July 19, 2017An area nearly the size of Paris has already cut a hole in a vast stretch of rainforest on the island of New Guinea, as the companies clearing…
New Caledonia's pro-independence FLNKS has questioned the role of the president Thierry Santa on the commission tasked with saving the SLN nickel plant. SLN's ongoing losses have fuelled…
By Dan McGarry – It’s mostly carrot and—so far—very little stick where the government’s new tax regime is concerned. The massive new law runs to 106 pages including…
Source: RNZ Pacific leaders have declared a climate crisis in the region and are demanding an end to coal mining. The declaration was signed by several regional leaders at the Pacific Islands Development Forum in Fiji on Tuesday. The declaration expresses grave concerns about the impacts the climate crisis will have on the Pacific. In […]
IN these monthly discussions we answer one question about language in PNG and beyond. This month we are looking at the origins of words in Tok Pisin. The historical connection between English and Tok Pisin is obvious. This is why we often call Tok Pisin “Pidgin English”. But where do all the non-English words come […]
THE Government is looking at merging the National Lands Commission and the Land Titles Commission under a new organisation which will be called Lands Tribunal Commission, Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Davis Steven says. Steven presented a statement in Parliament yesterday on the National Lands Commission (NLC) and said the commission was established under the […]
Vanuatu’s capital of Port Vila has witnessed one of its biggest exhibitions of art, with around 5,000 carvings and woven Melanesian products presented for sale last week. Local organiser Tyson Stanley Ghera told the Daily Post newspaper that it is the first initiative of its kind, organised between the sister cities of Honiara and Port Vila. Mr […]
By SBS – May 11, 2018, VanuatuIndependent.com IT’S a little known detail of the so-called ‘blackbirding’ trade: how a group of Aboriginal Australians ended up in Vanuatu, never to return home. Chief Richard David Fandanumata has travelled to Australia from Vanuatu to see the land his great-grandfather came from. He hopes to find his lost relatives with just […]
VanuatuIndependent – THE head of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation says better including local communities and indigenous people is the key to offering unique travel experiences. Christopher Cocker said culture was at the centre of what was on offer in the Pacific and a recent global meeting had emphasised the need for indigenous people to […]
By The Australian -via the VanuatuIndependent HUNDREDS of South Sea Islanders living in Vanuatu complain they are being discriminated against because they have Aboriginal ancestry, and say they want official Australian recognition. One, Vanuatu policeman Pakoa Rudy Rolland, said the problem has become so bad that more than 480 Aboriginal people on the island of Tongariki are […]
THIS IS NOT for those who are only after the tried and tested wave magnets — those consistent spots where you’ll find “guaranteed waves” aboard a luxury surf charter boat. Not that there’s anything wrong with booking your two weeks’ annual leave around a surf break known for waves six months of the year. But […]
By Edward Cavanough – an Australian researcher and writer focusing on public policy and international affairs. By Al Jazeera – August 28, 2017 IN the suburbs of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila, Chief Edward Cavanough is an Australian researcher and writer focusing on public policy and international affairs. Boborenvanua awaits trial on bail. The middle-aged chief spends his […]
Abstract Understanding the wantok system as a socio-economic and political network in the Western Pacific is critical to understanding Melanesian societies and political behavior in the context of the modern na-tion-state. The complex web of relationships spawned by the wantok system at local, national and sub-regional levels of Melanesia could in-form our understanding of events […]
.Commentary By Noel Anjo, Sunday Bulletin PNG's International Justin Olam scored the first try (penalty try) for Melbourne Storms. Fijian International Suliasi Vunivalu through individual effort intercepted a…
A Melanesian Dilemma It is a human tragedy today is that "the REAL Melanesian community think they are unreal, and then they believe and treat the "unreal Indonesian…
Pacific islanders may carry the DNA of an unknown human species: Genetic study reveals ancient Melanesians interbred with a mysterious hominid Islanders in the Pacific Ocean may be…
Melanesia is a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean and forms, together with Micronesia and Polynesia, one of the three cultural areas of Oceania. Melanesia includes New Guinea,…
June 15, 2010, By Kevin Jackson When slavery is implemented by force, it is certainly a despicable institution. But is it any less despicable when the slaves are there…