Ambassador Deo Saran pictured with Dr Joeli Veitayaki and a colleague at Hanover, Germany, Picture: SUPPLIED
FIJI will be continuing its lead in the Pacific campaign in addressing the impact of climate change and will also use its leadership position to advance climate talks on the international stage.
This was mentioned by Fiji’s Head of Mission to the European Union and COP23 Climate Envoy to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Ambassador Deo Saran at a conference in Hanover, Germany, on Climate Change Adaptation in Small Islands Developing States.
He also highlighted on the vulnerability of Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) saying that “these extreme weather patterns impede economic development, hamper residents’ ability to access clean water, and destroy the soil that nations rely on for agriculture and fundamental food security”.
“As the region of the world that is destined to bear the worst brunt of the effects of climate change, we have been given a crucial platform to put, not just Fiji’s case, but also that of other small islands developing states that are impacted by climate change,” Mr Saran said.
“Pacific islands leaders meeting at the Pacific Islands Development Forum summit in 2015 issued the Suva Declaration, a call to the world to take firmer action on climate change.
“Fiji has a Green Growth Plan and has aggressively pursued and implemented policies to promote sustainable development in the country, all while partnering with the private sector and international organisations to elevate the issue on the global stage.”
Associate Professor at the University of the South Pacific (USP) Dr Joeli Veitayaki who was also present at the event said that while the human, social, environmental and economic costs of inaction or insufficient action were unacceptable, the Pacific Island states were moving forward with plans aimed at adapting and creating greater resilience to climate change.
Vanuatu Daily Post – An exclusive peek into the mouth of Ambae’s volcano. This image, exclusive to the Daily Post, was taken last week when a team trekked up to the summit of mount Lombenben and flew a drone directly over the smoking crater.
Ambae’s volcano up close
The team reported that the landscape on the summit and its approaches had been completely transformed by month’s of ashfall. All roads to west Ambae are cut. Massive mud flows have utterly erased the roads in two locations, the team reported. The entire west side of the island is now accessible only by sea or by air.
The team trekked eight hours to the summit, through a landscape made desolate by the volcano. They report widespread damage and massive disruption to the local population.
They will be presenting their findings to the National Disaster Management Unit later today. The Daily Post will be following up with extensive coverage of the disaster.
Songstress Vanessa Quai handing over cash to Chief Alicta Vuti witnessed by Nigel Quai (far left) and Team and Henry Vira (front right) and MP Aickson Vira (centre) and Chief John Tarilama. By Len Garae
Ambae’s own songstress Vanessa Quai and her Management Team have walked the talk and donated over Vt500,000 raised in the ‘Water for Ambae’ fundraiser at Moorings Hotel, to the Chairman of Ambae Port Vila Council of Chiefs, Chief Alicta Vuti who in turn handed the donation to the Head of Ambae Manaro Disaster Committee, Henry Vira.
While receiving the amount from Vanessa Quai witnessed by her Management Team including her father, Nigel Quai, the Port Vila Ambae Council of Chiefs Chairman thanked Vanessa Quai for the most generous giving to the Ambae Disaster Committee to help with water needs of the volcanic ash fall victims.
‘Music for nation building ‘is the theme that the Vanessa Quai management has embraced in its attempt to help ‘communities in need’ through music.
Member of Parliament for Ambae Constituency Alickson Vira, Deputy Chairman of PVACC Chief John Tarilama, Chief Michael Liu representing the Chiefs’ technical committee and Henry Vira echoed Chief Vuti’s sentiments and congratulated Vanessa Quai and her team for being a forerunner in the music industry for the last 20 years.
The event which was hosted at the Moorings Hotel was attended by over 200 people including MP Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, MP Andrew Napuat, Minister of Internal Affairs, and MP John Sala for Malekula Constituency. Supporting Acts to Vanessa’s ‘New Breedz’ band performance included Stan Antas of Stan & the Earth Force, Violinist Vanessa Organo Saxophonist Darrell Angalobani and Ambae’s own ‘Confliction’ band. Money raised will be used solely to support water access efforts on Ambae.
The event would not have been a success without the assistance of the following: Vanessa Quai Music Association, Life Changers, Moorings Hotel, Azure Natural Water, Tropik Zound, and everyone who assisted in selling tickets for the occasion.
Vanuatu was part of a recent regional conference on managing natural resources such as the ocean in a changing climate. By Anita Roberts
A conference has been held recently for experts in the mineral resource sector from the Pacific region to talk about how to prepare and mitigate the threats of climate change on natural resources.
The Coordinator of Pacific Risk Tools for Resilience (PARTneR) Project under the Ministry of Climate Change, Johnny Tarry Nimau, represented Vanuatu in the 3-day Pacific Islands Science, Technology and Resources Network Conference in Fiji.
Natural resources such as water, land, wind energy and the ocean are essential for humankind. Action is required to reduce the risk poses to these extractive sectors by climate change as a global issue.
Regional geoscientists and experts are working on strategies to mitigate the imminent threats of climate change from the geoscience perspective, PARTneR Coordinator Nimau said after the conference.
“The conference reflects on the linkages between geoscience, the ocean and natural resources,” Nimau conveyed in a statement.
“It provides an avenue for us to discuss sustainable management of our ocean and natural resources. It about how Pacific islands can mitigate for the damage imposed on their oceans and climate change impacts from the geoscience perspective.
“Sessions focussed on key areas such as ocean science, science of natural hazards and risks to Pacific communities including land use, energy and infrastructure development”.
‘Geo-Science Development in the Pacific Islands-Planning for 2030’ was the theme of the conference, which was supported by the Government of Fiji and the Geoscience Division of the Pacific Community (SPC).
PARTneR is managed by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and funded by the government of New Zealand, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
A mother who walked out of a Chinese shop carrying rice, flour and charcoal in plastic bags,
A mother who walked out of a Chinese shop carrying rice, flour and charcoal in plastic bags, has questioned why the Government has banned plastic bags in all shops yet allows the Chinese shops to continue selling rice, flour and charcoal in plastic bags to shoppers.
She said this is unfair because the government has banned plastic bags and told shoppers to use local baskets to carry their shopping home, yet the Chinese shops are still allowed to sell their products in the very same plastic bags.
“It is illogical,” she said. “One one hand, the government bans the use of plastic bags and on the other allows the Chinese shops to continue using plastic bags to sell their products.”
She said if this practice continues, it will never solve the problem of plastic bags.
“The mothers can easily re-use the same plastic bags for rubbish and or even for other purposes that will eventually end up along the road side or along the seashore or just blown around by the wind because they are light,” she said.
“In all fairness, the government should tell the Chinese shop owners to stop using the plastic bags and instead come up with an alternative or maybe tell the women and shoppers to take along containers to fill rice, flour and charcoal. You carry the island basket to the shops to bring home your shopping, only to find that the rice, flour and charcoal are filled in plastic bags which is banned by the government.”
The mother suggests that maybe the government should encourage the Chinese shops owners to reintroduce what she describes as ‘Brown Paper Bags’ that come in large, medium and small sizes which she said were used by the Chinese shop owners and other shops in Port Vila prior to independence in 1980.
“The brown paper bags were very good, as they come in large, medium and small sizes. The shop owners used them to sell rice and sugar and small and larger food and other items. They were very good.”
The Daily Post could not get comments from the relevant Government authorities as it was Sunday.
This image from the EMT report shows words written by Ambaean students on Maewo, describing how they feel.
In a June situation report on conditions in the South Maewo emergency shelters obtained by the Daily Post this week, an emergency medical team urges the early return of children to their home island of Ambae.
Among the report’s recommendations: “Early repatriation in the next two or three weeks is highly advised to minimize mental health illness and enhance their recovery from this traumatic experience.”
The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives.”
Medical experts suggest that children in particular are suffering as a result of their dislocation from their home island.
Doctor Basil Leodoro, who headed the team, told the Daily Post, “From a mental health point of view, taking into consideration the available psychosocial support, the situation is critical.”
Asked by the assessment team to write about their emotional condition, many children wrote that they were ‘sad’, ‘sorry’, that they experienced ‘worry’, and that they were ‘lonely’ and ‘homesick’. A minority responded positively, using terms like ‘happy’, ‘excited’, and ‘fine’.
Some of these positive responses appear to mask negative feelings though. One paper states that the child feels ‘Happy, fine, sad’.
In their lists of the most positive aspects of the experience, children cited a nearby river, fresh fruit and produce, and the people of Maewo themselves.
The picture that emerges from the report is of an under-resourced and overstretched support network trying, along with the displaced, to make the best of a critical situation. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, travel and transport capacity is unacceptably poor. Food, they say, is being provided by local and paid for out of the local school budget. Sources told the Daily Post that NDMO supplies were non-existent.
Shelter, they added, was poor. Health care was being provided, however, and the local facility reportedly ran at about half its nominal capacity during the month of June.
But the report repeatedly cites ‘urgent’ needs. Among the top priorities are computer equipment for record keeping, a refrigeration unit, and the machinery and the cash necessary to pay for travel in south Maewo.
The team requests a small transport-capable truck, a 7-metre boat and engine, fuel and expenses for individual travel.
The four-person emergency medical team, dubbed Charlie Team 1 in the report, spent several days evaluating the situation about two weeks after the first children arrived in South Maewo. Students and staff together number well over 150.
Photographic evidence in the report suggests that children are sleeping on foam mattresses, either on cement floors or in tents.
Asked for suggestions on how to improve, respondents listed numerous basic necessities, including water, toilets, shelter, classroom space, communications, and commodities such as stationery and toilet paper.
But the report’s recommendations all centre around what has been described by experts as “clear signs of mental health detriment and deterioration from the experience”.
On Tuesday, the Geohazards unit of the Department of Climate Change issued an update on the status of the Ambae volcano. The Daily Post reported that “the volcano remains in a state of ‘major unrest’ (level 2)” and “the volcano is at a somewhat reduced level of activity, but it’s in a dynamic state.”
Fears of direct damage due to eruption have subsided for much of the island, but concerns remain about the effect heavy ash fall might have on local streams and creeks, especially after heavy rain.
Krienna Reni with a cup of clean drinking water with children of Lanvitvit village. Photo:VRCS Fern Napwatt
Krieanna Reni, is a mother who has walked some distances to fetch water in the village of Lanvitvit, Aulua area South east of Malekula.
Ms Reni is a class 6 leaver and has children who she claimed were her great help in the daily chores she carried out as a mother.
“For a very long time now, we used to walk for less than half an hour to the big river to catch water in our containers and walk back to the village,” she said.
“It takes almost 2 to 3 times a day to go to the river for water to use in the activities we carry out at home.”
Reni reiterated that it was mostly mothers and children involved in the daily activity of fetching water from the big river.
“The water we use for cooking and swimming and we used to do our laundry at the river, dry them out in the sun and then carry back them when they are dried,” she said.
“Every day you see mothers and children with jerry cans and containers transporting water to the houses, it is seldom you see fathers helping out.”
With the new water system built by the French Red Cross and Vanuatu Red Cross Society, funded by USAID, Reni and her children are now smiling as they will access water from their doorstep.
“I am so happy because my children and i will not be walking a long distance for water anymore but turning on the tap from home whenever we want to,” she said.
“Now our children will kept clean, they will not thirst anymore and water is readily available for us as mothers to prepare our meals, wash our clothes and keep our children clean and healthy.
“We also want to thank God for providing our need through the donors who have collaborated in this project.”
Ms Reni and other mothers of Lanvitvit village can now access water at walking distance from their homes.
FIJI is looking to propose a new agreement between African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group) that will focus on sustainable and resilient development.
While opening the third Fiji-EU Enhanced Political Dialogue in Suva yesterday, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said this new agreement will likely be proposed at the 107th session of the ACP Council of Ministers and 43rd session of the ACP-EU Joint Council in Togo later this month.
“This year’s political dialogue is particularly important, as it will lay the groundwork for our Ministerial meeting in Togo later this month,” Mr Bainimarama said.
“In the upcoming negotiations, Fiji will be pushing for an even greater focus on sustainable, resilient development, and space for accommodating developing and climate-vulnerable small island states, increasing regional trade and integration and making development financing more accessible.”
Fiji has a number of existing cooperative agreements in place with the European Union, along with other bilateral arrangements with its member states.
“Taken together, those arrangements impact nearly every aspect of our national development,” Mr Bainimarama said.
“We in Fiji are proud of every relationship we share with the member countries of the European Union; relationships that have transformed the lives of Fijians and Europeans alike.
“And we recognise this event as a powerful tool in strengthening those relationships, and in finding new ways we can make life better for people here in Fiji, in the EU, and everywhere around the world.”
Fiji initiated the enhanced high level political dialogue with the European Union in 2015 since Fiji’s return to parliamentary democracy and ending of the measures under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement.
During this dialogue, the two parties exchange views on recent political and economic developments in Fiji and the EU before reviewing bilateral political relations and strategic priorities.
Discussions will also cover topics of mutual interest for both sides such as the 2018 general elections, fight against climate change, Economic partnership Agreement (EPA), human rights and development cooperation.
The dialogue is a continuation of the High Level Political Dialogue held in Brussels, Belgium in 2016.
THE Vanuatu Government is moving positively to reduce the impact of single use plastics through a ban on single use plastic bags, drinking straws and polystyrene food containers.
This ban will begin on July 1.
The government will be holding a workshop to give details of the plastics ban and increase awareness of the dangers of plastic.
The workshop will be run by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program, and plans to develop a strategy and campaign to educate people about the dangers of plastics.
The workshop will be held at the Melanesian Hotel on May 15 and 16.
Minister of Lands, Ralph Regenvanu, yesterday handed over the first Negotiator’s Certificate to be issued for a lease application for rural customary land under the new land laws to the Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) for the development of a futsal field and football field at Paunangisu village, north Efate.
This certificate was one of three certificates issued yesterday for applications to lease rural customary land, the other two being for residential leases at Matantapua (Malapoa area) and Pango.
The Government’s 100 Day Plan has been the aim of having 15 Negotiators Certificate issued within the Government’s 100 Days.
At the same time as this first Negotiator’s Certificate was issued, the Chairman of the Land Management and Planning Committee (LMPC), Professor Don Patterson, also took the opportunity to hand over to the Minister for Lands the annual report of the LMPC for 2014 and 2015.
According to the Land Reform (Amendment) Act No.31 of 2013, the Committee is required to produce and annual report to be tabled in Parliament which details all the applications and leases processed by the Committee in one year. The Minister of Lands assured the Chairman that this report would be tabled in the next sitting of Parliament.
