Pacific

Fiji COP presidency must not fail climate victims

Thursday - Despite warm words about protecting the vulnerable, the island presidency of this year’s UN climate talks is showing no urgency on “loss and damage”.

Rising seas threaten scores of Pacific species with extinction

Wednesday - The Chuuk flying fox. The Black-spotted Cuscus. The Fijian crested iguana. The Mariana skink. The greater monkey-faced bat. Poncelet’s giant rat. They live on islands in the Pacific and they are facing extinction.

How a shipping firm took control of a country’s UN mission

7 Jul 17 - How the climate-threatened Marshall Islands came to be represented at UN shipping talks by a private company based in Virginia, 11,000km away.

Pacific nations push for Paris pact commitments

6 Jul 17 - A commitment by rich nations to the Paris Agreement and an end to fossil-fuel development were the two major issues to come out of a pan-Pacific climate meeting in Fiji this week.

Open your doors to climate refugees, Fiji tells US

4 Jul 17 - Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has called on the US to open its borders and offer a permanent home to the people of the Marshall Islands threatened by rising seas.

Paris agreement only way to save coral reefs

28 Jun 17 - Greater emissions reductions and delivering on the Paris climate agreement are now “the only opportunity” to save coral reefs the world over from decline.

US exiting climate pact will hurt small islands

26 Jun 17 - To small island nations where the land juts just above the rising seas, the US pulling out of the Paris global warming pact makes the future seem as fragile and built on hope as a sand castle.

Coral reefs hold the history of the seas

21 Jun 17 - Much like tree rings, coral reefs can tell stories about how environmental conditions have changed over time.

NZ gives Fiji million-dollar handout for UN talks

22 May 17 - New Zealand is giving Fiji $1.3 million and the services of our top climate ambassador to help to chair international climate negotiations later this year.

Is Pacific climate message missing the God factor?

18 May 17 - Well-meaning nations who find their Pacific aid projects don't work out might find the reason, in part, is the sidelining of God.

38 million pieces of plastic waste found on Pacific island

17 May 17 - Henderson Island, part of the Pitcairn group, is covered by 18 tonnes of plastic – the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world

OPINION: We must plan for climate refugees

10 May 17 - What will New Zealand do when 12,000 climate refugees from Tuvalu arrive on its doorstep?

Global warming could speed up if the Pacific Ocean gets cranky

10 May 17 - Conditions in the Pacific Ocean over the coming decades will determine how fast we get to 1.5deg global warming.

World Bank presses NZ on climate refugees

9 May 17 - The World Bank says New Zealand should accept more migrants from the Pacific to pre-empt a flood of climate refugees.

Whales could help to save Pacific from carbon pollution

13 Apr 17 - If conservation efforts pay off, whales could help Pacific islands to meet their emissions reductions targets.

Tonga and ADB launch climate change fund

1 Mar 17 - The Tongan government and the Asian Development Bank have launched the island group's first climate change trust fund.

Look what they found 5000m down on the Pacific seafloor

14 Feb 17 - Scientists have discovered “extraordinary” levels of toxic pollution in the most remote and inaccessible place on the planet – the 10km deep Mariana trench in the Pacific.

How climate change plays havoc with Pacific weather

10 Feb 17 - Global warming has already increased the risk of major disruptions to Pacific rainfall, according to new research by Australian scientists.

PACIFIC PROBLEM: Carbon cuts will not settle seas

24 Jan 17 - Even supposing the world does make dramatic reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, the fate of the small island states remains uncertain.