Press Releases

Journey to Ottawa: Pacific countries ready to negotiate revised draft text of plastics treaty

12 April 2024, Apia Samoa - To say waste generation - including plastic pollution is a global problem - would be stating things quite mildly. The statistics are in fact staggering, and even more concerning especially for Pacific countries who...

Office of the Governor – News Release – Hawaiʻi Announces Readiness to Host 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture

JOSH GREEN, M.D. GOVERNOR KE KIAʻĀINA HAWAI‘I ANNOUNCES READINESS TO HOST 13TH FESTIVAL OF PACIFIC ARTS & CULTURE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 28, 2024 HONOLULU — Governor Josh Green, M.D., First Lady Jaime Kanani Green, and festival organizers...

Pacific delegates advocate for a key regional aspiration to be included in the plastic treaty text

In the final hours of the fourth round of negotiations on the revised zero draft of the global plastics treaty, Pacific delegates remain steadfast in their resolve to have a key regional aspiration on the sustainable production of primary plastic...

Bridge to Busan Declaration open for signing at Plastics Treaty talks

29 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - Today at INC4 over two dozen countries have signed on to the Bridge to Busan Declaration. Launched at the Plastics Treaty negotiations, it invigorates the call for sustainable production levels of primary plastic...

Pacific adds voice as attention turns to proposed intersession work to advance plastics treaty development

28 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - As the clock ticks towards the final hours of the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine...

Trusted Science must ground plastics treaty negotiations - Scientists Coalition

28 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - Scientific evidence shows that plastics and associated chemicals, including some bio-based plastics, are destabilising the biosphere, harming the natural environment and living organisms including humans, and...

Voices of Pacific Women: Diana Hinge Salili

Negotiating a Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution including in the Marine Environment 24 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - Seeing this Pacific Island woman still active in the UN negotiation space is rewarding given the first time she was...

FSM advocates for a dedicated multilateral fund for plastics to ensure the effective compliance and implementation of the future treaty

The Pacific is disproportionately affected by the global plastic pollution, contributing less than 1.3 percent but our ocean is inundated with bulk of the world’s transboundary washed away plastics which has serious negative environmental, health,...

Cook Islands joins plastic treaty proposal for chemicals of concern

26 April 29024, Ottawa Canada - The Cook Islands, a large ocean island state is making her mighty voice heard at the Plastics Treaty negotiations now underway. The island nation, with Rwanda, has co-sponsored a proposal by Norway on how to address...

Solomon Islands calls on the global community to address the gaps regarding chemicals of concern in the plastic treaty

Addressing the gap between the few chemicals in plastics that are regulated globally and the growing number of chemicals of concern that are known to be used in plastics but are not identified for listing either for elimination, avoidance and...

Plastic treaty should reflect comprehensive approach across full lifecycle of plastics – Kingdom of Tonga

25 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - An international legally binding instrument to address plastic pollution should reflect a comprehensive approach across the full lifecycle of plastics, respect national circumstances, and be accompanied by accessible...

Pacific Voice the “moral compass” in global push for plastics treaty

19 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - Three days from the opening of the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment...

Pacific SIDS calls for global solidarity in addressing the plastics crisis, asks for high ambition

Vanuatu, speaking on behalf of the 14 Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), has made a call for the international community to work together in fulfilling its mandate to have an international legally binding instrument on plastic...

Voices of Pacific Women: Tekura Moeka’a

Negotiating a Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution including in the Marine Environment 23 April 2024, Ottawa, Canada - For this young Cook Islands woman, she found it was a matter of “fight or flight” when it came to her very first UN...

3.3% GROWTH EXPECTED IN THE PACIFIC REGION IN 2024, 4% IN 2025 — ADB

3.3% GROWTH EXPECTED IN THE PACIFIC REGION IN 2024, 4% IN 2025 — ADB MANILA, PHILIPPINES (11 April 2023) — Economic growth in the Pacific is projected to moderate in 2024 before picking up in 2025, according to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO)...

Pacific Islands Voices magnified in the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution

19 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - Of the 66 countries that are members of the High Ambition Coalition to end Plastic Pollution, four are from the Pacific Islands. A commitment was made in November last year by our Pacific Islands Forum Leaders to...

Three-point Q and A with Palau’s Chief Negotiator Ms Gwen Sisior

The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), is taking place from 23 to 29 April 2024 in Ottawa, Canada....

Members of the Alliance of Small Island States comb through revised draft text of plastics treaty on eve of INC-4

18 April 2024, Ottawa Canada - Pacific members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) have joined the group’s member states in Ottawa, Canada, to comb through the revised draft text of the international legally binding instrument on...

Voices of Pacific Women: Moe Saitala Paulo

Negotiating a Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution including in the Marine Environment The Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committing for a Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution including in the Marine...

The Loss and Damage of Niue’s history

Ninety percent of Niue’s artefacts housed in the national museum, along with archives and records, were destroyed during Tropical Cyclone Heta in 2004. The category five cyclone, a sudden onset event left death and destruction behind. The loss of...