Members of the ‘Muvmen Red’ rally in Port Vila, Vanuatu, holding a banner that reads ‘Voes Blong Yumi: Stopem Instabiliti Tede’ (Our Voice: Stop Instability Today).
Voes Blong Yumi/Facebook
Governments and activist groups are bringing environmental issues to international courts. They argue that the impact of climate change and environmental issues affect human rights.
In 1881, a Pacific Islander woman brought here to work on a sugar cane plantation ran away. She was violently retrieved by her employer. Her story sheds moving light on a dark history of exploitation.
Research reveals a desire by Pacific tourism workers for genuine change once travel starts again, including better wages and conditions and greater local control of operations.
Pacific communities have always been resilient, surviving on islands in the middle of oceans for more than 3,000 years. But climate change is an unprecedented challenge.
Front row: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (C), Chilean Environment Minister and COP25 President Carolina Schmidt (3-L), UN General-Secretary Antonio Guterres (2-R), Argentine President Mauricio Macri (L), Spanish Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera (2-L) and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa (R) pose with other world leaders for a photo during the opening ceremony of the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid, Spain.
EPA/Chema Moya
Vanuatu has banned them outright, while many Chinese families use just one every 24 hours. So why are Australians still sending millions of dirty nappies to landfill every single day?
The Australian funded Blackrock base in Fiji will be a regional hub for training of defence and security personnel.
DAN HIMBRECHTS/AAP
Scott Morrison stepped up Australia’s engagement with the Pacific by visiting Vanuatu and Fiji last week and announcing a bilateral partnership with the latter. Here’s what he achieved.
Australia aims to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
DAN HIMBRECHTS
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s historic visit to Vanuatu is centred around security. This fits a pattern shifting the focus from development to militarisation in Australia’s Pacific foreign policy.
Reports that China plans to build a military base in Vanuatu seem to have little substance at this stage.
EPA/Jerome Favre
The reports are speculative at best, but that hasn’t stopped a torrent of over-wrought commentary on Chinese military expansion and the potential threat to Australia.
A young boy shields his face from volcanic dust whipped up by winds at the foot of the Mount Yasur Volcano on the south-west coast of on Tanna Island, Vanuatu, Thursday, March 19, 2015.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt