he said.

“illegal entry” was the appropriate charge under the Migration Act.

The National newspaper articles are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

Pacific governments are being warned to put urgent covid-19 safety measures into place at ports as foreign fishing boats emerge as a new point of transmission.

One Ecuadorian vessel is now at sea with 29 out of 30 of its crew covid-positive and there are suspicions of more.

Another issue has arisen with workers for the Dalian Ocean Fishing Company, a Chinese-owned company.

WATCH: Barbara Dreaver’s TVNZ report

Four Indonesian crew members have died working for the company, all with the same covid-19 symptoms: chest pain, swelling and breathing difficulties.

It’s not known whether the men were covid-positive; the captains did not get help for them and their bodies were thrown overboard.

“We condemn the inhumane treatment against our crew members working at the Chinese fishing company,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said.

Another vessel had been fishing near Samoa and its government has held grave concerns for some time.

Infection possible
“We have the merchant shipping bringing goods and also some fishing boats, it is quite possible an infection could come to Samoa,” Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said earlier this month.

Bubba Cook works closely with Pacific governments to manage tuna stocks and said urgent action was needed.

“We should be monitoring these vessels when they are out at sea and when they come in, test, trace, track, ensure that the disease is not entering into these communities through these fishing vessels and the fishermen on board,” he said.

Last week, French Polynesia came to the aid of a seriously ill suspected covid-19 case on board an Ecuadorian fishing vessel.

The man was taken to Tahiti for urgent medical treatment, but the other 29 of the 30 crew who all tested covid-positive have been sent back out to sea.

“The anxiety on board will be very high because you are on a floating piece of steel in the middle of nowhere,” fisheries consultant Francisco Blaha said.

Strong unions
With strong unions, Ecuador’s crews are generally well cared for, unlike many Asian fishing vessels.

Instead it is often a transmission hotbed on board and captains often won’t get sick crew the help they need, driven by the need to stay at sea.

“You are talking in the Pacific alone, in the tuna fisheries, in the order of billions of dollars,” Cook said.

Wealth is too often trumping health, proving a red alert for Pacific ports.

Republished with permission.

For 74-year-old Teaga Esekia, a chief from the Tuvalu island of Vaitupu, the ocean is a lifeblood.

“Tuvaluans, they have different types of months, not like January to December,” said the elderly but agile man, who still climbs coconut trees every day.

“They have their seasons according to fish and planting. We tell the time by fish.”

READ MORE: Thousands – young and old – demand government action on climate change

Esekia was sitting at the edge of the lagoon on Tuvalu’s main island, Funafuti, where he had travelled for a medical appointment. As he sat beneath a tree, sheltering in the breeze from the harsh afternoon sun, he told of how that ocean has changed.

“Some of the common fish, they’re very hard to find now in Tuvalu. That’s a problem we’re facing nowadays.”

His people on Vaitupu also sustained themselves by planting pulaka, a type of swamp taro, which are grown in pits.

“I can see most of the pits are now not growing because if you taste the water there, it’s salt. When we were young, these pits were growing very well. Nowadays it’s very hard,” he said.

IPCC Report
The changes seen by Esekia were starkly highlighted last week in the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The report, which was written by more than 100 scientists and experts – including several from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific – is based on more than 7000 scientific studies, providing one of the most comprehensive insights into the state of the oceans today.

It concluded that the oceans are heating at such a rate that their chemistry is being altered which, in turn, is threatening seafood supplies, fuelling more extreme cyclones and floods, and posing a profound threat to millions of people who live in low-lying areas.

For the Pacific Islands, it painted a grim picture.

“We already see in the Pacific these impacts,” said Helene Jacot des Combes, a scientist at the University of the South Pacific and adaptation advisor to the Marshall Islands government, who was one of the report’s contributing authors.

“It is true that all the changes in the ocean in terms of temperature, in terms of ocean acidification, will have a very important impact on the marine ecosystems and on the distribution of fish and other marine life,” she said. “We can already see some variation.”

‘Grim picture’
Jens Krüger, the manager for oceans affairs at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, who was not involved with the IPCC report but is on the executive planning group for the UN Decade of Ocean Science, said the conclusions painted a grim picture: the effects would be most keenly felt in the Pacific.

“It really confirms that our ocean is at a breaking point. It’s getting hotter, sea levels are rising, the ocean is becoming more acidic, and of course all of this is happening as our planet heats up,” said Dr Krüger.

“For us in the Pacific, the report also highlights that all these changes, and the rate and the magnitude of the changes which are already being observed, are highest in our region.”

The oceans act as a crucial buffer against global warming, absorbing about a quarter of the carbon dioxide that’s emitted, as well as taking much of the excess heat that’s trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere. But the report says there’s so much that the oceans are becoming hotter and more acidic.

“These positive aspects of the ocean in the climate change is having a side effect in the ocean with the change in the chemistry, and that will have a lot of impact,” said Dr Jacot des Combes.

“For the Pacific, where people depend so much on the ocean, it’s very problematic.”

Ecosystems in disarray
These warming waters are throwing marine ecosystems into disarray, the IPCC said, as habitats wither. The frequency of marine heat waves – which kill fish, sea birds and coral reefs – has doubled since the 1980s, it said, while many fish populations are migrating far from their usual locations – like Vaitupu, in Tuvalu, where Esekia has noticed a decline – as they try to find cooler waters.

Already, Dr Krüger said, this was being keenly felt in the Pacific. This year alone, severe coral bleaching events have whitened reefs in French Polynesia and Guam, and fears have grown about whether they’ll recover as bleaching events become more common.

Heatwaves in the ocean are expected to become 20 to 50 times more frequent this century, depending on how much emissions increase, the report said, with vibrant underwater ecosystems like coral reefs and kelp forest all expected to suffer serious damage.

“Warm water coral reefs, for us in the Pacific, that’s our major ecosystem,” said Dr Krüger. “The report confirms that we are actually creating a world that is incompatible with our way of life.”

In the Pacific, reefs are some of the main sources of food, income and defence. Their fish and plants provide sustenance for locals, and income from fish exports and tourism. They also act as a barrier, dissipating the force of waves as they charge towards vulnerable islands and atolls, especially as sea’s rise, which is another of the report’s conclusions.

Rising seas
As ice sheets and glaciers melt, it said, ocean levels are being pushed up, making extreme flooding that was once rare become annual events.

That is already being seen in places like Kiribati and Marshall Islands, Dr Jacot des Combes said, where inundations were happening with increasing regularity.

Hotter ocean temperatures and rising sea levels also provide fuel for more destructive cyclones, which further imperil the coastal regions and low-lying states of the Pacific.

“We have seen that the number of category four and category five cyclones are increasing in the total number of annual cyclones,” said Dr Jacot des Combes.

While the report said the severity of the threats it outlined could be reduced if nations sharply cut their greenhouse gas emissions, it also pointed out that many countries would need to adapt to many changes that have now become unavoidable.

Dr Krüger said this included most Pacific countries, especially in the northwest Pacific, where sea level rise was already three to four times the global average.

Urgent priority
“We’re definitely not moving fast enough,” said Dr Krüger. “Really, the report concludes by highlighting, you know, that we have this urgency, we have to prioritise, we need to do it now.”

Esekia was sitting at the edge of Funafuti lagoon on the day of the leaders’ retreat of the Pacific Islands Forum in August, where the region’s leaders were meeting to try and thrash out a declaration on climate change.

That agreement was taken to the United Nations in New York last week, where world leaders again met to discuss climate change as a mass of youth-led climate strikes were held around the world, coinciding with the IPCC report’s release.

Most industrialised countries aren’t on track to meet their Paris Agreement targets, let alone the drastic changes called for in last week’s report.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine is calling for greater action.

“There is no excuse for large, wealthy and polluting nations not to act,” said Heine at a news conference.

“We are most heavily threatened and impacted and we are least equipped to tackle what are overwhelming challenges as we seek to cope or to respond.”

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand

Indigenous Pacific knowledge should inform the science to save the world’s oceans.

That was the consensus among Pacific ocean scientists and other regional stakeholders who gathered in New Caledonia recently for the first global workshop aimed at arresting the decline of the world’s oceans.

RNZ’s Dominic Godfrey reports:

LISTEN: Indigenous Pacific knowledge to help save the ocean

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

The United Nations’ World Ocean Assessment Report recently confirmed the seas are in a bad state, with increased temperatures and acidity negatively impacting fish stocks and biodiversity.

The Pacific Community’s ocean affairs manager Jens Kruger says the UN has called for a concerted effort over the coming decade to reverse the decline.

“And we are kicking off a series of regional consultations. And we in the Pacific, we are the very first of eight or ten regional consultations that are going to happen.”

The Noumea gathering launched the development phase of the Pacific’s science action plan to feed into a global summit in March.

A broad swathe of Pacific academia, indigenous and traditional knowledge holders, youth, government and NGOs were there.

But there were concerns the Pacific’s voice would be lost or diluted.

The University of the South Pacific’s director at the Oceania Centre, Frances Koya-Vaka’uta, says Pacific people need to see themselves reflected in official language for it to resonate properly and this includes plans for the coming “Decade of the Ocean“.

“Because it’s so critical to our very survival and livelihoods, it has to be in a language our people can connect with. That doesn’t necessarily mean having to include Pacific words or language but seeing that you are represented and that your voices are reflected in the generic language and representation.”

Others spoke of the need for scientific solutions to be complemented by traditional indigenous knowledge which has a foundation in millennia of practical science.

The oceans officer from Samoa’s Foreign Office, Matilda Bartley, says she wanted to see improved reporting on UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 on ocean conservation.

“And also how ocean science was able to incorporate the humanities in the cross-cutting issues that have been raised.”

Various themes were established to link working groups, looking at the ocean as clean, healthy and resilient, predictable, safe, sustainable and productive, and transparent and accessible.

But it was indigenous knowledge which most strongly tied the science across the groups.

A member of the UN’s executive planning group for the “Decade of the Ocean”, the Australian scientific research body’s CSIRO Karen Evans says it’s important to bring coherence of message across these groups.

“The Pacific and Pacific Community can bring something quite unique that no other region can bring to the decade; that culture is inherently important and should be a consistent thread through everything that is done through the decade, particularly for the Pacific region.”

Dr Evans says there is a real energy and commitment from the Pacific to be involved in setting the Ocean Decade’s agenda.

It has endorsement at the highest level.

The head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Vladimir Ryabinin, says it’s important the Pacific’s indigenous knowledge helps establish conservation science.

“Traditional knowledge for us would be the way to gauge the usefulness of scientific solutions and then also transform the solutions into something that is useful, really useful.”

Dr Kruger from the Pacific Community says the Noumea workshop was a great start in establishing the priorities for the coming decade but it’s important to get more people engaged.

“We’ve got a lot of sectors that have a great interest in the decade so when we go down to the national level we might broaden the discussions there, for example, I think we’ve had a lot of voices here from fisheries. The ocean provides a lot of resources besides fish so those are also something that we need to look at at the national level.”

Jens Kruger says it’s important that Pacific island countries, with their special links to the ocean, help create the science we need for the oceans we want.

• This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand

A group of University of the South Pacific journalism students have returned from a week-long trip to the Solomon Islands covering communities at the forefront of climate change.

Rosalie Nongebatu, Romeka Kumari and Ben Bilua, who are also part of Wansolwara team, were selected to be a part of the project “Adapting to and mitigating effects of climate change and island sea level rise,” funded through the Internews/Earth Journalism Network (EJN) Asia-Pacific and Bay of Bengal 2019 media grants.

Wansolwara editor and trip leader Geraldine Panapasa, said it was a very successful and valuable experience for the students.

READ MORE: USP journo students head to Solomons for environmental reporting project

“The students were able to apply their journalism production skills for print, online and broadcast. Part of the field reporting training included mojo (mobile journalism) skills for short news videos,” she said.

“We visited vulnerable communities in the greater Honiara area, spoke to those at the forefront of climate change, those in resilience and adaptation projects, those suffering from the devastating impact of climate change, those in decision-making positions and the future generation.”

The students found that, unlike in Fiji, climate change does not get much exposure in the Solomon Islands. Government agencies usually supply environmental reports to the newspapers rather than journalists doing the reporting themselves.

Communities seldom visited
Because communities seldom get visits by local media or government, the students met many people who wanted to share their stories about shortages of water, depleted fish stocks and other climate change effects.

When the students visited the Lord Howe Settlement in Honiara, they found that the residents, mostly of Polynesian decent, had few food gardens and depended on the sea for their livelihood.

“Sanitation wise, they also use the sea for bathing and other ‘toilet’ business. Proper water supply, health and sanitation are clearly lacking in this community,” Panapasa said.

However, she said that many people have come to see climate change reporting as a money making opportunity and only supply information for payment.

“This, of course, would taint the credibility of their views. Would they really tell us what they’re going through or tell us what we want to hear?” Panapasa said.

Balanced and thorough coverage
However, the group ensured their coverage was both balanced and thorough and spoke to representatives across the community.

“We felt it was important to cover all aspects of the project by speaking to stakeholders – grassroots communities, UN agencies, NGOs & CSOs, government, youth etc.

“We also took into consideration the importance of providing gender balanced views on the issues we intended to cover with climate change, resilience and mitigation.”

USP Journalism coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh thanked the grant sponsors, saying that it had enabled the students to report on pressing issues through a professional experience.

“The USP journalism programme would like to thank the Earth Journalism Network for making this project possible.

“Next we will take a student team to the Cook Islands on a similar assessment.

“We look forward to our continued partnership with EJN to develop both environmental journalism and student journalists in the Pacific.”