An emergency response project launched to help people become more resilient during natural disasters is set to benefit more than 1,000 families around Samoa. A new warehouse containing equipment that can be used during natural disasters and supplies for distribution to families was officially opened at Malōlōlelei on Monday. WE RISE is the US$1.5 million Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Pacific Islands’
Pacific Islanders have long drawn wisdom from the Earth, the sky and the waves – science agrees
Thursday, March 21st, 2024
One afternoon last year, we sat in a village hall in Fiji chatting to residents about traditional ways of forecasting tropical cyclones. One man mentioned a black-winged storm bird known as “manumanunicagi” that glides above the land only when a cyclone is forming out to sea. As the conversation continued, residents named at least 11 Read more
Pacific Conference of Churches says faith alone isn’t enough
Thursday, April 2nd, 2020
The Pacific Conference of Churches is urging people to follow social-distancing and avoid congregations. Faith alone will not be enough to combat Covid-19, the Conference says. The Conference has told preachers not to claim the pandemic is a punishment from God. Nor may they vilify those who are infected. Reports from around the Pacific region Read more
Pope open to married priests in places with pastoral necessity
Thursday, February 14th, 2019
Another wide-ranging and frank press conference with Pope Francis on his flight home from World Youth Day in Panama raised a number of questions for reporters—and resulted in some wildly divergent headlines. Among the confused questions: Is Pope Francis open to married priests? Is he committed to maintaining celibacy for priests? Will men who are Read more
Australia and NZ are Pacific Islands’ bad neighbours
Tuesday, November 17th, 2015
The prime minister of Fiji Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama says New Zealand and Australia are bad neighbours. He says they are putting their own economic interests ahead of the need to protect Pacific Island nations from the effect of climate change. “I won’t be going to Paris wearing the usual friendly, compliant Pacific smile,” warned Bainimarama. Read more
Tuvalu: “You can’t play rugby on a runway”
Friday, December 6th, 2013
On my recent visit to the Pacific island of Tuvalu, I was intrigued to discover its unusual sporting story. When the sun sinks, and the baking heat subsides, the 1.7km airplane runway in the capital Funafuti comes to life as the main sports ground on the island with games of football and volleyball taking place Read more
New book on early Pacific political leaders
Friday, August 31st, 2012
A new book, “New Flags Flying: Pacific Leadership”, was launched in Apia last last Monday. The book describes the hopes and fears of early Pacific political leaders in the period from 1960 to 1990 as islands across the Pacific gained independence or self-government. Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles interviewed the Pacific people in key leadership positions in Read more
Plans to build a Pacific Island village in New Zealand
Friday, May 25th, 2012
Planning permission is being sought to build a $100,000-plus Pacific Island village in Porirua, a city near Wellington in New Zealand. The man making the proposal, Ueli Sasagi, says that with 26 per cent of Porirua’s community made up of Pacific people, it was the ideal place for the proposed village. Ueli, a resource management planner, Read more
Our near abroad: Australia and Pacific islands regionalism
Friday, December 9th, 2011
This report, authored by Richard Herr and Anthony Bergin, suggests that with rising Chinese influence in the region, the US appears to doubt that Australia can deliver on South Pacific issues. The Pacific Island members of the United Nations now meet under the rubric of the Pacific Small Islands Developing States that excludes Australia. The Melanesian Read more
Severe drought in the Pacific Islands
Friday, October 7th, 2011
A severe drought in the Pacific Islands has created a critical water shortage. The island groups of Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared emergencies, relying on bottled water and seeking more desalination machines. Parts of Samoa are starting to ration water. Six months of low rainfall have dried out the islands. Climate scientists say it’s part Read more