Energy poverty and access to electricity in the Pacific
Energy poverty is widespread in the Pacific. It is estimated that 70 per cent of households in the region don’t have access to electricity and 85 per cent don’t have access to clean cooking energy
Recast Regionalism: lofty ideals sink to the bottom of the ocean
The annual Forum leaders meeting in Palau this year released the Palau Oceans Declaration titled: “The Ocean: Life and Future: Charting a course to sustainability.” The declaration outlines lofty ideals
Pacific Islands Forum Meeting – of people and power
Every six years Pacific leaders meet at their annual summit to discuss who will win the lottery and get the six figure job of Secretary General of the Forum. It is quite literarily the lottery as the first Secretary
Controlled fertility rates linked to economic growth patterns
I f there is any resource in which Pacific Island Countries can be certain of achieving sustainability and continuous socio-economic gain, it is its youth cohort. The key however is significant and serious investment in
New Dynamics in Regional Politics
One of the stand out features of this year’s Forum Leaders Summit in Palau was the decision to appoint Meg Taylor, a female to head the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. It is not ground breaking though in so far
The PIDF Comes of Age
The second Summit of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) was held on Fiji’s Denarau Island from June 18 to 20. Over 400 delegates from the region and beyond were in attendance and keynote presentations
Do many hands make light work?
The reality is that, with the greatest goodwill in the world, many of these countries are too small to be viable in the normal understanding of that expression and we really have to develop an approach that I could
A cheap wood-fired cooking stove for the islands
Most islands in the Pacific notably Melanesian countries of Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and PNG have no shortage of wood fuel for cooking. When I analysed the 2008-09 Household Income and Expenditure Survey for the
UN report calls for action to address existing inequalities
A United Nations (UN) report launched February has warned that global development gains in the last 20 years will all be in vain if governments do not seriously tackle existing inequalities that entrench distressful
