Posts Tagged ‘Pacific Islands’

Pacific Islanders have long drawn wisdom from the Earth, the sky and the waves – science agrees

Thursday, March 21st, 2024
Climate

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
Pope Francis married priests

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

New Zealand must be a good neighbour – Pope Benedict

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI has suggested that New Zealand has a moral responsibility to be a good neighbour to Island States. “Due to its geographical position, your country is able to assist in the development of smaller, more distant countries with fewer resources. Some neighbouring countries, including the Small Island Developing States, look to New Zealand Read more