Category Archives: Reports

Reports on conferences, workshops, field schools, and research related to the Pacific.

Enduring ties: half of PNG’s visitors are still Australian

This is the third of a series of posts analysing arrival and departure data in Papua New Guinea. The first post showed how arrivals to… Continue reading

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Pacific partnerships to strengthen gender, climate change response and sustainable development

Monday, 19 May 2014

An innovative Pacific regional meeting to be held from 9 to 13 June in Nadi, Fiji, aims to advance the region’s interests in global United Nations bodies in key areas such as gender equality and climate change.

The meeting will bring together representatives of national, regional and global women-led civil society organisations (CSOs) and networks, national women’s machineries (NWMs) and high-level state representatives from New York missions and capitals to discuss, strategise and agree on priorities and political partnerships to advance gender, climate change and disaster risk reduction positions in the global sustainable development, post-2015 development and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change multilateral agendas. The high-level meeting on 13 June will be chaired by the Honourable Enele Sopoaga, Prime Minister of Tuvalu.

This initiative is co-convened by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and Diverse Voices and Action for Equality and the Pacific Youth Council. Other partners include Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office, the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement, The Women’s Major Group on Sustainable Development, the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, the Global Fund for Women, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) and the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), with many others providing expertise, and financial and other resources.

With the Pacific Plan review underway as well as global processes such as preparation for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, Beijing+20 (the upcoming review of progress made in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, and discussions on the post-2015 development agenda, this is a timely opportunity to strengthen partnerships and engagement for implementation of regional and global priorities on gender, climate change and sustainable development, with the aim of demonstrating concrete policy results, and also increasing support for women-led civil society groups and national women’s machineries in the Pacific region.

The process adopted in the meeting aims to accomplish the following objectives. Firstly, to strategise and agree on urgent and long-term Pacific priorities and state and civil society partnerships to advance transformative gender, climate change and DRR positions into the global sustainable development agenda. Secondly, participants will also identify how CSOs and NWMs can support negotiators from Pacific missions and capital as they position Pacific priorities in global advocacy tracks. Thirdly, participants will discuss how to strengthen mechanisms to monitor implementation of policies, promote transparency, accountability and dialogue throughout the global gender, sustainable development and climate change agendas.

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New Zealand Tops New Ranking For Assistance To Pacific

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

The Alfred Deakin Research Institute-Sustineo Pacific Index was launched in Canberra yesterday. It ranks and assesses 27 OECD countries on aid, trade, migration, finance, security, the creation and dissemination of new technologies and the promotion of environmental sustainability. New Zealand index score ranks nearly twice that of Australia — primarily because of its aid, migration and security efforts.

The top five donor countries in the Pacific region are: New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Finland and Portugal. However, it does not measure the aid given by China because of a lack of data. The authors say the index will be used for advocacy to get all rich countries to do more in the Pacific, and not just by increasing their aid.

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PNG’s elections: the most expensive in the world, and getting worse

An interesting evaluation has just been released by DFAT of Australia’s assistance to PNG to help it hold elections over the last decade. The evaluation… Continue reading

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‘Relocation in the Pacific’ – workshop report (12 Aug 2013)

Venue: UNSW Law Faculty Boardroom (12 August 2013). Participants: Jane McAdam, Jon Barnett, Bruce Burson (via Skype), John Campbell, John Connell, Beth Ferris, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Rebecca Monson, Kate Purcell, Sarah Williams, Elissa Waters, Fiona Chong. PRESENTATIONS Jane McAdam welcomed participants, explaining that … Continue reading

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Comparative perspectives on land – Thinking across the Pacific: Report from the ‘land stream’ of the State of the Pacific Conference (25-26 June 2013)

The Hon Ralph Regenvanu, Minister for Lands, Government of Vanuatu (left), Ms Leisande Otto, World Bank, Vanuatu (middle) and Dr Jim Fingleton, Development Law Consultant participate in the ‘land stream’ panel at SOTP 13, 25 July 2013 (Photo: George Carter). … Continue reading

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Pacific issues come under expert gaze

An AusAID account of two recent conferences at the ANU: SSGM’s inaugural State of the Pacific (SOTP 13) and The Development Policy Centre’s PNG and Pacific Update.

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Summary of main themes emerging from the conference on Sorcery & Witchcraft-Related Killings in Melanesia, 5-7 June 2013, ANU, Canberra

This three day multi-disciplinary conference focused on the negative social consequences of belief in sorcery and witchcraft in Melanesia (the conference booklet with program, abstracts and speakers is available here).  Approximately half the speakers were from PNG, Vanuatu and Solomon … Continue reading

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Report on PACE-Net Key Stakeholder Conference: Connecting Research and Innovation for development in the Pacific (Suva 12th – 14th March 2013)

“Enthusiastic discussions on results of the three year Pacific-European Network on Science and Technology (PACE-Net*) were held by more than 120 delegates from about 17 Pacific and European countries and territories [pictured above] at the final PACE-Net Conference hosted by … Continue reading

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Connecting Moana: Oceania’s Universities take the lead in Pan-Pacific Online Course Delivery

by Dr Paul D’Arcy, History, CHL. [about this image*] For the last two years a quiet educational revolution with profound implications for education outreach and collaborative teaching and research has been taking place across the entire breadth of the Pacific Islands. The … Continue reading

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Report on the 2012 International Austronesian Conference, Weaving Waves’ Writings: Memories, Stories and Spiritual Resonance in Oceania, Taipei, Taiwan, 27-28 November, 2012

by Dr Paul D’Arcy, History, CHL. I visited Taiwan for the first time in November 2012 as part of a contingent of Pacific academic and community speakers invited to present papers at the 2012 International Austronesian Conference. This conference was … Continue reading

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The South Pacific: from ‘arc of instability’ to ‘arc of opportunity’ (summary and video presentations)

A major workshop was held in the ANU’s College of Asia & the Pacific on 8 February 2013 to challenge the highly influential (although controversial) characterisation of the region as an ‘arc of instability’. There was broad agreement amoung presenters … Continue reading

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Is the resources boom good for Melanesia? (report)

A report and commentary by Dr Tess Newton Cain* on a panel discussion convened on 4 February 2013 by the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program. [See an account of the presentation by panelist Dr Matthew Allen on the CAP website.] The … Continue reading

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UN climate change negotiations: The role and influence of the Alliance of Small Island States (report)

The Pacific Institute and Climate Change Institute at the ANU were privileged to host a public lecture on 19 February by Her Excellency Ms Marlene Inemwin Moses (pictured left), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Nauru to the United Nations and Chair … Continue reading

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Workshop Symposium: Political Life Writing in the Pacific Islands (Report)

by Co-Convenors: Brij V Lal and Jack Corbett. On 18 October 2012 the first Workshop Symposium on Political Life Writing in the Pacific Islands was held at the Australian National University. The conference was co-hosted by the College of Asia … Continue reading

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