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11 December 2020 
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
National News Regional News Mixed News
Tools and Research Funding and Training Job Vacancies and Tenders
It might be the world’s biggest ocean, but the mighty Pacific is in peril
…the Pacific Ocean’s delicate ecology is under threat. In most cases, human activity is to blame. We have systematically pillaged the Pacific of fish. We have used it as a rubbish tip – garbage has been found even in the deepest point on Earth, in the Mariana Trench 11,000 metres below sea level.
NATIONAL NEWS
Papua New Guinea - Message in a bottle found on one of PNG’s most far-flung islands sparks an unlikely friendship
A conservation worker on one of Papua New Guinea’s most far-flung islands and a teenager from the United States have struck an unlikely…
Marshall Islands - This Pacific Island Is Both Sinking and Growing
Across the globe, sea level rise is threatening island communities. But in the Pacific Ocean, some atolls are actually expanding over time…
Kiribati - EU lifts Kiribati’s fisheries yellow card
Kiribati has had its official warning for failing to effectively tackle illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing rescinded by the European…
Vanuatu - Regenerative Agriculture supporting Environmental Recovery and Protection in Western Santo
As one of the most remote and underserved areas of the country, the Western Coast of Santo houses over 40 villages and a population of…
Solomon Islands - Logger fined $50k for harvesting tubi
The director of a logging company, Sunrise Investment Limited had been fined $50,000 to the state on Wednesday for harvesting Tubi trees…
Cook Islands - Government’s ecological report challenged
Community water lobby group Te Vai Ora Maori is questioning key findings from a government funded ecological report after a six-day field study was…
Palau - EQPB updates environmental regulations for development projects
The Environmental Quality Protection Board (EQPB) has updated its Environmental Assessment (EA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
New Caledonia - New Caledonia’s triple opportunity
The immediate dispute was over which consortium could bid for the Goro nickel smelter and the other assets of Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie…
New Zealand - The story of New Zealand’s earliest conservation efforts
On Pigeon Island, in the shadow of the mighty bulk of Resolution Island in Fiordland’s Tamatea/Dusky Sound, there’s a poignant ruin. A few…
Australia - The Blue Mountains World Heritage site has been downgraded, but it’s not too late to save it
Twenty years ago, UNESCO inscribed the greater Blue Mountains area on the World Heritage List for having “outstanding universal value”…
REGIONAL NEWS
Plea for Pacific tuna regulator to call emergency session
There’s a call for a Pacific tuna management agency to call an emergency meeting after it failed to agree on regulations for the coming…
Marine Turtle Extinction Risk Assessment To Support Decision Making In Turtle Conservation
To better understand the status of marine turtles in the Pacific islands region, an assessment of their extinction risk in the region was…
MIXED NEWS
Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé named top plastic polluters for third year in a row
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé have been accused of “zero progress” on reducing plastic waste, after being named the world’s top plastic polluters
What will 2021 bring in the world of Conservation?
If it did nothing else, the emergence of Covid-19 a year ago underscored for all of us the importance of anticipating and preparing for things that might…
Can countries end overfishing and plastic pollution in just 10 years?
Pollution, plastics and unsustainable seafood may look like isolated problems, but they influence each other. As nutrients run off farmland…
4 vital steps to protect the world’s remaining rainforests
Rainforests are disappearing at alarming rates. Since the 1960s, nearly half of the world’s rainforests have been destroyed. What once…
Hawaii Fishing Fleet Is Changing Gear To Help Protect Endangered Sharks
The Hawaii Longline Association announced this week it’s making key changes to its fleet’s fishing equipment to help the imperiled oceanic whitetip.
US plans to protect thousands of miles of coral reefs in Pacific and Caribbean
In a long-awaited move from the Trump administration, the US has proposed critical habitat protections for twelve coral species in the Caribbean…
UNCCD 2021 Land for Life Award - Nominations open
The Land for Life Award is designed to reward impactful holistic approaches and practices that address the ecological and the social aspects of…