The Center for Global Development released its Commitment to Development Index (CDI) 2018. The Index covers 27 of the world’s richest countries and measures their support to poorer nations.
Overall, Sweden ranks first, followed by Denmark. Finland and Germany share the third place. New Zealand is ranked thirteenth, followed by Australia. Switzerland is ranked in the lowest third of the list while South Korea is at the very bottom.
The aid component of the index ranks New Zealand fourth and Australia ninth. New Zealand is ranked on top of the 27 countries in terms of aid quality. As announced in August by the Lowy Institute, Australia is by far the most significant aid donor to the Pacific region in terms of quantity.
The Marshall Islands announced its commitment to cut greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050. The atoll-nation is the very first Pacific island state making such an ambitions announcement.
The shipping industry poses the main challenge to achieve this commitment. Shipping is known as one of the world’s biggest polluting industries.
In the Marshall Islands, like in many Pacific island states, shipping is often referred to as the ‘lifeline’ of islands remotely located from larger markets.
The Pacific Islands Forum currently (3-6 September 2018) takes place on Nauru. Each year, the Forum brings together leaders from 18 member states (16 Pacific Island states, New Zealand and Australia) to discuss regional issues.
Australia’s new Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, will represent the PIF’s largest state, while newly appointed Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, travelled to Indonesia for his first overseas visit. The absence of Australia’s Prime Minister caused some concern about the importance the Australian Government gives to the Pacific Island region.
While climate change is on top of the PIF’s agenda, Fiji’s Prime Minister and COP23 President, Frank Bainimarama, is reported not to attend the meeting (Radio New Zealand, Sept. 3 2018; Fiji Sun, Sept. 4 2018, p. 10). Instead, Senior Minister Faiyaz Koya will represent Fiji in Nauru. Fiji’s Prime Minister stated in 2015 that he will not personally attend the annual PIF meetings “until the issue of the undue influence of Australia and New Zealand […] is addressed” (ABC, 6 May 2015). Voreqe Bainimarama is currently attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bangkok.
The Pacific Islands Forum convened on Nauru comes with reinvigorated calls for enhancing the conditions in Australia’s refugee detention centre on Nauru. While inhumane conditions and abuse of human rights have been reported since long, concerns about the mental health of children, including refusal to eat and suicide attempts, made headlines over the past weeks (see for example The Guardian or ABC Radio Australia).
Australia’s offshore detention centres are not on the PIF’s agenda, yet several humanitarian organisations are calling for action. So far, the Australian government and the Government of Nauru seem to make great efforts to silence discussions. The Nauru Government has banned ACB from attending the Forum. Marise Payne, being asked whether she will visit or meet any refugees while on Nauru, declined and stated that “the programme is fairly full in terms of the schedule that the forum itself provides” (ABC Radio Australia).
About Nauru
Nauru is one of the world’s smallest states. With a land area of 21 square kilometres, it takes less than 30 minutes to drive around the island. Nauru has a population of about 11,000 people. During the past century, Nauru exported phosphate (from bird droppings) predominantly to Australia, where it was used as fertiliser. This business made Nauru one of the world’s richest nations in terms of GDP per capita. However, phosphate mining was unsustainable, for Nauru’s natural environment as well as its finance. Today, the Australian detention centre is one of the state’s main source of income.
Nauru, photograph by Remi Chauvin for The Guardian
In Fiji, the plastic levy increased from 10 cents to 20 cents per bag on 1 July 2018. Studies or figures which track changes in consumer behaviour since July 2018 are not yet available. However, my personal observations at stores in Suva show that consumers are much more hesitant to buy plastic bags after the rise to 20 cents. They increasingly bring their own reusable shopping bags.
According to Fiji’s Minister of Economy, the island state aims to completely ban plastic bags by 2020. As reported by SPREP, plastic bag usage in Fiji has significantly reduced since 2010. However, there are still disastrous projections which estimate that there will be more plastic than fish in the Pacific Ocean by 2050. A recent SPREP study concludes that 97 percent of all fish species sampled in Fiji, Samoa, Rapa Nui and New Zealand had micro-plastics. This is 30 percent higher than the global average. For Fiji and other Pacific island states, where fish is one of the main protein source, this is of particular concern.
In the meantime, Fiji’s private sector becomes more engaged in the fight against plastic. This week, Raffe Hotels and Resorts announced that they will ban plastic straws across all properties in Fiji. By 10 October 2018, the group promised to replace all plastic straws with paper straws. Furthermore, straws will only be offered to guests upon request. The group operates the Fiji Gateway Hotel, the Plantation Island Resort and the Lomani Island Resort.
Some Cafes in Suva and other restaurants around the country already serve drinks with paper straws. However, straws often decompose after a short time. This is particularly a problem for fruit smoothies which seem to be popular among locals and tourists. So, why not stop using straws at all?
Movements toward a plastic free world seem to be on the rise globally.
In the Pacific, Vanuatu was reported to become the first state in the world to ban plastic straws. Since 1 July 2018, it is officially an offence in Vanuatu to sell single use plastic shopping bags, plastic drinking straws and polystyrene boxes. Import and local manufacture of these products are also illegal.
In Fiji, a plastic levy is in place since 1 August 2017. Businesses are required to charge a levy of 10 cents per plastic bag. The plastic levy is one source of the newly introduced Environment and Climate Adaptation Levy (known as ECAL). During the first year of implementation, over FJD 6 million have been collected by the plastic levy alone and over FJD 110 million by all ECAL sources. 60% of all ECAL funds have been utilised for infrastructure development while almost 30% has been committed to TC Winston rehabilitation projects.
In Vanuatu, one idea behind the plastic ban is that it would boost the production of traditional food baskets and stimulate the local economy. In Fiji, however, some shops have already started to sell manufactured non-plastic bags which are levy free. It will be interesting to see whether the business of traditional baskets will indeed flourish in Vanuatu or whether mass-produced non-plastic alternatives are able to satisfy customer demands at the cost of local production…
Land pollution in Fiji after a major festival on Viti Levu (Kessler, 2014)
After the 2018 general election in the Cook Islands, votes for the Ma’uke electorate will be recounted. A petition has been filed by the One Cook Islands party whose candidate lost to CIP’s Tai Tura by one vote.
In 2018, Ma’uke’s elector population stood at 186. The recount is expected for Wednesday (18 July).
Ma’uke Administration Building during Constitution Celebrations, July 2016 (photo taken by Kim Andreas Kessler)
The Cook Islands National Parliament Election results are now official:
Democratic Party (Demos): 11 seats
Cook Islands Party (CIP): 10 seats
Independents: 2 seats
One Cook Islands (OCI): 1 seat
Henry Puna remains Prime Minister as CIP formed coalition with independent candidates and OCI.
There is an ongoing debate in the Cook Islands about the electorates and how they represent population size and regional interests. The Cook Islands are divided into 24 electorates:
Rarotonga: 10 electorates with an elector population of about 8,000
Southern Cooks: 10 electorates with an elector population of about 2,000
Northern Cooks: 4 electorates with an elector population of less than 500
With the current system, power is regionally distributed rather than relative to population size. Critiques from political activists and some politicians stress that MPs from outer islands wield too much power compared to the small populations they represent. The Prime Minister, for example, was elected with only 97 votes in a constituency (Manihiki) with a total elector population of 132. On the other hand, the current system more equally distributes power among the 15 Cook Islands and allows for outer island interests to be adequately represented at national level.
A possible reform bridging both arguments would be to introduce a bicameral system. However, the question is whether such a system, common to larger democratic states such as Switzerland, suits the Cook Islands as a comparatively small island state.
The call for such political reform in the Cook Islands is not new. It seems rather unlikely that change is introduced, since a change in electorates is likely to reduce power of the majority of MPs currently in office.
Approach: A Case Study of Post-Disaster Management after Cyclone Pam (March 2015) is conducted in Vanuatu.
Goal: This research project looks into natural hazards in the Pacific Island region, concentrating on Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu. Cyclone Pam has been one of the worst natural hazards that ever hit the Pacific Island region. More than a quarter of the country’s population had to seek protection in emergency shelters and standing crops in the fields were destroyed to more than 95 percent. More than 166,000 people – which is more than 60 percent of the country’s population – were in need of food distribution.
Fieldwork: This is a collaborative research project by the University of the South Pacific. In June 2018, I conducted research in several villages on Tanna Island. My part of the research focusses on two main researach questions:
1) What are Tannese peoples’ most urgent needs three years after cyclone Pam?
2) What role does traditional housing play in disaster risk reduction?
Tanna Island (Vanuatu), June 2018 (photo taken by Kim Andreas Kessler)
In January 2018, Dr Frank Thomas and Dr Manoranjan Mohanty went for research to Vanuatu to investigate generally into knowledge and practice regarding to disaster risk reduction (Dr Thomas) and the policy environment (Dr Mohanty). In 2017, Dr Eberhard Weber conducted fieldwork on traditional cyclone shelters.
On 14 June 2018, general elections were held in the Cook Islands. These are the results after preliminary counting:
Democratic Party (Demos): 11 seats
Cook Islands Party (CIP): 10 seats
Independents: 2 seats
One Cook Islands (OCI): 1 seat
It is expected that the Electoral Office releases the final result on 28 June 2018.
If results are confirmed and the Demos, OCI and independent candidates form a coalition, the Democratic Party will lead the Cook Islands Government for the first time since 2010.
The recent Tropical Cyclone Keni reminds us that many people in the Pacific Islands and elsewhere are exposed to natural hazards and environmental change that have the potential to severely impact their lives, livelihoods and well-being.
In an era when climate change has become a major threat to the survival of people not only here in the Pacific Island region but globally, reflection and discussion of what to do to prevent these threats from worsening are urgent. The task becomes even bigger when one realizes that even without the threats environmental and climate change many people already face great challenges to live a life with dignity.
The Conference will seek to engage multi-disciplinary and ecumenical dialogues on key social, economic and ecological concerns from a variety of perspectives. Among others, the goal of the Conference is to build a permanent partnership and long life learning process to promote economic, social and ecological justice.
We are interested in multi-disciplinary exchanges and insights with a focus on religious-based and scientific approaches to sustainability problems and injustice. We expect that the Conference will be a blend of learning and discussion.
Date: 26 – 29 June 2018
Location: Marine Campus, The University of the South Pacific
Contact Person: Dr. Eberhard Weber
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
For this Conference, we accept abstracts from junior and senior researchers from the Pacific Island region, who wish to reflect on their research from an ethical perspective. Participants are invited to submit proposals for consideration on the following fields (and beyond):
Ecological Crisis, Climate Change, and Eco-justice
Economical Ethics and Eco-Theology
Sustainability, Religion and Ethics
Responsible Production, Distribution and Consumption Patterns
