Page 5 - IB Jan 2024

A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

The pictures are enough to tell the story. The pictures are of a sea of plastic piled
up on shorelines and river mouths, illustrating the impact of plastic pollution in the
Pacific as part of an extensive feature on our website.
The pictures represent the story of the Pacific.
Publisher
Netani Rika We contribute as little as 1.3% of the world’s plastic pollution and yet, our ocean
resources will be under serious threat from plastics by the year 2030. Similarly, the
General Manager major carbon emitters continue to drive the planet towards the brink of destruction,
Samantha Magick
while the Pacific pays the price.
Editor The much-anticipated COP28 is over, setting up an already embattled global climate
Richard Naidu agenda for an uphill battle. There is a grudging reference to fossil fuels in the final
text but as one Pacific Island veteran of the COP meetings points out, outcomes boil
Reporters
Kite Pareti down to lobbying in an extremely crowded space. Sadly, while the entire world is in
Prerna Priyanka a desperate, singular chorus to save the planet, it’s in that space that the future of
the planet ends up hanging in the balance. And the strings are attached to the well-
greased pockets of the lobbyists.
Designer As with climate change, the petrochemical industry stands in the way of stopping the
death of our vast ocean by plastic.
Dick Lee
There’s a global push to finalise a UN treaty by the end of 2024 aimed at ending plastic
Contributors pollution. Most chemicals used to produce plastics are derived from fossil fuels, so
Jon Fraenkel fossil fuel lobbyists have been blocking the proposal to limit the production of plastics
Nic MacLellan and instead, want a treaty limited to cleaning up plastic litter and improving plastic
recycling rates. Delegates have met several times and will have another two sessions
Alipate Pareti
this year but with no significant headway at the latest round of talks, it appears the
Dr. Satyendra Prasad
deadline will have to be extended to reach an agreement on the treaty.
Rimon Rimon
Rowena Singh Unfortunately, we can’t keep extending the deadline for the life of the planet.
The State of the Climate 2023 Report published late last year made some stark
observations worth noting. Firstly, that 20 of 35 planetary vital signs are at “record
extremes;” secondly, that many climate-related records were broken by “enormous
Islands Business is published monthly by margins” in 2023, particularly those related to ocean temperatures and sea ice; and,
Front Page Pte Limited that these signs have worsened to the point that “life on the planet is imperiled” and
Editorial & Advertising Offices we are now in “uncharted territory”.
GPO Box 12718, Suva, Fiji Islands
Tel: +679 9719660 With the onset of El Niño late last year, predictions are the world will experience
its hottest summer on record this year, an unusually strong hurricane season in the
Emails Pacific, impacts on agricultural production and food security, and more vector-borne
Editorial: editor@islandsbusiness.com diseases.
richard@islandsbusiness.com
Subscriptions: subs@islandsbusiness.com All that is going to impact the economies of Pacific Island countries, as the experts
Advertising: marketing@islandsbusiness.com forecast in our cover story. Tourism caused a brief GDP surge in 2022-2023 in some
PICs after the pandemic. But growth is predicted to settle back into just above the 2%
Printing: level in the foreseeable future while debt levels move towards double pre-pandemic
Printhouse Pacific Pte Limited, Suva, Fiji Islands levels by 2025. Inflation will continue to remain steady, with the fear that it will push
more people in the region into poverty.
The far from exciting prospects for the region looking into 2024 means we will have
to build our resilience and adaptation to these challenges while coping with the
July-August 2023 FJD $8
www.islandsbusiness.com
www.islandsbusiness.com
December 2023 FJD $8
potential external shocks from a decelerating global economy.
Richard
THE BEAUTY AND PACIFIC PERSON
BUSINESS OF BILAS MANASSEH SOGAVARE
OF THE YEAR
richard@islandsbusiness.com
Copyright © 2024 Front Page Pte Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced without the written permission of the
publisher.
www.islandsbusiness.com
Islands Business, January 2024 5