NEWSPAGE 28 October
2011

(Photo: Carlin Valenti Public Relations)

SAMOA: Samoa leads call for climate action from US and China
Source: Reuters via TVNZ
 
South Pacific, African and Caribbean states today said big greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States were dragging their feet on tackling climate change and urged a Commonwealth leaders summit this week to call for urgent action at global climate talks in November.

"The scientific evidence available to us says we ought to act now," said Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi after a meeting of 48 small island and developing nations in Perth.

"This is the message that we want to tell the whole world, that we are all one," he told a news conference ahead of the Commonwealth summit starting Friday.

Global warming is set to be a focus for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), ahead of a major UN climate change conference in South Africa from November 28.

Many Commonwealth members are developing nations that are vulnerable to a predicted increase in more extreme droughts, floods, rising sea levels and spread of infectious diseases.

Low-lying Tuvalu in the South Pacific, the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and several Caribbean island states fear rising sea levels could wipe them off the map.

Australia, which is hosting CHOGM, said the very existence of some small nations depended on the world avoiding average global warming by two degrees Celsius.

"If we fail to do so we can kiss goodbye to some small island states," said Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

Samoa directly cited China and the United States for failing to act on climate change, while Australia noted that while the 48 small states felt the greatest impact from climate change they represented less than one percent of emissions.

"Two of the biggest countries (China and the United States), which are almost responsible for about 40% of emissions, do not seem to be forthcoming in their commitments," said Malielegaoi.

The Obama administration has shelved efforts to price carbon emissions because of political and business opposition and will only agree to a broader climate deal if all major carbon emitters agree steps to curb greenhouse gas pollution.

China will not sign up unless Washington does, but has enacted carbon intensity targets across the economy and other steps.


Failed harvests

The Commonwealth's poor African members fear failed harvests and mass displacement of people unless rich nations make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and stump up with more cash to help them adapt.

Poorer nations want wealthier states to pledge deeper emissions cuts as part of a new global climate pact and to offer billions of dollars in long-term financing to pay for clean-energy technology and steps to help farmers become more resilient against increasingly extreme weather.

Samoa said the 48 small states called for the speedy disbursement of funds promised by developed nations.

"Another major focus of small states is the need to ensure that the funds that have been mobilised need to be released speedily to the most disadvantaged and most affected countries," said Malielegaoi.

"We would like to ensure countries that have promised funds to own up, to provide help to countries."

The biggest pot of cash on the table is the $100 billion a year Green Climate Fund. Climate talks last year in Cancun led to an agreement that the Fund should be created and 40 countries have been tasked with trying to sort out how the fund will work by the Durban talks.

A UN committee has completed the draft design of the fund, paving the way for its launch in 2013, the UN's climate chief said on Friday, but it is unclear if nations will agree on the design in Durban.

Samoa said climate change funds should be disbursed via bilateral channels, citing Australia's funds which have been used to help South Pacific island adaptation programmes.
 

(Photos: J. Kneubuhl)

AMERICAN SAMOA: ASCC invites public to Disney Halloween

The Student Government Association (SGA) at the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) will present a special Halloween celebration called “Spooky Disney” tonight beginning at 7 p.m. in the College Gymnasium. The public is welcome to join in the fun at this free event, which will feature game booths and entertainment from the ASCC student clubs.

As the name suggests, the event will place an emphasis on characters from Disney cartoons and movies. While Halloween is traditionally when people can revel in the gruesome side of life, for this event the SGA has decided to try something unusual by evoking the fun and fantastic world of Walt Disney, especially for the benefit of young children. Given the unpredictable nature of Halloween, however, the SGA is aware that anything could happen.

“The world of Disney is very different from the world of horror characters you usually see come out on Halloween,” said SGA advisor Maxine Tuiolemotu. “As far as we know, this is the first time these two types of characters will participate in the same event, and we’re hoping there will be no trouble. But even if there is trouble, it’s sure to be entertaining trouble. While you may see Freddy Krueger chasing Donald Duck with a knife, you might also see Mickey Mouse dancing with Dracula.”

Dean of Student Services Dr. Emilia Le’i expanded on the theme of bringing different groups together around a common goal. “A lot of friction in society is due to misunderstanding,” she explained, “so we feel that if we can get the Disney characters together with the horror characters just to have a good time, this is a good beginning for better relations between them in the future. I just hope that for the horror characters, a good time doesn’t mean trying to eliminate all the Disney characters.”

Whatever the differences between these two groups of characters, the presence of young children in colorful costumes has been known to ease the tension and encourage everyone to just enjoy the fun. So where else can your children not only dress up, enjoy great entertainment, play fun games, and score the occasional free candy, but also serve as peacekeepers, all for free? For more information on this Friday’s free “Spooky Disney” event at ASCC, call the main campus switchboard at 699-9155 and ask for the SGA.

Photo Captions: ASCC students frolic in the frightfulness of last year's Halloween event. This year, the college will present "Spooky Disney" tonight beginning at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

(Photo: Secretariat of the Pacific Community)

FIJI: Regional workshop conducted on mapping Pacific cultural heritage sites
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Community Press Release

Participants attending a subregional workshop on mapping cultural heritage sites along the Coral Coast in Sigatoka were informed of the significant role physical mapping plays in the preservation of endangered cultural heritage sites. Part of the workshop involved a site mapping exercise in Tavuni Hill Fort, in the interior of Nadroga, Fiji.

Elise Huffer, SPC’s Human Development Programme Adviser - Culture, said the workshop is the first activity of the third component of an EU-funded, SPC-managed project worth € 813,447 (FJD 2,092,000): ‘Structuring the Cultural Sector for Improved Human Development’. This component is carried out in partnership with the Pacific Islands Museum Association (PIMA) and involves Kiribati, Bougainville, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Nauru and Niue.

‘We’re lucky to have the Fiji Museum as a partner, as it has a lot of expertise in this area. Basically what the participants are looking at is simple mapping with very simple tools and transferring these skills to the communities so that the communities can engage in mapping themselves,’ explained Huffer.

The focus of the one-week workshop was to map out the tangible cultural heritage which will complement intangible cultural heritage mapping.

‘So it’s really about measuring and understanding where the culturally significant aspects of the sites are and being able to map them out correctly. People can use it as a tool for preserving and promoting those sites,’ Huffer said.

Sepeti Matararaba, the field research officer in the Department of Prehistory Archaeology at the Fiji Museum emphasised that they try to recommend the best way to preserve and protect historical sites.

‘This is because new development in Fiji, can be very destructive to historical sites when people are not aware of what they have on their land. When developers come in and bulldoze everything, they lose what their grandparents lived in or built in the past.’

Moira Zeta Enetama, Manager of Taoga Niue, the government project that promotes Niuean culture and heritage, said the workshop was an eye-opener in terms of the practicality of cultural mapping. ‘It is very interesting to be able to integrate the intangible with the tangible. We have been separating them for a long time because of the convention and our own understanding, but coming to this workshop and being able to merge the two and have a better understanding of how they complement each other has been useful.’

Another participant Alamai Sioni, cultural officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Rural Development in Tuvalu said the meeting and the mapping exercise were very fulfilling and beneficial.

Historian Steven Titiml from the RMI Historic Preservation Office said the workshop is especially beneficial for him. ‘I’ve come to gather some data for our office, where we are trying to write a national map of our traditional navigation. We feel that it is an endangered skill in the Marshall Islands.’

‘Not a lot of people are left who have that knowledge but I’ll try to find ways to build our capacity so that we can help the Marshall Islands people preserve their culture and knowledge of traditional navigation, and ‘reading’ the weather and wave patterns. We are also trying to teach our children about their culture and how to preserve it for the future,’ Titiml said.

Adi Meretui Ratunabuabua of PIMA and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS Pasifika) said that when they complete this training, participants should return to their respective countries with an awareness of what is required for sound mapping.

‘Many of the sites that we have in the Pacific are not given enough prominence. We seem to be going for development but forgetting our roots and where we come from.’

She added that if people do not do their mapping, they do not get their records. ‘It’s important that we get the physical mapping for their sites. The other aspect is oral history and transmission, the know-how, the storytelling, the songs, the dance music, the hairstyles, the weddings - all these and more to be recorded and documented.’

Elise Huffer said there needs to be a greater focus on heritage preservation and promotion.

‘It’s a beginning for some countries, an opportunity to either incorporate it into their work they are already doing or the beginning of something they would like to do. What I find really useful is that fact that they doing this together with the Fiji Museum,’ she added.

Some countries are focusing on tangible heritage sites as their mapping focus but will also be collecting associated intangible heritage data while other countries are focusing primarily on intangible heritage.
 

NIUE: Free Wi-Fi on Niue as a language catalyst
Source: Rising Voices
 

Some might say that the island of Niue is the perfect place to get away from the constant bombardment of emails and information overload. Located 2,400 kilometers from New Zealand, the international airport greets a flight from Auckland only once a week. However, for the approximately 1,500 residents of Niue, being connected to the internet is not only important for its tourist industry, but it provides a valuable opportunity to encourage the use of the Niuean language online.

Thanks to an initiative launched by the national government and the IUSN Foundation, all residents and visitors can enjoy wi-fi free-of-charge throughout the island after paying a one-time connection fee. The organization Internet Niue has been given the task of maintaining the system and providing ongoing support to its users. While the operating costs for the satellite connection are not insignificant, the country is able to bring in needed revenue through the sale of the .nu domain address.

Now that country is connected to the rest of the world, there are some people who see it as an opportunity to save the language. Most Niueans live abroad, with many moving to New Zealand where their children adopt English as their first language and opportunities to use their native tongue continue to diminish. Estimates place the number of Niue speakers at 25,000 worldwide, with only 1,200 that live year-round on the island. There are some websites that provide lessons for those wanting to learn the language, and there has even been a campaign to create a Nieuan-version of Wikipedia, but interaction through web 2.0 tools can be an alternative way of connecting with other Niue speakers.

The manager of Internet Niue, Emani Fakaotimanava-Lui, who recently received the Asia Information Society Innovation Fund award at the Internet Governance Forum held in Nairobi in September 2011 for his work on the island, is one individual that believes that much more can be done to take advantage of the connectivity on the island. While most residents also speak English fluently, Emani feels that those that move abroad do not need to “lose their connection with their mother tongue”. In addition to promoting translation projects, Emani is also hoping to promote blogging and tweeting initiatives in the Niue language: "The Niue language - Vagahau Niue - will survive only if it is in everyday use. And this means on the internet."

Learn more about Emani's work and plans for the promotion of the Niuean language at the online dialogue “Using Citizen Media Tools to Promote Under-Represented Languages” to take place on November 16-22. Follow Intenet Niue on Twitter: (@InternetNiue).
 

(Photos: Pacific Islands Applied GeoScience Commission)

WORLDWIDE: Cooperative tsunami-warning systems for Vanuatu and New Caledonia
Source: Pacific Islands Applied GeoScience Commission Press Release
 
Although thirty percent of the world’s earthquakes occur within the southwest Pacific and eighty-one percent of tsunamis in the region are generated by earthquake activity, the region experiences, on average, some of the slowest detection times for earthquake activity.

At the SPC/SOPAC Division’s STAR meeting held in Nadi this week, Mrs Esline Garaebiti Bule, Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards Department (VMGD) said that the earthquake and tsunami events with casualties in Papua New Guinea, 1998, Vanuatu in 1999, Solomon Islands, 2007, and more recently, Tonga and Samoa in 2009 indicated the region needs a tsunami early-warning system based on fast earthquake detection system for the South West Pacific Region.

The STAR (Science, Technology and Resources Network) meeting was an integral part of SOPAC’s first meeting as a Division since becoming a part of the Secretariat of the South Pacific Community (SPC) in January this year.

The meeting saw scientists from around the Pacific join the Division’s 22 member countries and territories for a conference with the theme “Adapting to Climate and Environmental Change in the Pacific Islands.”

Mrs Bule said that Pacific Island countries and territories need to have earthquake monitoring and tsunami alert systems, “based on multilateral cooperation, with the support of an open and free exchange of data, that they fully own.”

The New Caledonia Institut de Recherche et Développement and the VMGD have taken steps towards this with a dual-government initiative that began in January this year.

“In order to have a successful local alert system, observatories need to detect the early signs of a potential tsunami as fast as possible.

“By using the same software, both Institutes are able to share knowledge and tools for earthquake monitoring and automatic detection. This helps improve the responsiveness and build the capacity of both organisations in earthquake monitoring and tsunami alert response.

Mrs Bule would like to see the seismic information sharing expand to include other countries in the region that own local seismic networks such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

“This initiative is also in line with the United Nations / Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s recommendations of the first and second meetings of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS) Task Team on "Seismic Data Sharing in the South-west Pacific" as well as those of the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN) community on Infrastructure for Seismology made during the XXV International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) General assembly to reduce tsunami threats,” said Mrs Bule.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - Esline Bule addresses the STAR meeting.

Photo 2 - Tsunami aftermath, Samoa 2009.