Climate activists during the COP27 climate conference in Egypt. Photo: AFP / Fayez Nureldine
Climate change - loss and damage
The Pacific Community has signed a memorandum of understanding with Denmark on addressing loss and damage from climate change in Pacific Small Island Countries States.
As part of this, around $US2.9 million has been pledged for initiatives in the region.
Within the Pacific Community's Climate Change Flagship Programme, the money will help to generate high-quality data, information, and analysis on climate-related risks.
It will also help to provide technical and financial support to community-led projects.
Vanuatu - food rations
After three months of waiting for dry food rations following Tropical Cyclones Judy and Kevin, some households in east Epi in Vanuatu found their rice and biscuits were inedible.
Food rations were recently distributed to affected communities.
One local told the Daily Post the rice grains had turned brown and had a bad odour.
He said he would be feeding the rice to his chickens.
The Area Administrator for the local council, Philip Dick, told the Post a number of other communities on the island have reported spoiled rice and they will be providing replacements.
He said the dry rations were affected during shipment and during offloading.
Kiribati - marine reef
National Geographic's Pristine Seas team has found reefs in the Southern Line Islands Marine Protected Area in Kiribati are recovering well after a 2016 El Niño warming event.
The event killed half the coral.
It was the first stop the group has done as part of a five-year Pacific expedition.
Pristine Seas chief scientist, Dr Alan Friedlander, said he was amazed to see how the reefs continue to grow and change.
He said it shows how resilient reefs can be to climate change.
Hawaii - volcano
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has lowered the alert level of the volcano Kilauea.
It has been lowered from warning to watch because the initial high effusion rates have declined, and no infrastructure is threatened.
The US Geological Society said it was at one point spouting up to a height of about 15 metres.
The USGS said Kīlauea's aviation colour code has been dropped from red to orange.
PNG - politics
Papua New Guinea's ruling Pangu Pati now includes 53 of the 118 MPs in the parliament.
This comes after Morobe Governor Luther Wenge joined the party this week, leaving the People's Labour Party.
Last month, Elias Kapavore also joined Pangu from the People's National Congress.
Pangu had won 39 seats in the 2022 National General Election.
Solomon Islands/Marshall Islands - betel nut
A Solomon Islands seasonal worker has been fined $AU1600 for carrying betel nut into Australia.
The latest incident involved a PALM worker carrying the stimulant to pass on to others living in Australia.
The Labour Mobility Unit has repeatedly told PALM Scheme workers not to take any betel nuts into Australia, but people are being offered payment to do so.
Meanwhile, Marshall Islands authorities say more than 450kg of betel nut have been seized at the International Airport.
The Marshall Islands Journal reports the seizure occurred on a flight from Guam.
It is not illegal for betel nut to enter the Marshall Islands, but the distribution and sale of it is prohibited.
French Polynesia - UN talks
French Polynesia's new president has raised the territory's institutional development with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, during a previously unannounced one-hour meeting in Paris.
In 2013, French Polynesia was reinscribed on the UN decolonisation list, but to date France has refused to discuss its obligation as the administrative power at the annual UN deliberations.
Moetai Brotherson, whose pro-independence Tavini Huiraatira party won the April election, has told La Premiere that after his talks with Macron and French ministers, he hoped France would join the UN talks in October.
Brotherson, who hopes to get to an independence referendum within 15 years, said he also had a positive exchange with Macron on several other issues, such as energy transition and food self-sufficiency.
