NEWSPAGE 25 September
2009

(Photos: Auckland District Health Board)

NEW ZEALAND: New Pacific Quit Smoking Service launched

(Photos: Samoa Rugby Union)

SAMOA: Vailele denies Vaiala treble at Vaipouli
Source: Samoa Rugby Union Press Release

Vailele were able to withstand a last minute Vaiala onslaught to take the Savaiii leg title 10 - 7, in a thrilling final at Vaipouli College.

With both teams missing key players to the Mini Games and Namibian 7’s, the finals could easily have been passed off as a match perhaps without the panache and excitement expected, however this was not the case, with the younger charges from both teams dazzling the Savaiian crowd with some of the more enterprising and gutsy play seen in the series thus far.

Vaiala and Vailele were a cut above the rest throughout the day and never looked like losing their final berths, setting up an interesting ‘third encounter’ between the two teams for a leg title in this years Digicel Samoa 7’s Series. Vaiala opened the score line within two minutes of the match, with an overlap allowing Leia Saofaiga to touch down between the posts for Patrick Fa’apale to convert giving Vaiala an early seven point lead. With a minute to half time, Kirisimasi Fale crossed the chalk for Vailele after a probing raid into the Vaiala half. His conversion was not successful, giving Vaiala the lead at half time.

The second half hooter signaled an exciting last stanza, where the usual ‘up the middle’ bursts between the two teams were cast aside for a more wide flowing game, with the ball frequently flung at every chance, much to the delight of the crowd. Kirisimasi Fale and Asi Levi were resolute for Vailele, with their experience the telling factor in thwarting Vaiala’s surges to the try line. Leia and Patrick Fa’apale were kept at bay in the last half by Vailele, who seemed the more composed this time round in defense. An unconverted try to Most Valuable Player of the day, Sani Niue was enough for Vailele to take the fourth leg title, despite a fumbled last minute raid by Vaiala wing man Victor Va’auli which could of given a Vaiala the treble title.

A Vaiala victory at Vaipoluli would have ensured Mauia Va’a Vitale’s team a tighter grasp on the Series title before this weekends fifth and final leg at Apia Park, however Vaialele’s triumph will ensure an interesting scramble between the two with only two points separating them. Falelua Brothers absence from Savaii will prove to be costly for the A’ana men in the table stakes, although Tepatasi and Samoa Pharmacy will still be in the reckoning, should Vailele and Vaiala falter in pool play. SCOPA and Marist would be both disappointed with their results thus far, with both dwelling below the top five ranking, and almost out of reach. Last years top two teams will certainly look to for a respectable finish to the series.

In the earlier finals, Taumulioalii from Iva overwhelmed Lalomalava A in a local Savaii derby for the Bowl title. The Iva men were too good for Lalomalava A, and came out on top 21 - 10 . The Plate final was a one sided affair however, with Lupe o Soaga far too good for Lalomalava America Samoa, taking the plate title with a convincing 22 - 7 win.

Thirty two teams nationwide will be hoping to end this years series on a high note at this year’s fifth and final leg at Apia Park this Saturday. Vaiala and Vailele, including Tepatasi and Samoa Phramacy Moata’a will certainly be laying all their cards on the table this Saturday, assuring an exhilarating end to this years Digicel Samoa Sevens Series.
 

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - Itu o Tane Bowl winners Taumuliaoalii from Iva with their prize.

Photo 2 - Itu o Tane Plate Winners Lupe o le Soaga with SRU CEO Su'a Peter Schuster.

Photo 3 - Itu o Tane Champions Vailele with Toalepai Waikato Lefale.

Photo 4 - MVP Player of the Leg, Sani Niue with Toalepai Waikato Lefale.
 

(Photos: Riamoana Pasifika)

AUSTRALIA: Samoan triathlete excels in World Championships
Source: Riamoana Pasifika Press Release

Ray Pogi a self funded elite sportsman has yet again taken another go at Gold at the World Triathlon Championships held last week in the Gold Coast, Brisbane. He was the only Samoan representative in the sport which was watched by over 20 thousand people.

On the day Pogi was placed 47th out of 80 competitors. Pogi represented Samoa in the South Pacific Games 2007.

This is a sport of endurance and Pogi has endured a lot. The championships are held at different countries every year. Last year it was held in Canada and 2010 takes the meet to Budapest.

"This sport is addictive, there are not many Samoans or Pacific Islanders involved but I would encourage people to enter as it is fun and offers a healthy lifestyle," commented Pogi.

The division that Pogi took part in is called a 'Sprint Distance'. This involves a 750meter swim; 20kilometer bike race and a 5kilometer run.

Throughout the year there are approximately 20 races around Australia alone. The Triathlon season begins in October until March 2010.

Pogi works at a Warehouse for a Logistics company in Brisbane which helps fund his dream of becoming an Samoan Iron Man. This higher level would need continuous training for 18months.

Competition at this level requires participation in a longer distances which covers; 3.8 kilometer swim; 180kilometer bike race and a 42 kilometer run. Pogi's training regime involves a 5:30am before work training session and a 6:00pm after work training session, seven days a week.

To ensure that he is fit and prepared for all competitions Pogi joined a club of triathlon competitors which is a $150.00 per month expense. Triathlon meets coming soon will be in Noosa on the 1st November and end of season in Maloolaba in March 2010.

"At the start I only took up this sport because I wanted to go to the South Pacific Games in 2007 and Samoa had no representation for it, but now I'm addicted, I love the sport and although it is hard I'm planning on becoming the first ever Samoan Iron Man," Pogi said.
 

(Photos: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

KIRIBATI: World’s largest marine protected areas sign partnership agreement
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Today two of the world’s largest marine protected areas announced a historic alliance to enhance the management and protection of almost 300,000 square miles of marine habitat in the Pacific Ocean.

President Anote Tong of the Republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kee Ree Bass), signed an agreement with the United States that establishes a “sister site” relationship between the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the Phoenix Islands Protected Area near the equator in the Republic of Kiribati. Managers of both sites will meet in November in French Polynesia to formalize the agreement.

Combined, the two sites encompass 25 percent of all marine protected areas on Earth. The partnership links the sites and is designed to enhance management knowledge and practices for these tropical and subtropical marine and terrestrial island ecosystems.

Eileen Sobeck, Department of the Interior deputy assistant secretary, signed the agreement on behalf of the United States. Elizabeth Moore, director of International Sanctuaries, represented NOAA at the signing.

“The United States is very pleased to engage in this marine conservation partnership with the Republic of Kiribati,” said Sobeck. “In the face of challenges like climate change and increasing societal demands on ever scarcer marine resources - challenges that transcend national boundaries and dwarf the ability of any single nation to address - partnerships like this one are critical to the success of our efforts to preserve this natural heritage for future generations.”

“This agreement represents both the culmination and the start of our work with our colleagues in Kiribati and collaboration between NOAA and our colleagues in the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to demonstrate the benefit of collaboration to protect these valuable resources,” said Moore.

When it was established in 2006, Papahānaumokuākea was the largest marine protected area in the world, protecting natural, cultural and historic resources within an area of approximately 140,000 square miles (362,075 square kilometers). The monument’s extensive coral reefs are home to over 7,000 marine species, one quarter of which are found only in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

In 2008, the Phoenix Island Protected Area was founded to protect the archipelago’s terrestrial and marine resources, becoming the largest marine protected area in the world today at approximately 158,500 square miles (410,500 square kilometers). The coral reefs and bird populations of the islands are highly unique and virtually untouched by humans. The protected area also includes underwater seamounts and other deep-sea habitat.

“Our sites are part of a growing trend globally in ocean protection - the establishment of large-scale marine protected areas,” said `Aulani Wilhelm, NOAA’s superintendent for Papahānaumokuākea. “By partnering, we hope to collaborate on innovative initiatives highlighting not only the ecological connections we share, but also Pacific heritage and cultural connections we have as island people across Oceania.”

Removed from most human activity, both areas serve as global “sentinel sites” by providing potential early warning and a comparative baseline of understanding of how natural, less disturbed systems react to changing climate conditions and external influences. Although geographically distant from their respective local population centers, both sites are supported by and rely on involvement of local and indigenous communities to develop successful management regimes.

“Our sites provide ocean insurance for the Pacific against the depletion of marine life that has accelerated across the globe,” said Tukabu Teroroko, director of the Phoenix Island Protected Area. “Together we can more effectively address the complex challenges of managing such large ocean areas.”

“Within these large seascapes we also have protected islands that provide habitat critical to the survival of both marine and terrestrial wildlife,” said Susan White, Fish and Wildlife superintendent for Papahānaumokuākea. “This agreement will help us manage across the ecosystems by comparing and sharing our efforts with each other, as we face many of the same challenges.”

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area is a unique partnership between the government of Kiribati that owns the Phoenix Islands, non-governmental conservation organizations and regional governments. It is supported through a unique “reverse fishing license” financing program, in which the government of Kiribati is reimbursed for the amount that they would have made from selling fishing licenses. The government of Kiribati and an advisory board, working collaboratively to ensure the long-term sustainability of this remarkable place, administers the trust.

Papahānaumokuākea is cooperatively managed to ensure ecological integrity and achieve strong, long-term protection and perpetuation of Northwestern Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations. Three co-trustees - the Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and State of Hawaii - joined by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, protect this special place.

Both sites were nominated this year by their respective governments as World Heritage Sites, a designation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - Yellowfin goatfish around a shipwreck in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Photo 2 - Giant trevally along a shallow reef in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
 

USA: AOSIS leaders declare 'Island Survival' the new benchmark for new climate deal
Source: Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme Press Release

Leaders of the world’s island states have demanded that the new post-2012 international climate agreement guarantee their countries’ livelihood and survival by ensuring that global warming be kept well below 1.5 degrees Celsius (oC).

In a Declaration adopted today (September 23, 2009) in New York at the ‘Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) Summit on Climate Change’, leaders and ministers of the 42-member negotiating group expressed ‘grave concern that climate change poses the most serious threat to our survival and viability’, and disappointment at the current slow pace and lack of resolve in international climate talks.

AOSIS Leaders heard that current targets from industrialized countries add up to emissions cuts of only 11 to 18 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, which would put the world on a path to 3oC or more in temperature rise. Current targets are about one third of the 45% cuts by 2020 required to keep global warming and associated losses and damage - already estimated at $125 billion annually - under control.

Recent science indicates that 3oC of warming will result in substantial loss of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, resulting in one or even two metres of sea-level rise by the end of the century. The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees has already warned that some particularly low-lying island states are ‘very likely to become entirely uninhabitable’.

Prime Minister Tillman Thomas of Grenada, the Caribbean island state which currently holds the AOSIS Chairmanship, called the current targets “unacceptable”, adding that no state or group of states has the right to condemn another to the tragedy of statelessness.

“Our people are already suffering devastating impacts and losses at the current 0.8 degrees Celsius (oC) of warming - coastal erosion, coral bleaching, salty drinking water, flooding, and more intense cyclones and hurricanes” said President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives. “Should we, leaders of the most vulnerable and exposed countries, be asking our people to sign onto significantly greater degrees of misery and livelihood insecurity, essentially becoming climate change guinea pigs? The limit must be 1.5oC to stay alive!”

Today’s ‘AOSIS Declaration on Climate Change’ calls on the international community to ensure that the Copenhagen climate agreement peak global emissions by 2015, with a subsequent fall to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050.

The AOSIS 1.5oC target and associated goal of stabilising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at 350 parts per million is supported by the Group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), a total of about 80 countries that represent more than 40% of the U.N. membership. The targets are below the 2oC and 450ppm promoted by many industrialised countries and some developing countries, which are based on now-outdated science. Recent economic studies show the tighter targets are feasible, requiring investments of less than 2% of GDP by 2100. Tighter targets would also send a positive carbon price signal to the markets to drive the development of clean energy technologies needed for the transition to low-carbon economies.

Speaking at a press conference following adoption of the Declaration, Prime Minister Marcus Stephens of Nauru took a swipe at recent suggestions that talks on a new post-2012 climate deal should be allowed to leak into next year. “Seventeen years after signing the Framework Convention on Climate Change, we are still waiting for emissions to peak. We cannot allow domestic politics and self-interest to delay what we already know to be essential. Further delayed action will escalate the cost of adaptation well beyond our economic capacity,” said Prime Minister Stephens.

AOSIS Leaders also stressed that the provision of finance for adaptation by small island states and other vulnerable countries ‘must be an urgent and immediate global priority’, and that the new global deal must include a comprehensive insurance facility to address the now-inevitable loss and damage to fall on vulnerable countries as a result of climate change. “Climate change is already delivering damage not of our making. Our countries need adaptation funding urgently - not in 2020, not in 2030, but now”, said President Nasheed.

“The Secretary-General’s Climate Change Summit tomorrow is a unique opportunity to up the tempo and head towards Copenhagen with a true sense of urgency and purpose,” said Prime Minister Thomas of Grenada. “World leaders must mandate their negotiators to deliver a deal in December, full of the ambition and scale of commitment necessary to address the challenge of our generation”.
 

(Photos: Polynesian Xplorer)

WORLDWIDE: OJU judo training centre established in Samoa
Source: Polynesian Xplorer Press Release

Judo Samoa and the Oceania Judo Union have joined together to establish a Judo Training Centre in Samoa for the Oceania region. This exciting initiative was launched Friday 18th September on arrival of internationally recognized coach, Mr. Patrick Mahon from Australia, and two athletes accepted by the OJU under scholarship; Tony Lomo of the Solomon Islands, and Raymond Ovinou of Papua New Guinea. Beautiful Miss Samoa, Jacinta Bourne, welcomed invited guests to the Media Launch.

The evening was opened by Mr. Francois Martel, President of Judo Association Samoa and Interim Director for the Training Centre followed by a keynote address from the Honorable Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi who supports this development wholeheartedly.

This incredible initiative will put Samoa on the map throughout the world as the second only Regional Training Centre to be established by the International Judo Federation (IJF) in the world. The first was launched in Africa in 2006 in support of the African Continental Union, who, just like Oceania, has adopted judo more recently as a sport and do not have the same level of capacity, training, experience and financial support to develop their elite athletes to the top world championships and Olympic competition level. After only three years of training in preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, three African athletes from this elite group claimed Olympic medals. This was the first time for African countries in the history of Judo as an Olympic sport to win medals, making history for not only themselves, but also their countries.

Because of this incredible success, the IJF is determined to extend this same opportunity to the Judo athletes of Oceania in anticipation of a repeat of this feat in London 2012, for Oceania.

The Olympic Judo Training Centre will bring a host of athletes from around the Pacific to the shores of Samoa, as well as international coaches and officials to the country. In turn this will raise the profile of our small country and provide us with an even better avenue to promote Samoa as a desirable sports tourism destination. The launch of the Olympic Judo Training Centre in Samoa also coincides with the 2009 Judo World Cup in November which will bring athletes from around the world to Samoa - The Treasured Islands of the South Pacific.

Judo Association of Samoa would like to acknowledge the support of the Samoan Government, SASNOC and the sponsorship of Blue Pacific Car Hire who have provided a vehicle for International Coach, Mr. Patrick Mahon during his stay here in Samoa.

Photo Captions:

Photos 1 & 2 - Raymond Ovinou (PNG), Tony Lomo (SOL), Toshio Suzuki (JAS), Saeko Matsuura (JICA).

Photo 3 - Toshio Suzuki and Raymond Ovinou in action.

Photo 4 - Tony Lomo (SOL), Raymond Ovinou (PNG), Toshio Suzuki (JAS), Jacinta Bourne (Miss Samoa), Patrick Mahon (INternatonal Coach), Saeko Matsuura (JICA) & Francois Martel (President JAS & Interim Director).