In this bulletin:
1. PACIFIC— Tuvalu warns COP31: “Little time left” for climate action
2. UN— IPCC urges governments to put climate science at centre of COP31 action
4. PACIFIC — French Polynesia, New Caledonia lead island push for climate finance at COP31
5. UN — El Niño’s $11 trillion price tag, ‘Exceptional’ extreme temperatures to continue into next year, UN reports
6. PACIFIC — Training focuses on reaching communities beyond the main island
7. PNG — PM Marape stands firm on One- China Policy
8. NZ — Teal force Opportunity crash into NZ parliament
9. PACNEWS BIZ — Trump administration reignites proposal to launch commercial fishing in Pacific Marine Monument
10. PACNEWS BIZ — StarKist Tuna supply chain Linked to forced labour
11. PACNEWS IN FOCUS — COP31 Pacific home, the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion launched in Antalya
12. PACNEWS DIGEST — An Outer-Island Budget Promise Must Survive the Boat Journey
13. PACNEWS DIGEST — Connecting Island restoration and climate resilience across the Pacific
PAC – COP31: PACNEWS PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
Tuvalu warns COP31: “Little time left” for climate action
ANTALYA, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (PACNEWS) — Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo has warned world leaders that the country has little time left to respond to climate change, as he arrived in Türkiye to attend the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31).
Teo is leading Tuvalu’s delegation to the climate negotiations, where the Pacific nation is expected to press for urgent action on rising sea levels, extreme weather and the impacts of climate change on ocean communities.
“Tuvalu has little time left for the world to act on climate change,” Teo said.
Tuvalu will use COP31 to call for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, a faster transition to renewable energy and stronger measures to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate impacts.
The country is also seeking greater access to climate finance and support to protect its people, communities and livelihoods from the effects of a changing climate.
For Tuvalu, rising sea levels and extreme weather are already affecting its future, making climate change an immediate threat rather than a distant concern.
Teo’s participation at COP31 reinforces Tuvalu’s call for governments to move beyond commitments and deliver concrete action to limit global warming and protect countries on the frontline of the climate crisis.
PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: PACNEWS PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
IPCC urges governments to put climate science at centre of COP31 action
ANTALYA, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (PACNEWS) — Governments must use scientific evidence to guide climate decisions and accelerate implementation as they tackle the growing impacts of climate change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Jim Skea says.
Opening the IPCC’s address at the start of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, Skea said climate action without reliable scientific evidence risked undermining efforts to address global warming and its consequences.
“Climate action without climate science is like a ship without a rudder,” Skea said.
He said IPCC assessments provided governments with the scientific evidence needed to guide effective climate policies, reduce climate risks and identify practical response measures.
Skea acknowledged operational challenges facing the IPCC, including an unresolved decision on the timetable for its Seventh Assessment Report, but said the organisation remained committed to delivering its scientific mandate.
He said the IPCC continued to assess the causes of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and the measures available to reduce those risks.
“Our findings, especially those on response options, stand the test of time and are as implementable today as they were yesterday and will be tomorrow,” he said.
Skea said the IPCC planned to publish the first three reports of its current assessment cycle next year, alongside a series of other scientific and technical reports.
An approval session for the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities is scheduled for March, followed by two Methodology Reports covering Short-Lived Climate Forcers and Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage.
He said the reports would provide important scientific and technical guidance, including the basis for governments to report greenhouse gas emissions and removals under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Skea said the three IPCC Working Groups were also progressing with their assessments.
Working Group I, which examines the physical science of climate change, met in Tanzania last week and is revising its draft report ahead of government and expert review.
The Working Group II report on climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability is undergoing expert review, alongside updated technical guidelines for assessing climate impacts and adaptation.
That review will conclude on 4 December, while Working Group III, which focuses on climate mitigation, is scheduled to open its expert review next Monday.
Skea urged governments to participate in the review process and provide comments to strengthen the scientific assessments.
However, he warned that uncertainty over the IPCC’s future work programme was creating difficulties for scientists contributing to the reports.
He said IPCC authors worked voluntarily alongside their professional and personal responsibilities and needed a clear timetable to plan their contributions.
“They need to balance multiple responsibilities and are finding it increasingly difficult to do so in the absence of an agreed work schedule,” he said.
Skea said the IPCC would resume its suspended 65th Plenary session on 1 December, where member governments must reach agreement on the timetable for the Seventh Assessment Report and the associated budget for 2027 and beyond.
He urged governments attending COP31 to use their influence to help secure an agreement.
“I encourage you to use your influence here to prepare for a successful outcome” he said.
Skea said the IPCC remained committed to supporting the UNFCCC process, including through its contributions to the periodic reviews and the first Global Stocktake.
He called for constructive discussions at COP31, saying scientific assessments remained essential to translating climate commitments into effective action…. PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: PACNEWS PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
French Polynesia, New Caledonia lead island push for climate finance at COP31
ANTALYA, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (PACNEWS) — French Polynesia and New Caledonia are among island territories taking practical climate finance solutions to COP31, as overseas territories push for better access to international funding for climate resilience and sustainable development.
The EU-funded Green Overseas Programme is presenting five financing mechanisms at the UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, backed by feasibility studies and examples of projects already implemented across island territories.
The mechanisms include green and blue bonds, carbon markets, conservation trust funds, blended finance and environmental levies.
Green Overseas Programme Project Manager Nicolas Andrade said the challenge was not simply the availability of funding but helping territories access the right financing and develop projects that could attract investment.
“The funding exists. The challenge is to match OCTs with the right funding opportunities and build their capacity to turn priority projects into fundable proposals,” Andrade said.
The initiative is particularly important for Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), which face difficulties accessing international climate finance because they are generally not parties to the Paris Agreement in their own right.
Instead, they are covered through the European country or the United Kingdom to which they are constitutionally linked, while major multilateral climate funds are largely designed around sovereign states.
The Green Overseas Programme, implemented by Expertise France, commissioned ODI Global to assess 18 financing mechanisms and identify five with potential to support investment across the territories.
The work builds on six years of programme activity, including 31 projects developed across 23 territories, covering water security, coastal management, local food production, renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate adaptation.
French Polynesia’s work focuses on coastal planning and the integration of traditional and local knowledge into climate adaptation.
A study covering six Tuamotu atolls and Pointe Vénus in Tahiti examined projected shoreline changes over 30 years, identifying additional coastal loss associated with climate change and storm impacts.
Eight public meetings and 84 interviews were conducted to incorporate local and traditional knowledge into the assessment.
In New Caledonia, the programme supported the development of a vehicle climate and energy labelling system to help consumers compare emissions across imported vehicles.
Transport is the territory’s second-largest emissions sector after mining and metallurgy. Its fleet includes 206,000 light vehicles, with an average age of 11 to 12 years.
The new system rates vehicles from A to G using a common emissions measurement, addressing differences between vehicle markets in Europe, Asia and the United States.
A survey found 88 per cent of respondents considered appliance energy labels useful, while 78 percent wanted the same system for cars.
New Caledonia has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 70 per cent by 2035.
The programme also identified other financing opportunities across the territories.
In the Cayman Islands, Caribbean Utilities Company raised US$50 million in 2024 through green and blue bonds to finance renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate adaptation.
In Ascension Island, a GBP2 million endowment established the AIMPACT conservation fund, while Aruba charges visitors a US$20 environmental contribution to support climate infrastructure and conservation.
The study found that access to finance remained a common challenge, with barriers including complex legal and technical requirements, limited investment-ready projects and high transaction costs for smaller investments.
Robert-Jan Moons, Secretary of the programme’s Expert Working Group on Climate Finance, said the initiative had developed tools, training and joint studies to strengthen the ability of territories to access funding.
A related development is the United Kingdom’s new Climate Finance Support Programme, a three-year, £20.5 million (US$27.55 million) pilot expected to mobilise in 2027 to support its overseas territories.
The European Union has also proposed more than €999 million (US$1.1 million) for Overseas Countries and Territories under its 2028–2034 programming, with half allocated to Greenland.
Green Overseas representatives will participate in COP31 discussions on climate finance, energy cooperation, climate mobility, youth-led action and climate data across several conference pavilions.
Three youth delegates from Sint Maarten, New Caledonia and Greenland are also attending to highlight the climate vulnerabilities of island territories and gaps in adaptation and disaster-risk financing.
The programme brings together representatives from 25 Overseas Countries and Territories across the Caribbean, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Arctic, collectively home to more than 1.2 million people…. PACNEWS
UN – COP31: UN NEWS CENTRE PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
El Niño’s $11 trillion price tag, ‘Exceptional’ extreme temperatures to continue into next year, UN reports
ANTALYA, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (UN NEWS CENTRE) — The El Niño extreme weather pattern could cost the global economy up to US$11 trillion and seriously impact food security, said the UN agency tackling rural poverty in developing countries on Monday.
The new IFAD report identifies El Niño as one of several overlapping climate and economic shocks affecting small-scale food producers and rural economies, warning that agricultural disruptions can ripple through the wider economy.
In 2026 alone, global energy and fertiliser shocks drove up costs across food systems within a single planting season – from production and processing to transport and distribution.
To strengthen rural economies’ resilience to overlapping shocks, the report calls for bundled investments that help farmers access markets, agricultural inputs, technologies, and financial services, including credit and weather insurance.
“Resilience is not built by investing in single interventions, but by connecting investments in inputs, markets and finance so that gains in one area are not lost in another,” said Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (FAD).
IFAD modelling shows that combining these measures is nearly twice as effective at protecting farm incomes when drought and price shocks strike simultaneously.
Financial support alone, such as insurance, reduces farm-income losses by 9.8 percent, while combining investments in inputs, markets and finance cuts losses by 18.7 per cent.
In April this year, roughly 146.5 million Indians were exposed to an extreme heatwave with temperatures hitting a sweltering 47℃.
In Europe, provisional estimates of excess mortality across Europe exceeded 30,000 people over the summer, with approximately 16,000 excess deaths estimated during the 22–28 June heatwave alone.
A few months later, a Himalayan glacier collapsed causing a catastrophic downstream flash flood in late August, which killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal.
The streak of exceptional global temperatures, with melting ice and rising sea levels, will continue in the ongoing year and a very strong El Niño event is set to unleash more extreme weather well into 2027, a report from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) revealed on Monday – ahead of crucial COP31 talks in Türkiye.
The WMO State of the Climate Update 2026 details that the past 12 years have individually been the warmest on record, with the past four years topping the list.
Global average surface temperature for the period of January to September 2026 was approximately 1.47°C above the pre-industrial average and is expected to rise till the end of the year due to El Niño’s warming effect, which has been proliferating since August.
It is expected to be the strongest on record, by December.
Around 90 percent of the excess heat, trapped by greenhouse gases, is absorbed by the ocean, and 2026 is on track to be the tenth consecutive year of record ocean warmth.
“El Niño doesn’t add new heat to the planet. It releases heat from the ocean, which is the warmest ever measured. There is simply more heat available to release,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
Meanwhile, sea levels are the highest on record, and sea-surface temperatures set monthly records during 2026.
Glaciers continue their long-term retreat: the ice lost in 2025 would have filled five Olympic swimming pools every second of the year.
“We have entered a new age of climate extremes. A supersized El Niño is colliding with a planet already superheated by manmade climate change,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“Climate records keep falling. The human costs keep rising. And those least responsible are suffering first and worst.”
He urged leaders to “get serious” about reducing emissions faster, accelerating a transition from fossil fuel and delivering funds and protection that “vulnerable countries need”.
Dr Saulo highlighted that the El Niño will be a risk multiplier, as heatwaves, tropical cyclones, and rainstorms intensify faster than historical baselines prepared us for.
“Hundreds of millions of people this year have been exposed to unbearable extreme heat, whilst the catastrophic ice and rock collapse and flash floods in Nepal highlighted the compound risks facing communities in fragile, warming high-mountain terrain,” she said.
The final State of the Global Climate 2026 report is set to be issued in March 2027. …PACNEWS
PAC – WEATHER TRAINING: ISLANDS BUSINESS PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
Training focuses on reaching communities beyond the main island
RAROTONGA 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (ISLANDS BUSINESS) — As El Niño conditions shape weather messaging in Tuvalu and Naoero, meteorological staff are working to deliver forecasts and hazard warnings in languages and formats communities can use, including on islands where internet access can fail.
At a Polynesian Sub-Regional Knowledge Brokers Training for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services hosted by SPREP in the Cook Islands, communications staff from the two Pacific countries described the practical limits of warning delivery: people who say they never received timely information, internet outages, technical bulletins and the challenge of reaching remote communities.
Tuvalu uses local language and backup links.
Simoea Tiute, communication officer at the Tuvalu Meteorological Service, said the office created the role in 2021 and can now disseminate information immediately, particularly during tropical cyclones and tsunami warnings.
“It’s very important,” Tiute said of communicating in both Tuvaluan and English. The service prepares statements and sends information to stakeholders in Tuvaluan, while its social media posts use both languages.
The service works with Tuvalu’s broadcast media, which Tiute said is the country’s only media broadcaster. Yet timely publication does not guarantee that people receive a warning: “people keep on saying that they did not get it,” she said.
Email is used to send information to outer islands. Where an island has no meteorological station, the service can use satellite phones and what Tiute called “HHS radio” to pass messages to meteorological staff and a Kaupule secretary, who relays them to the community.
Tiute said the training could help staff turn lengthy climate documents into simpler public messages. Forecast and climate staff at home often prepare two- or three-page documents, she said; the training emphasised a one-page Canva template.
She said she plans to share the skills with colleagues.
Naoero seeks simpler bulletins.
Ricky Joram, climatology manager at Naoero Meteorology and Hydrology Services, said the service issues weather forecasts and climate outlooks and uses Facebook, email, television news and radio to reach the public.
He described the current El Niño phase as bringing more rainfall and the wet season to Naoero.
“People need to be aware of the weather situation and maybe the upcoming weather hazards or climate hazards to prepare themselves,” Joram said.
Public feedback is mostly positive, he said, but people have also asked the service to use less technical language in its bulletins.
Internet outages remain a problem for issuing and sharing products. Joram said the service bought Starlink as a backup connection and switches to it when the island’s internet goes down.
Joram said communication had changed since he began as an observer in 2018: the service once relied on email, then added web pages and Facebook, and sought community feedback on how people want information delivered.
He said he is the department’s only communications officer.
The service currently publishes in English. Joram said his department is working with the Department of Culture on developing localised language materials because the current generation has not learned to read what he called the “proper Naoero language.”
He said traditional knowledge is also still slowly being incorporated.
Joram said the training introduced him to Canva as a way to make weather products more engaging. He said the aim was “to get our message to reach the last person on the last mile.”
He also said the training expanded his understanding of communicating with communities, particularly people with disabilities.
“So now I can engage with them; they can know our products,” he said.
For both services, the task is not only to issue forecasts but to make sure the information is understandable and gets through.
In Tuvalu, that means local-language messaging and relays to islands without meteorological stations; in Naoero, staff address outages, technical language, and access for people with disabilities…. PACNEWS
PNG – DIPLOMACY: PNG GOVT PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
PM Marape stands firm on One- China Policy
PORT MORESBY, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (PNG GOVT) — Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has reiterated PNG’s unwavering commitment to the One-China Policy while calling for stronger economic, trade, investment and educational cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
Prime Minister Marape made the remarks during a meeting withChen Xiaodong, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), in Port Moresby.
The Prime Minister said Papua New Guinea had proudly maintained its One-China Policy since establishing diplomatic relations with China in 1976 and would continue to uphold this longstanding national position.
“Almost 50 years ago, Papua New Guinea adopted the One-China Policy, and we have maintained that policy proudly ever since,” Prime Minister Marape said.
“We are friends of China, and we will never compromise our One-China Policy. The seven Prime Ministers before me have respected this position, and I am confident future Prime Ministers will continue to do so.”
Prime Minister Marape thanked China for its longstanding friendship, development assistance and respect for Papua New Guinea’s sovereignty and independent foreign policy.
He said his forthcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping would focus on expanding economic relations, particularly trade, investment, agriculture, energy, mining and infrastructure development.
“My focus is on building an economic relationship that will last for generations. We want more Chinese investors coming into Papua New Guinea, creating employment, producing goods locally and exporting to China and other international markets,” he said.
The Prime Minister identified rice production, fisheries, coffee, livestock, mineral processing and energy development as priority areas for Chinese investment.
He also called for progress towards the establishment of Bank of China commercial operations in PNG and reciprocal visa-on-arrival arrangements to facilitate greater business, investment and tourism exchanges.
“These are the kinds of initiatives that can transform our economic relationship for generations,” he said.
Prime Minister Marape requested Chinese Government assistance to introduce Mandarin language education as an optional subject in Papua New Guinea’s schools, particularly for students from Grades 7 to 12.
He emphasised that learning Mandarin would be voluntary, giving interested students the opportunity to acquire additional language skills and gain a greater understanding of Chinese culture and history.
“I want our children to have the option of learning Mandarin, Chinese culture and history so they can better understand China and appreciate the relationship between our two countries,” he said.
“This will be an optional subject for students who wish to learn. We want to provide our children with more educational opportunities and prepare them for an increasingly interconnected world.”
“You and I will not be here forever. We must prepare the next generation. My focus is not just on the next election, but on the next generation.”
He praised China’s support for Butuka Academy in Port Moresby as an example of successful educational cooperation.
Chen welcomed the proposal and indicated China’s support for further discussions through Chinese Ambassador Yang Xiaoguang.
During the meeting, Chen outlined China’s continued development assistance to PNG, noting that more than 80 projects had been completed over nearly five decades of diplomatic relations.
He highlighted several priority projects under discussion, including:
*Investment in clean, green solar energy;
*The National Telecommunications Network project;
*Renovation of the International Convention Centre;
* Further modernisation of the National Broadcasting Corporation’s digital television services;
*A proposed comprehensive diagnosis and treatment centre at Port Moresby General Hospital; and
*Additional education, health, renewable energy and community infrastructure projects.
Chen said China was progressing technical assessments, feasibility studies and approval processes for several projects.
Prime Minister Marape welcomed the assistance but directed that projects involving concessional loans be carefully assessed by the Department of Treasury to ensure consistency with the Government’s commitment to achieving a balanced budget in 2027.
“We are working towards a balanced budget next year. We must ensure that any new borrowing is carefully managed and does not compromise our fiscal objectives,” he said.
The Prime Minister also emphasised the importance of modernising NBC to ensure reliable information reached communities throughout the country.
He further assured Chinese and other foreign investors that his government was strengthening security arrangements to protect legitimate businesses and encourage greater investment.
Chen reiterated China’s commitment to supporting Papua New Guinea’s development priorities and strengthening the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
Prime Minister Marape concluded by saying the future of PNG-China relations must be anchored in economic cooperation, education, trade and stronger people-to-people connections.
“Political leaders will come and go, but the relationships between our people, our businesses and our future generations must remain strong,” he said.
“We welcome more Chinese investment, more trade and more opportunities for our people. Our friendship with China is longstanding, and we want it to grow even stronger,” he said…. PACNEWS
NZ – ELECTION/POLITICS: AAP PACNEWS 2: Tue 10 Nov 2026
Teal force Opportunity crash into NZ parliament
WELLINGTON, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (AAP) — The teal phenomenon has expanded to New Zealand, where Opportunity has forced its way into parliament for the first time.
The climate-focused centrists may even yet hold the balance of power, with an incredibly tight election count still three weeks away from being final.
With six per cent of the nationwide party vote, rookie candidate Qiulae Wong has led the upstart party to its best ever result.
“We did it!” Wong said, taking the stage at Eden Park in front of her party’s supporters.
“It is looking very likely that after a decade, the Opportunity Party is going to make history.
“You guys have voted for unity over division. You have voted to change New Zealand politics for good.”
Opportunity was founded 10 years ago by economist Gareth Morgan as a party looking to sidestep the left-right divide and broker long-term solutions.
It invites comparisons with Australia’s teals, using the same colour, and is focused on climate, tax fairness and integrity issues.
Wong has said she is open to working with either side of politics.
“If it is a Labour-led government, we will be pushing harder on having businesses as part of the solution,” she told AAP in Auckland this week.
“If it is a National-led government, we will be pushing them much harder on environmental issues.”
While prime minister Chris Luxon ruled out working with them during the campaign, senior ministers Mark Mitchell and Erica Stanford suggested they might attempt to broker a deal if that was needed after the final count.
“I’m sure that the boss, Christopher (Luxon) will make that call,” Stanford said.
As it stood late on election night, the National-led coalition was on track for 67 seats, with the three opposition parties of the left on 57.
If Opportunity sided with the left, they would be on 64: still short of a majority, unless late-arriving votes and key electorates broke their way.
In New Zealand’s electoral system, parties need to clear five per cent of the nationwide party vote to be guaranteed of sending MPs to Wellington.
Analysts believe their party vote will only grow in the late count, when out-of-electorate and overseas ballots are added in.
Their result was part of a trend towards minor parties, with the combined major party vote coming in under 60 per cent.
Along with Opportunity, the left-wing Greens – on 13.3 per cent – and right-wing ACT – on 11 per cent – also produced record results…. PACNEWS
PACNEWS BIZ
PAC – FISHERIES: EARTH JUSTICE PACNEWS BIZ: Tue 10 Nov 2026
Trump administration reignites proposal to launch commercial fishing in Pacific Marine Monument
HONOLULU, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (EARTH JUSTICE) — The Trump administration has proposed a new rule to open the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing in the Federal Register Monday.
This would allow the same purse seine fishing, a large wall of netting that encircles an entire school of fish, and longline fishing that is currently permitted outside of the monument. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed rule will be open for a 30-day comment period.
Last year, Kāpa‘a, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, and the Centre for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, won a lawsuit that halted commercial fishing within the monument’s boundaries. Plaintiffs challenged the NMFS’s failure to follow the lawful process to change the monument’s commercial fishing regulations. This new proposal ignores the unrebutted scientific opinion from last year’s litigation that commercial fishing would harm the monument’s ecosystems and species.
“The Fisheries Service has once again ignored the guidance and perspectives of the native people who belong to the islands and to the ocean that surrounds us. Rather than look for a compromise, it has proposed an all-or-nothing approach to opening commercial fishing in our protected waters. We will go back to court to ensure that the generations of our children’s children who are yet to be born will know the fish and seabirds who call the Pacific home,” said Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, Founding Member of Kāpaʻa.
“We are disappointed by the Fisheries Service’s latest attempt to gut fishing protections in our marine national monument. There is extraordinary stress on the Pacific’s ecosystems from climate change, and species like tuna are already overfished. The Trump administration is taking the least scientific approach possible to pander to the commercial fishing industry,” said Jonee Peters, executive director of Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi.
“Trump is putting more than 300,000 square nautical miles of protected Pacific waters on the chopping block just so commercial fishing fleets can save a fraction of their operating costs,” said Maxx Phillips, Hawaiʻi and Pacific Islands director and senior attorney at the Centre for Biological Diversity.
“These waters are not expendable fishing grounds. They are some of the Pacific’s most important habitats for threatened and endangered wildlife and the Trump administration has no license to trade away their protection. We will keep fighting to ensure these protections remain in place for generations to come.”
Despite its proposal, the NMFS does not expect the fisheries to catch any more fish. The agency states that this change will offer, at most, “minor, beneficial impact” in the form of reduced “transit times and overall fuel and operational costs.” However, the cost to the monument’s healthy ecosystems would be much higher.
Allowing commercial fishing would cause direct effects on many declining or imperiled species that have found sanctuary within the monument, including sea turtles and sharks, that will be killed as bycatch. Abandoned fishing gear and vessel pollution will strain the broader ecosystems, and the indirect effects of harvesting targeted fish (like tunas) can harm seabirds that rely on these species for sustenance.
“This proposal to open a marine national monument to commercial fishing will harm ecosystems and kill imperiled marine mammals, sharks and sea turtles – even as agency officials admit it won’t help the fishing industry catch more fish,” said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin.
“This ill-conceived and illegal proposal shows that the Fisheries Service is all too willing to gloss over science and ignore the law to pander to the whims of a president whose failed policies are already causing environmental destruction. We prevailed in court the last time this happened, and we’ll head back to court again to defend the pristine waters of the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument.”
The groups plan to return to court to challenge the National Marine Fisheries Service’s failure to consider alternatives to reduce environmental harms of opening the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing…. PACNEWS
PAC – FISHERIES: SENTIENT MEDIA PACNEWS BIZ: Tue 10 Nov 2026
StarKist Tuna supply chain Linked to forced labour
WASHINGTON, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (SENTIENT MEDIA) — As long as there is breath in your body, you can work.” That’s what the captains think, migrant fisher Adrie Nelwan observed after a fishing hook snapped back and struck his right eye aboard a Taiwanese tuna longliner in July 2021.
According to him, his captain did not believe he was in pain and refused to head to shore so Nelwan could seek medical treatment.
Nelwan’s testimony is one of 92 Indonesian migrant fishers interviewed for a Global Labour Justice investigation and report on forced labour in StarKist’s supply chain released in September.
According to the report, Nelwan said that his captain withheld food and threatened to cut his wages because he couldn’t work. Fearing the consequences of not working, Nelwan returned to his duties around one week later. It was not until August 31, nearly two months after the injury, that he finally saw a doctor who prescribed eye drops.
When Nelwan asked for additional care, the captain accused him of exaggerating his injury and told him to transfer to another fishing vessel. Nelwan refused and returned home to Indonesia with no savings, as he had spent his wages repaying some of the debt, he incurred to secure the fishing job. He eventually paid about US$3,500 out of pocket for his surgery, but the procedure did not restore his vision. His manning agency — the company that recruited him and arranged his job on the fishing vessel — continues to demand repayment of the remaining debt.
A 2023 survey found that recruitment fees averaged about US$817, with some surpassing US$1,500. It can take migrant fishers up to six months to pay off the debt, which can also deter fishers from quitting, even under abusive conditions.
Nelwan’s vessel supplied tuna to StarKist since March 2021. As the largest canned tuna brand in the United States, StarKist sources much of its albacore tuna from Taiwan’s distant-water longline fleet. These vessels operate beyond the country’s territory and are at sea for months, relying heavily on migrant fishers, particularly from Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
The Global Labour Justice investigation found indications of forced migrant labour aboard all 37 Taiwanese vessels they had worked on. StarKist did not respond to the fishers’ repeated request to negotiate with them, according to the report.
“To my knowledge, this is the largest investigation of its kind that links forced labour at this scale to a specific company,” Allison Gill, legal director of Global Labour Justice, tells Sentient. While the vessels examined represent only 17 percent of StarKist’s Pacific albacore supply chain, Gill believes the findings show that workers in this part of the fleet are at risk of abuse.
Jessica Sparks, an assistant professor at Tufts University who studies forced labour in global food systems, adds a note of caution, however. While the findings reflect the experiences of the workers interviewed, they cannot be used to establish that “identical conditions exist on every vessel throughout the entire supply chain.” Supply chain tracing also has limitations, she tells Sentient in an email, because of opaque practices and limited information.
Forced labour, per the International Labour Organisation, a UN agency, is “work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily.” The practice is persistent across the world’s distant-water fishing fleets. The 2021 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery reported that approximately 128,000 fishers were entrapped into forced labour aboard fishing vessels globally in 2021. The United States prohibits importing goods produced, even partly, using forced labour.
What made abusive conditions so hard to escape, the Global Labour Justice report says, was isolation. Fishers spend months at sea without reliable communication, cut off from unions and unable to report abuse or call for help. For Nelwan, that isolation took a lasting toll. He believes receiving medical intervention sooner might have saved the sight in his right eye.
“The lack of communication at sea was one of the several major issues driving not only forced labour, but their barriers to exercising their fundamental labour rights,” Gill says. Fishers also reported being allowed very little rest. Many fishers said they worked 16 to 22 hours a day, every day, with some forced to work 24 without rest.
Another fisher, Hasan, also provided an account in the report. Crew members were expected to keep working even when sick or injured, he said. He once slipped and hit his back against the lid of a fish hold, he also recounted, injuring his tailbone. But he had to carry on with his duties despite the pain.
A different fisher, Adrian Dogdodo Basar, described in the report how shifts lasted as long as 23 hours and voyages as long as 10 months. Recounting the death of a crewmate who fell ill, Basar said their captain ordered the man’s body placed in the freezer and that the crew continue fishing.
Workers who speak out or try to switch employers may face severe consequences. Deportation is one possible outcome and can send them back into the recruitment system, where securing another job may mean taking on even more debt, Gill says. And when a migrant fisher wants to leave, barriers can go beyond finances, including confiscated passports and employer-tied visas.
StarKist did not respond to Sentient’s request for comment as of publication time. But StarKist’s code of conduct explicitly bars forced labour. “Manufacturers are expected to uphold the human rights of workers and treat them with dignity and respect,” the code of conduct reads.
StarKist is a “longtime member, in good standing” of the National Seafood Association, Gavin Gibbon, the trade organisation’s chief strategy officer, tells Sentient in an email. Gibbons says the group “takes allegations of worker mistreatment seriously” and that its members are committed to supply chains free of labour abuses.
He also urges anyone with specific concerns to immediately alert law enforcement and regulators.
Workers in Indonesia may seem far removed from the United States, but their work brings canned tuna to American households. By analysing vessel, shipping and trade records, Global Labour Justice traced StarKist’s albacore supply chain from fishing vessels in the Pacific to its processing facility in American Samoa and the United States.
Consumers should be able to expect that the products they buy are not linked to exploitation. That should be the “bare minimum,” says Zacari Edwards, senior seafood campaign coordinator at Global Labour Justice. “The way that brands and supermarkets market their products leads consumers to believe that the products they’re buying are sustainable and have been ethically sourced,” Edwards tells Sentient.
StarKist posts on its website that all tuna and salmon it buys comes from suppliers whose fisheries are either certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or working toward certification through a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP). According to its website, StarKist also aims to source all its tuna and salmon from MSC-certified fisheries by the end of this year.
In response to a request for comment, the Marine Stewardship Council tells Sentient in an email that companies convicted of forced or child labour are barred from certification.
“While some NGOs believe that MSC should offer social assurance, our focus and expertise are best directed towards addressing the enormous environmental challenge posed by overfishing,” the organisation says.
The Marine Stewardship Council also adds that independent third-party assessors decide which fisheries qualify for certification.
With existing certification programs offering limited protection, some workers are increasingly seeking other ways to hold companies accountable.
Following the report’s release in September, Forum Silaturahmi Pelaut Indonesia – Pingtung County Migrant Fishers Union (FOSPI-PMFU), a labour union representing migrant fishers in Taiwan who work aboard vessels in StarKist’s supply chain, launched a campaign calling on the company to negotiate a binding agreement directly with workers.
The union’s demands include guaranteed Wi-Fi access aboard all vessels, safe and healthy workplaces, fair wages and employment contracts, the right to organize without intimidation or retaliation and transparent grievance procedures.
Gill says the campaign is unprecedented and notes that few, if any, unions have pursued this kind of direct, binding agreement with a seafood company despite longstanding reports of labour abuses across the industry.
The labour union and Global Labour Justice also filed a complaint against Dongwon Industries, the South Korean parent company of StarKist, accusing it of failing to meet the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct over forced labour in its Pacific albacore tuna supply chain.
Union leaders tried to contact StarKist and Dongwon Industries twice before the report’s publication to discuss their demands, but received no response, according to Gill. The companies had yet to respond after its release, either.
There has been no shortage of reports documenting conditions on distant-water fleets over the years but little action has been made, Gill says. She stresses, however, that these abuses are not impossible to address.
“The union has made demands and their interest here is sitting down with the company and negotiating a solution because the interest is not to shut down trade or to stop the supply chain or to end the jobs,” Gill says. Fishers want to keep working, she adds, but under decent working conditions…. PACNEWS
PACNEWS In Focus
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
COP31 Pacific home, the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion launched in Antalya
ANTALYA, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (SPREP) — The Pacific has opened its home at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), with the official launch of the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion and Pacific Delegation Office in Antalya this evening.
With the support from the Governments of Australia and New Zealand and managed by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Pavilion will host a two-week programme of side events, talanoa sessions and exhibitions. Pacific experts, youth, women, community and indigenous leaders will share what they know from living with the climate crisis every day.
Together with the Pacific Delegation Office, Pacific negotiators have a dedicated space to prepare, coordinate and work together until the conference ends on November 20th.
The opening was led by Lynda Tabuya, Fiji’s Minister for Information, Environment and Climate Change and Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), alongside Chris Bowen, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy and COP31 President of Negotiations, Stuart Coleman, New Zealand’s Ambassador for Climate Change, and Sefanaia Nawadra, SPREP Director General. Pacific Ministers, the Pacific’s Special Envoy for Oceans, Inia Seruiratu, and heads of delegation joined an evening of performances by Matavai Pacific Cultural Arts and This Is Our Home Band, with prayer and devotion led by Reverend Faaimata Havea Hiliau.
The Pavilion is located at the centre of the COP31 venue. It is close to the pavilions of the COP31 Presidency, Türkiye, and the President of Negotiations, Australia.
SPREP Director General, Sefanaia Nawadra thanked New Zealand “for being with us right from the start” and Australia for helping make the Pavilion possible. He recalled that the Pavilion began at COP24 in Katowice (Poland), as the Pacific and Koronivia Pavilion. It was named after the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture that Fiji led and secured at COP23.
“I think there’s a good omen there. This time around, we need to get the ocean through as a formal item at COP. With our Ministers who are here, and our envoy for oceans, we know we will do what we need to do. – get oceans onto the formal agenda.”
While acknowledging the performers, who are mainly from the Pacific diaspora in Australia, he said, “they are Pacific Islanders who don’t live in the Pacific, but they are still Pacific people. And I know all of you who come here to join us as the Pacific family will go back and speak loudly, to help amplify the Pacific voice that needs to be heard at COP31 and beyond.”
Minister Tabuya thanked the Matavai performers “for reminding us of who we are” and called on the Pacific to bring its heart to the negotiations.
She said “I believe that hearts can change here, and this is what we need. We need hearts to change when we are here at COP. We will bring the heart of the Pacific, and the heart of the Pacific is the ocean.”
“The ocean, again, is struggling to get on the agenda. We see the glaciers and the forests have now made it. So where is the ocean, once again? We need to fight for the ocean. Let’s do this for the Pacific. Let’s do this together,” Minister Tabuya urged everyone.
Minister Bowen said the Pavilion’s place beside the COP presidencies was deliberate.
“It’s right and proper that this year the Moana Pavilion is right here in the centre, next to Australia and Türkiye, where the presidents have their pavilions. We wanted the Moana Pavilion to be right here with us.”
He recalled the Pacific putting 1.5°C on the agenda in Paris. “Let us never forget, the Pacific insisted 2 degrees is not good enough. We must reinforce that commitment and push again for that commitment.”
“Oceans, the world’s largest climate regulator, have not received enough attention at COP. That changes here at COP31. And it’s not good enough that 0.2 per cent of the world’s climate finance goes to small island developing states for adaptation. That has to change.”
“Getting consensus across more than 190 countries is not easy, and I can’t promise you exactly what the outcome will be. But I can promise you this: the Pacific will be right there with us at the heart of the negotiations, every single day. This is your chance to tell our story as a Pacific family. Let’s tell it loud, let’s tell it proud, and let’s tell it consistently over the next fortnight,” said Bowen.
New Zealand Climate Change Ambassador, Stuart Coleman acknowledged SPREP’s vision in conceiving the Pavilion and Australia’s support in creating a space to put Pacific voices at the forefront of climate action at COP31.
“New Zealand has been a long-standing supporter of this Pavilion, and we’re really pleased to continue the partnership here at COP.” He added that the Pre-COP partnership with Fiji and Tuvalu this year had been a special moment in setting out the messages the Pacific wants to send to COP31.
The opening closed with a screening of the poem “Breathe 1.5” and the trailer for Pacific Rising, a 75-minute documentary premiering at COP31, which follows communities across six Pacific nations (Tuvalu, Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, the Marshall Islands and Samoa). It brings to the fore indigenous knowledge and science to respond to a changing climate. Narrated by Australian-Samoan actress, Catherine Laga’aia and produced by Wild Pacific Media, the film’s message is what the Pacific has carried to Antalya – what happens to the Pacific, happens to the world.
Delegates and media are invited to visit the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion throughout COP31 and to join its programme of side events…. PACNEWS
PACNEWS DIGEST
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
An Outer-Island Budget Promise Must Survive the Boat Journey
By Douglas Vandergraph
TARAWA, 10 NOVEMBER 2026 (PACNEWS) — A government announcement made in South Tarawa may sound complete when the words leave a microphone. For a family on an outer island, it can be the beginning of a longer wait. The promise must travel across sea distances, arrive through a channel people can actually use and be translated into a change that can be felt in an ordinary household. Between a national plan and the outer-island kitchen stand a ship schedule, a local council office, a teacher and neighbours who have their own responsibilities.
Kiribati’s 2026 budget speaks of advancing development through action. That is a useful standard if action is understood from the viewpoint of people farthest from the place where decisions are made. A repair to a landing point, support for a health facility or a new training programme cannot be judged only by a contract signed in Tarawa. It must also be judged by whether residents understand the change, can reach the service and have somewhere to raise a problem when reality differs from the announcement.
Information in English may be appropriate for outside partners, but the explanation used by an affected family must be accessible to that family. Some residents depend on spoken communication, others on a church or council notice, others on a telephone call relayed through relatives. The point is not that one method is perfect. It is that a single online post cannot bear the whole responsibility for communication across a dispersed island nation. A message should have more than one route to the household.
The hardest questions are often small. If the repair boat is late, who will tell the people expecting it? If a patient’s journey must be delayed, how does the family learn the revised arrangement before spending scarce money? If a school needs materials, is there a named person who can confirm whether they have been shipped? Answering these questions does not compete with national aspirations. It makes those aspirations credible. Silence forces people to create their own explanations, and rumours can divide neighbours who need one another.
An outer-island community already has knowledge that a national meeting may overlook which landing is unsafe in a particular season, when an elderly resident depends on a relative’s canoe, what school supplies will last and which family lacks a dependable phone. This knowledge should shape implementation, not arrive as a complaint after decisions become fixed. Local councils and community organisations can connect plans to lived experience, provided the people doing that work are listened to and given useful responses.
A peaceful society does not require agreement about every budget priority. It requires a way for disagreement and practical concern to travel in both directions. A resident should be able to ask why a service is delayed without being treated as disloyal. An official should be able to acknowledge a mistake without losing dignity. That reciprocity is especially valuable where a small island community must continue living together after the meeting is over.
The measure of a successful announcement is therefore not how widely it is repeated in the capital. It is whether the last household can understand what has been promised, when to expect it and how to respond if something goes wrong. For Kiribati, where distance is a daily fact rather than an occasional inconvenience, peace can take the simple form of a reliable message carried across the water and an answer sent back…. PACNEWS
Douglas Vandergraph | https://douglasvandergraph.com/
PACNEWS DIGEST
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Connecting island restoration and climate resilience across the Pacific
ANTALYA, 10 NOVEBER 2026 (SPC) — On volcanic islands, rain falling in upland forests and catchments flows towards the coast, carrying water, nutrients and sediment. What happens on land can affect coastal habitats and the people who rely on them.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that degradation of terrestrial and marine ecosystems can increase the vulnerability of small-island communities to climate change. During COP31, the Pacific Community (SPC) and Island Conservation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore collaboration on island and ocean restoration, biodiversity and climate resilience.
The signing brought Pacific conservation priorities into an international climate forum and recognised that healthy ecosystems are part of the region’s climate response.
SPC Deputy Director-General Science and Capability Dr Andrew Jones said the agreement provides a basis for exploring work across connected ecosystems.
“Climate resilience and biodiversity are closely linked across Pacific islands. By signing this MoU at COP31, we are highlighting the importance of that connection and creating a framework to explore collaboration guided by the priorities of Pacific members.”
The MoU identifies potential areas of collaboration including island and ocean restoration, ocean monitoring and governance, marine and terrestrial protected and conserved areas, threatened species and biodiversity, nature-based solutions, and integrated ridge-to-reef and coastal management. It also provides for sharing information and data, supporting climate resilience, and exploring sustainable financing. Island Conservation Vice President, Conservation Programs, Mr Cameron Driver said the agreement would help the organisations identify where their experience and regional priorities could align.
“Every island has its own ecology and priorities. Working with SPC gives us an opportunity to learn from Pacific partners and identify where Island Conservation’s restoration experience can support locally relevant conservation goals.”
The agreement provides a framework for identifying future areas of collaboration. Specific activities will be developed through separate agreements setting out each organisation’s responsibilities, deliverables and funding arrangements. The collaboration is intended to complement existing efforts and contribute to the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. Its value will lie in the Pacific-led conservation it helps make possible: restoring island ecosystems, protecting biodiversity and sustaining the natural resources communities depend on.
The 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP31, is taking place from 9–20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye. Pacific leaders and their delegations are advocating for the survival and wellbeing of Pacific communities, which continue to be at the forefront of climate change impacts. Support for Pacific Island countries and territories at COP31 is coordinated through the One CROP mechanism, led by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC), University of the South Pacific (USP) and Pacific Community (SPC)…. PACNEWS
Media contacts: Sunayna Nandini, Communications, Outreach and Engagement Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability Division, Pacific Community (SPC), sunaynan@spc.int
