Regional Archive June 2012

Fiji is in the final stages of putting together a glossary of climate change terms in the iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) language. After a two-month consultation process, a final stakeholder consultation workshop was held on 14 June 2012 in Suva.

Economic Ministers of the Pacific Islands Forum will gather for the 16th Forum Economic Ministers' Meeting (FEMM) in Tarawa, Kiribati from 2 - 4 July 2012.

PFF Rarotonga, COOK ISLANDS-- News that the Kiribati newspaper at the centre of a Police investigation has stopped printing means fewer ways for people there to stay informed says media watchdog the Pacific Freedom Forum, PFF.

PFF, Rarotonga, COOK ISLANDS--Kiribati's President Anote Tong should step in and clear the air over the continued failure of his Communications minister to act on registration for a controversial newspaper currently facing Police investigations, says the Pacific Freedom Forum, PFF.

Climate change has emerged as perhaps the most important challenge of our time because its impacts will determine the way that we live and survive in the future,' commented Inoke Ratukalou, acting Director of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Land Resources Division.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND, 15 JUNE 2012 - A workshop on tobacco taxation in the Pacific will be held in Auckland from 18 to 22 June to review and evaluate current tobacco tax systems and explore ways to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is presented with a unique opportunity to address some of the challenges to Fiji's sugar industry.

Fifteen countries and territories and their development partners met in Noumea last week for a joint Secretariat of the Pacific Community / Food and Agriculture Organization workshop to discuss how climate change will affect Pacific fisheries and aquaculture.

The private sector in the Pacific region could derive significant benefits from a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).

PFF, Rarotonga, COOK ISLANDS--Another assault threat resulting in a TV film crew being forced to delete their footage has taken place in Papua New Guinea over the weekend.

PFF, Rarotonga, COOK ISLANDS -- A threat from the Fiji regime that coverage of people it brands as "opposition" will cost Fiji TV its broadcast license, has been strongly condemned by regional media watchdog the Pacific Freedom Forum, PFF.

After one of the largest recent La Niña periods on record, which caused drought in the Pacific Island countries of Tuvalu and Tokelau, the Pacific Ocean is returning to a near normal state.

The eighth meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum Working Group on Counter-Terrorism was held in Suva, Fiji on 5 June 2012.

A coalition of chiefs, women's advocates, union representatives and government officers have come together in Port Vila to plan strategies, share information and launch three separate and ambitious legislative lobbying campaigns in Vanuatu.

5 June 2012, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji

The Pacific organics movement achieved a milestone on 14 April, when the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) accepted the Pacific Organic Standard (POS) into their Family of Standards.

'We are very grateful to SPC for facilitating our visit to Fiji,' said David Devynck, a forest engineer with the Wallis and Futuna State Department who, with Taifisi Folituu, a sawmill owner from Wallis, visited Fiji for assistance with the development of their forestry sector, in particular the timber industry.