News

The President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly has commended Fiji for its leadership on Oceans issues. Dr Tijjani Muhammad-Bande is on an official visit and says Fiji has been doing a great job.

Scientists have discovered a new species of marine animal in the deepest trench on Earth—a find which might normally be cause for celebration. However, the researchers also identified plastics in its body, highlighting the scale of the global pollution crisis.

Tropical forests are taking up less carbon dioxide from the air, reducing their ability to act as “carbon sinks” and bringing closer the prospect of accelerating climate breakdown.

In 2013, scientists and researchers from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation found the coral reef on the ocean floor in Aitutaki was in crisis. Crown-of-thorns starfish had damaged 80-99 per cent of coral on the seafloor.

Humanity is waking up to the crisis happening in our oceans. Warming and rising seas, acidification, plummeting fish stocks, and pollution are finding more space in newspapers and on political agendas. For small island states such as Palau, however, no such awakening was needed.

Environment officers in Vanuatu now have the skills to produce basic maps of protected and conserved areas of Vanuatu following training on the upgraded tools and features of the Pacific Islands Protected Area Portal (PIPAP) as well as geographic information systems (GIS).

A national training for government officers across environment and fisheries sectors, co-organised and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Samoa Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) was completed last week.

The destructive legacy of mining often lingers for communities and ecosystems long after the operating companies leave.

The Ministry of Forests has planted 192, 969 trees to date.  Minister for Forests, Osea Naiqamu says he is optimistic that the Ministry will achieve its target of 2 million trees this year.

The mayor of Easter Island has called for vehicle restrictions to be introduced around its archaeological sites after a pickup truck hit one of the famous stone statues, causing “incalculable” damage.