Guam says Washington now more Pacific-friendly
A participant at a climate change summit says the United States has shown a lot more effort to engage with the Pacific region through President Joe Biden.
Photo: AFP/Oliver Contreras
Guam's representative at the US Embassy's TechCamp in Auckland, Lawrence Alcairo, said he's confident there would be more US-led developmental projects in the Pacific to lessen the impacts of the climate crisis.
During the Trump administration many climate regulations were scrapped, and the US was temporarily withdrawn from the Paris Climate agreement in 2020.
Alcairo said that with Biden's tenure there's been a renewed interest in the Pacific and indigenous communities.
"It's very important to include indigenous knowledge and I think that there's a very big push for that in the communities and I really think that the federal government is starting to see that."
Poverty falling in Marianas
The latest census information from the Northern Marianas shows poverty levels declining.
In figures out from the US Census Bureau poverty in 2019 was 33.7 percent, down from 44.4 percent ten years earlier.
Median household incomes were up significantly while the population has slumped dramatically by 12.2 percent to 47,329 as of April 2020.
Korean boost to Pacific development assistance
South Korea has made a commitment to increase its climate and development funding assistance to the Pacific.
The announcement was made during a meeting with Pacific Islands foreign ministers in Busan.
The Cook Islands associate minister for Foreign Affairs, Tingika Elikana, welcomed Korea's commitment to increase contributions to climate finance, including an increase in Green Overseas Development Assistance.
"The Cook Islands particularly welcomed Korea's commitment to increase contributions to climate finance, including an increase in Green ODA," said Elikana.
"The Cook Islands has been at the forefront of Pacific efforts to develop the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) and we look forward to working closely through the PIF with
Korea to capitalising the PRF in the near future."
New political party in New Caledonia
A new political party has been formed in New Caledonia, calling itself Caledonian Sovereignty.
At a meeting in Bourail, one of the founders Ronald Frere said the objective of the party was to be neither pro- nor anti- independence but to demand sovereignty.
He said the party doesn't see its members defending the interests of France and doesn't seek to follow the principle of decolonisation.
Frere added that he thinks the Kanaks have done this work and will finish it.
The party said it wants to foster an identity beyond ethnic lines.
Pago Pago shipyard now fully reopened
The Ronald Reagan Shipyard has fully reopened in American Samoa.
The government said the shipyard has acquired a full line of equipment and tools and is now able to drydock two vessels at the same time, with future plans of drydocking an additional one-to-three vessels at a time.
It was shut down in late 2019, following an incident during routine testing of the partially completed slipway.
By mid March 2021, the shipyard began to slowly re-open.
New electric bus a first in American Samoa
American Samoa has been awarded almost $US400,000 to purchase its first electric school bus.
This is funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program.
The EPA said diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other conditions that harm students' health and cause them to miss school, particularly in communities of colour and tribal communities.
Phasing out these diesel engines will ensure cleaner air for students, bus drivers, and school staff working near the bus loading areas, and the communities the buses drive through.
Pacific states sign strategy on diseases
Fourteen Pacific nations have endorsed a framework to reduce the rate of noncommunicable diseases in the Western Pacific region
Delegates from the region signed the Regional Action Framework at a World Health Organisation meeting in Japan on Thursday.
It sets out five strategic action plans, focused on improving the design of national health systems.
Cook Islands delegate Bob Williams said the framework would help address the increasing rates of noncommunicable diseases such as mental illness.
Leaders meeting in Rarotonga for tourism summit
Regional leaders will be gathering next week in the Cook Islands for a sustainable tourism summit.
Led by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), the inaugural Pacific Sustainable Tourism Leadership Summit is the culmination of efforts to develop and showcase the Pacific as a global leader in sustainable tourism.
Chairman Petero Manufolau said the summit would be the driving force to make the tourism organisation into a global leader in sustainable tourism.
He also said it would promote a clean and sustainable tourism sector.
