Opinion: Small-Scale Fishers facing Large-Scale Challenges at WTO

A decision whether to conclude negotiations that prohibit subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity is happening next week at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO General Council meeting follows

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Green Climate Fund approves US$23.92 million for Tonga Coastal Resilience Project

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board has approved a US$22.66 million grant for Tonga’s Coastal Resilience Project, supplemented by US$1.2 million in co-financing from the Government of Tonga and US$63,000 from the UN

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Pacific nations stand firm on fisheries and oceans protection

For Pacific Island nations, marine conservation and sustainable fisheries management are crucial because the health of ocean resources deeply influences their economies and livelihoods. In recent times, contrasting

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Opinion: Most plastics are made from fossil fuels and end up in the ocean, but marine microbes can’t degrade them

Marine plastic pollution is a massive environmental issue, with a plastic smog of an estimated 170 trillion particles afloat in the world’s oceans. This highlights how urgently we need to develop strategies to

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Opinion: Private sector can play a vital role in tackling plastic tsunami

The Pacific Islands, among the most picturesque yet vulnerable regions in the world, are facing an escalating crisis: plastic pollution. The initiation of a global plastics treaty, underpinned by initiatives such as the

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Marine species disappear amid dredging works

As dredging works moved downstream in the Sigatoka River, Kulukukulu Village headman Christopher Herbert Work watched as the machines heading towards them dug up the river and spewed out sand and gravel to the

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Opinion: Communities worry anew as PNG revives seabed mining plans

Chris Malgan sits in his outrigger canoe, singing and shaking a ring of coconut shells in the water next to the boat. The inky skies backdropping the reef portend a late-morning storm that will bring a deluge of rain

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UN nuclear chief tells Japan transparency is ‘very important’ in ruined nuclear plant’s discharges

The head of the UN atomic agency on Tuesday emphasised to Japan’s government the importance of transparency in its ongoing discharges of treated radioactive wastewater at the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power

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$10 million project aims to reduce single-use plastics in Cook Islands

A project to reduce the number of plastics entering the country, focused on the food and beverage sector, was discussed during a workshop in Rarotonga last week. Like other countries around the world, the Cook Islands

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Regional tuna expert sounds caution in developing seabed mining

Leading Pacific tuna industry expert, Dr Transform Aqorau, has drawn from the region’s experiences with its massive tuna fisheries industry to sound caution in the development of the “next frontier” of deep seabed

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Cook Islands Parliament makes changes to seabed mining law

The Cook Islands has made amendments to its Seabed Minerals Act this week, including replacing the term “mining” with “minerals harvesting … to reflect the actual activity that takes

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