Pacific

Climate no laughing matter, Fiji warns Australia

23 Jan 19 - Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama used the Australian leader’s visit to call out his promotion of fossil fuels, showing Scott Morrison is on the wrong side in the Pacific as well as at home.

Vanuatu eyes climate action against fossil fuel companies

23 Nov 18 - Vanuatu says it will explore whether it can take legal action against fossil fuel companies and countries for their role in causing climate change.

Marshalls first to submit new climate targets

22 Nov 18 - The Marshall Islands is the first country to submit new, binding climate targets to the United Nations this week, sending a signal to other countries to commit to more ambitious emissions cuts.

Ardern talks climate on Asia-Pacific swing

20 Nov 18 - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used international talks in Papua New Zealand and Singapore to push for action on climate change, her office says.

Palau bans sunscreen to protect coral reefs

8 Nov 18 - Palau is set to become the first country to ban reef-toxic sunscreen.

Nauruans (and refugees) have nowhere to hide

23 Oct 18 - Everyone on Nauru – indigenous Nauruans and refugees alike – is experiencing the impacts of one the greatest social, economic and political threats faced by the world today: global environmental change.

Marshalls vow to be carbon neutral by 2050

27 Sep 18 - The Marshall Islands have released a comprehensive climate strategy to go carbon-neutral by 2050, becoming the first island nation to do so.

Australia tried to water down Pacific stand, says PM

7 Sep 18 - Australia tried to water down a resolution on climate change agreed by country representatives at the Pacific Islands Forum, a leader attending the event has claimed.

NZ backs Pacific call for UN to do more

6 Sep 18 - New Zealand is backing other Pacific nations calling for the United Nations to up its game over the security threats posed by climate change.

Mental hospital best for some leaders, says Samoa PM

3 Sep 18 - Samoan leaderTuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has called climate change an “existential threat ... for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should...

STORM SURGE: Hurricane Lane carries warning for the Pacific

27 Aug 18 - Warming water in the Central Pacific as global temperatures rise is likely to boost tropical storm activity in a region largely spared in the past.

Tesla to boost power in Pago Pago

24 Aug 18 - American Samoa is transforming to 100 per cent renewable energy with the help of a Tesla powerpack.

New Caledonia votes to protect coral reef

20 Aug 18 - New Caledonia has agreed to tougher protections around a huge swathe of some of the world’s last near-pristine coral reefs, in a move conservationists hail as a major breakthrough.

Palau plans the fastest-ever shift to renewable energy

20 Jul 18 - Palau plans to stop buying diesel and go 100 per cent solar by the end of 2019 - offering a blueprint for other Pacific nations to do the same.

Spotlight goes on NZ climate aid to Pacific

19 Jul 18 - New Zealand’s support for Pacific countries threatened by climate change will be under the spotlight in Fiji next week.

Islands show little interest in insurance offer

3 Jul 18 - Only a handful of Pafific Islands nations have signed up to an insurance scheme that dispenses rapid payouts in a crisis - a situation experts hope to change.

Majuro tidal graphics made them weep

25 Jun 18 - Striking sea-level rise images have sent shockwaves through the Marshallese community and brought some EU ministers to tears.

Climate will empty islands in just decades, warns report

27 Apr 18 - Low-lying atolls around the world will be overtaken by sea-level rises within a few decades, according to a new study.

Climate change threatens Fiji's survival, says PM

4 Apr 18 - Fiji is in a fight for survival as climate change brings almost constant deadly cyclones, says Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.