NEWSPAGE 03 August
2011

(Photo: Accelerating Aotearoa)

NEW ZEALAND: Community meetings planned for revitalising Pacific languages

(Photo: Savali News)

SAMOA: Alaoa Power Station revamped
Source: Savali News

The oldest power station in the country - the Alaoa Hydro Power Station - was relaunched on Friday morning (July 29, 2011) following extensive upgrade and refurbishment work.

The station - rebuilt under the Power Sector Expansion Project - is integral to government’s aim of generating 20 percent of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The station can now generate up to a 1000kw.

“Hydro-generated electricity is still by far the cheapest in the world,” said Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi.

“This project - and other similar alternative energy projects - is to reduce our dependence on expensive imported fossil fuels.”

The Alaoa Power Station is located on government property covering 4573.9 acres from the Lotosamasoni Headpond to the mountain ranges.

The transfer was made by traditional landowners to government on 18th November, 1921.

Just downstream from the power station is the main Samoa Water Authority reservoir. Part of Alaoa is also a reserved forestry area.

“Our ancestors were convinced of the importance of conserving water not only for Alaoa and its vicinity villages but for the whole of the town area,” said Tuilaepa.

“But there are some selfish people with very narrow mindsets who are still settling and cultivating the catchment areas illegally.

“They are a hindrance to government and the development of the country.”

The work encompassed the replacement of switchgears, replacement of the transformer to boost voltage from 6.6kv to 22kv, replacement of turbines, generator and mechanical and electronic governor and refurbishment of the power house

This part of the work was contracted to Tenix of New Zealand for US$1,269, 144.

The second phase of the project includes refurbishment of intakes, penstock and headraces and upgrading the access road and refurbishment of station houses.

This was contracted to Silva Transport at WST$1,169,836.81.

The Prime Minister said when the power station was opened in 1959 - three years before independence - it only supplied the town area and a small part of the surrounds.

“Homes in the rest of the country were lighted by kerosene and coconut lamps.”
 

AUSTRALIA: Australia 'lagging' in Pacific labour scheme
Source: Australia Network News

Criticism is reported from across the Pacific that Australia's seasonal labour scheme for regional workers is lagging behind New Zealand's assistance project.

Sean Dorney reports from Vanuatu that the criticism has emerged as Richard Marles, Australian parliamentary secretary for Pacific Island affairs, tours the region ahead of the Pacific Island Forum leaders' meeting in New Zealand in September.

The Pacific Island countries' chief trade adviser, Dr Chris Noonan - based in Vanuatu - says Australia has to accept that if there is to be a trade deal between the islands and Australia and New Zealand, seasonal labour is going to be part of the deal.

Dr Noonan told Australia Network in Port Vila: "For a lot of the Pacific countries, that is the issue for Placer Plus (trade deal) as well.


Benefits

"Not for all countries, but for some of the countries."

"And that's where there could be major economic benefits both for Australia and New Zealand and for Pacific Island countries."

Derek Brien, director of the Pacific Institute for Public Policy, said: "Remittances and migration pathways provide great benefits, not just to the individuals who are lucky enough to go away and find employment and education prospects that aren't available at home.

"But it also benefits the families back at home and the nation through remittances."

"In some countries of the Pacific, remittances are equally as important as the domestic economy and aid spending combined."
 

(Photo: Dan Polhemus / Honolulu Star Advertiser)

HAWAII: Deal aims to save rare species
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser
 

Four plants that are among the "rarest of the rare" in the world are now being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act, along with three Hawaii damselflies and 16 other plants that can be found on Oahu.

An agreement announced Monday between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based, nonprofit environmental organization, would add to the 437 species currently listed as threatened and endangered by the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Service Office in Hawaii, home to some of the rarest and most endangered species on earth.

It a federal offense to harm any plants, or kill or harass any animal, on the list.

The agreement is part of a settlement to fast-track 757 species across America to get them on the federal endangered species list by 2018.

The crimson Hawaiian damselfly, blackline Hawaiian damselfly and oceanic Hawaiian damselfly are all threatened by non-native insects, development and changes to streams, the Center for Biological Diversity said.

The 20 plants include an annual herb, shrubs, trees and a fern. They're all threatened by the disappearance of their native habitat — and by foraging and trampling from invasive goats, pigs and rodents, as well as by invasive insects that eat the plants' pollinators.

In what the Center for Biological Diversity called a landmark legal settlement, the agreement also protects 43,491 acres across seven different types of ecosystems in Oahu's Koolau and Wai­anae mountain ranges. The habitats are considered essential for the conservation of the 23 plants and damselflies.

The Fish and Wildlife Service will designate critical habitat for the 23 plant and damselfly species. It also will designate critical habitat for two additional plant species already listed as endangered — and revise critical habitat for 99 plant species currently listed as endangered or threatened, the agency said.

The designation of critical habitat does not affect landownership or establish a refuge, wilderness, reserve, preserve or other special conservation area — nor does it allow government or public access to private lands, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

But the agreement will help protect a fragile Hawaii ecosystem under stress after "tens of millions of years of unique relationships," said Christy Martin, coordinator for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, which was not a party to the settlement. "When you have an ecosystem like Hawaii that's so isolated, there are interrelationships that we really don't understand."

The agreement was reached last month after the Center for Biological Diversity filed lawsuits against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put 16 Oahu plants and three damselflies on the list of candidates for the endangered species list.

The agency added four additional Oahu plants that are listed as among the "rarest of the rare" by the Plant Extinction Prevention Program, a multi-agency program in Hawaii, said Tierra Curry, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The four plants — haha (Cyanea purpurellifolia), haiwale (Cyrtandra gracilis), haiwale (Cyrtandra waiolani) and ohe (Tetra­plasandra lydgatei) — are among approximately 180 Hawaii plants that each have fewer than 50 surviving members, Curry said.

"All of the species (announced on Monday) have been in trouble for a long time," Curry said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service has had a backlog of species that have long been known to need protection but hasn't had the resources to get around to (protecting) them."

Loyal Mehrhoff, field supervisor for the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, said in a statement, "Hawaii is a unique and special place in the natural world, and for that reason requires an innovative, holistic approach to conservation. We are on the forefront of endangered species conservation and are the first Fish and Wildlife Office in the nation to utilize the ecosystem-based approach for listing species and designating critical habitat, which will allow us to address the backlog of candidate species and, ultimately, the health of entire ecosystems."

The public has until Oct. 3 to comment on whether to place the plants and damselflies on the endangered species list. The Fish and Wildlife Service has 10 months to publish the species on the federal register of endangered species, Curry said.

The Center for Biological Diversity has been campaigning for a decade "to safeguard 1,000 of America's most imperiled, least protected species," which include 70 in Hawaii, the organization said.

"The Southeast, West Coast, Hawaii and Southwest are America's extinction hot spots," Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "Most of the species lost in the past century lived there, and most of those threatened with extinction in the next decade live there as well."

Some 499 species included in the agreement are not scheduled for inclusion on the endangered species list, Suckling said.

They include:

» The scarlet Hawaiian honeycreeper, or iiwi, a bright-red bird that the Center for Biological Diversity describes as hovering "like a hummingbird and has long been featured in the folklore and songs of native Hawaiians." The Hawaiian honeycreeper has been eliminated from low elevations on all islands from diseases such as avian pox and malaria that were carried by mosquitoes, which are now moving into the honeycreeper's higher-elevation refuges, according to the center.

Under the agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service will consider the Hawaiian honeycreeper for protection in 2016, the center said.

» The black-footed albatross, a large, dark-plumed seabird that lives in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, is threatened by longline swordfish fisheries, which kill it as bycatch, the center said.

The center and others petitioned to have the black-footed albatross listed as endangered in 2004. According to the agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service will propose the black-footed albatross for protection later this year, the center said.

Photo Caption: Non-native insects, development and changes threaten three types of Hawaiian damselflies. Pictured is a male blackline Hawaiian damselfly.

(Photo: Secretariat of the Pacific Community)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: SPC commences joint country strategy consultations with PNG
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community Press Release
 

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has started week-long in-country consultations with the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG), including various government agencies and sector counterparts, to determine the level of interventions by SPC and form the basis of what will be the Papua New Guinea-Secretariat of the Pacific Community Joint Country Strategy 2011-2015.

The PNG-SPC Joint Country Strategy is a partnership document mapping out SPC’s planned engagement with PNG across the technical sectors in which it works, which include public health, fisheries, aquaculture, marine ecosystems, statistics for development, applied geosciences, disaster risk management, water resources, agriculture, forestry, land resources, transport, energy, information and communication technology, education and training, and human development (youth, culture and gender). The planned strategies in the JCS will be closely aligned to the national strategies articulated in the PNG Medium Term Development Plan 2011-2015, which support the goals and objectives espoused in the PNG Strategic Development Plan 2010-2030 and the Vision 2050.

Kicking off this week-long process is an opening plenary, held at the PNG Institute of Public Administration Hall. At the opening plenary, the SPC team, led by Director-General Dr Jimmie Rodgers, will provide an overview of SPC’s programmes and key assistance the organisation has provided to PNG in recent years. This plenary will launch sectoral consultations, where PNG and SPC sector specialists shall determine and agree on key areas of support, with an emphasis on achieving development outcomes for the people of PNG.

Dr Rodgers said, ‘SPC is looking forward to the JCS consultations in PNG, our largest Pacific Island member country. SPC has set clear guidelines to ensure that the discussions over the course of the week will be based on the development priorities articulated by the Government of PNG.’ He added, ‘This mutually agreed PNG-SPC JCS will be firmly based on the Vision 2050, the Strategic Development Plan 2010-2030 and PNG Medium Term Development Plan 2011-2015, and SPC’s capacities and priorities as encapsulated in the SPC Corporate Plan 2007-2012.’ He further noted that the JCS with PNG would formalise SPC’s programme delivery to PNG, capturing it in one comprehensive document that includes an annual monitoring framework.

Ambassador Maue, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, echoed Dr Rodgers’ sentiments adding, ‘As SPC’s official contact point, we welcome Dr Rodgers and his staff, and endeavour to support them in this JCS process, a process the Government has supported through SPC’s governing body, the CRGA, and we especially look forward to the final and agreed PNG-SPC JCS.’ Ambassador Maue further stated, ‘For PNG, this is a tripartite partnership between SPC, Foreign Affairs and our own Department of National Planning and Monitoring and demonstrates the need and importance to work together to achieve our national targets.’

Ms Ruby Zarriga, Acting Secretary of the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, stated, ‘We welcome this joint consultation with SPC, and we have continued to promote and encourage basing this partnership on our development priorities espoused in our key national plans.’ Further, the Acting Secretary added, ‘We look forward to working with SPC to determine the sectoral interventions which will assist us in meeting our objectives under the targeted priority areas in the Medium Term Development Plan.’

The JCS mission will conclude on Friday 5 August with a closing plenary, at which the SPC team and sector counterparts will present mutually agreed programme interventions and areas for potential assistance.
 

TONGA: National Awareness Day saving Tonga from hazardous electronic waste
Source: Taimi Media Network

On August 6th, volunteers around the Kingdom will be supporting the launch of the first National E-Waste Awareness Day - working together with the community in eliminating hazardous electronic waste from the Kingdom of Tonga.

E-Waste Tonga is working with community partner GIO Recycling to facilitate a nationwide clean up of broken electronics. Electrical waste, known as e-waste contains highly toxic chemicals and components, which when dumped, buried or burnt can lead to severe health and environmental problems for the Tongan community.

With Tonga having limited capacity to store and safely manage such wastes, it is of key importance to work with the community to implement a sustainable strategy to avoid serious problems in the future.

The community are encouraged to collect e-waste in the lead up to August 6th, and on the day join in the festivities at the main collection points including a public BBQ between 12-3pm.

The main collection point in Tongatapu is GIO Recyling on Tupou Lahi rd, Fasi; Navy base Taufa Ahau wharf in Ha’apai and GIO Recycling in Neiafa in Vava’u. Remote collection points will also be established and advertised on the radio in the lead up to the event.

The GEF funded project aims to set the framework for management of electronic waste within the Kingdom and is a pilot program for the South Pacific. E-Waste Tonga representative Leanne Elliott says “it is an exciting project, we have strong community links following our outer-island workshops earlier in the year and it’s wonderful to see the support of the community in participating in the lead up to this event by collecting their waste for safe disposal on the event day”

E-Waste Tonga continues to run the recycling program throughout the year, with electronics able to be delivered to GIO recycling in Vava’u and Tongatapu. Residents in ‘Eua and Ha’apai are encourage to store their e-waste in a dry, safe place for the next collection date.