Vessel Day Scheme and Tuna Catch in the Pacific Island Region

<scp>COVID</scp>‐19 and <scp><i>Re</i>‐Storying</scp> Economic Development in Oceania

Metropolitan powers are concerned that China is seeking to influence Pacific Island countries and reshape Pacific Islands’ regional order in its favour. But there is a risk that the effectiveness of China’s efforts has been overinterpreted by metropolitan powers. In this article we analyse the effectiveness of one element of China’s activities: the deployment of narrative power. We do this by examining the reception and role of China’s strategic narratives in the Pacific Islands. We analyse how China’s strategic narratives have been interpreted, adopted, and/or instrumentalised by Pacific Island countries and leaders using case studies of three key regional states: Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Samoa. We conclude that while Fijian, Solomon Islands, and Samoan leaders have incorporated elements of China’s strategic narratives into their discourse, they have done so using their own interpretations and, at times, instrumentalised those narratives for their own purposes. We conclude that this suggests that narrative power is more limited than it is often assumed. However, we acknowledge that narrative power may have indirect effects, with China’s narratives in the Pacific Islands region, as well as their instrumental adoption by Pacific Island countries, motivating changes in the policies and narratives of metropolitan powers.

The Pacific Island countries are believed to have some of the lowest information and communication technology (ICT) penetration rates in the world in terms of Internet and mobile phone connectivity. With the global spread of ICT, ICT policy has been implemented at international, regional and national levels to increase ICT uptake and utilization, including in developing countries often as part of the work of development institutions. This thesis investigates the Pacific Island regional ICT policies created from the 1990s to 2011, exploring the terms and conditions of the policy processes and expressed perceptions of their failure. This thesis constructs a Critical Policy Practice Analysis approach to explore the context, practices and outputs of ICT policy, focusing on the regional policy practice which engages international and Pacific Island institutions and policymakers. This Pacific Island ICT policy practice is investigated to explore the system which is producing dissatisfaction with this policy and to recommend how this situation might be overcome. In this analysis, this thesis uses a theoretical framework employing a political economy perspective, along with critical discourse analysis techniques of Fairclough and Bourdieu’s notions of field and habitus to add insight into the sociology of policymaking, which finds multilateralism as a lens through which the context of ICT policy development in the Pacific Island region is best explored. This framework of theory is located in a Critical Realist epistemology, as established by Bhaskar. This research relates this western theory based approach to Pacific Island scholars’ work on political economy, international politics and regional self-determination. Shaped by these Pacific perspectives, this thesis prioritises and values ICT policy as a potential space for empowerment around regional and local Pacific purposes and intentions, exploring the policy processes in relation to this potential. This research uses two data collection techniques: archival research and ethnographic observant participation in regional policymaking processes. The later took place over 2010 and 2011, during the most recent phase of Pacific Island region ICT policymaking process. This observant participation included attendance at two Pacific regional ICT Ministers’ meetings, as well as at three other regional ICT policy related events. A key contribution of this thesis is the construction of the CPPA approach to policy analysis, using critical political economy and sociological notions of language, policy fields and the role of policymakers, combined with an emphasis on context, including local academic voices. Using this approach, this thesis contributes multifaceted insights into Pacific Island regional policy in the area of ICT towards improving the dissatisfaction of policymakers and outcomes of policy. The findings of this thesis show the Pacific Island regional ICT policy processes involve international and Pacific Island institutions and policymakers in a broad range of policy fields well outside official policy, perpetuating ongoing rounds of policy despite expressed perceptions of failure to achieve Pacific Island goals for ICT. A major finding of this research is that the failure to achieve these goals is related to the multilateral context of this policy process itself. The research finds that while framed as Pacific Island regional ICT policy, with Pacific Island ownership, the processes were largely driven and sustained by international organizations, and the failure to achieve the Pacific Island goals for the Policy is directly related to the dependency on International organizations to fund and facilitate the process and its outcomes. Related to this, the policy processes have instead successfully supported a range of developments related to ICT in the region, particularly market deregulation and access for international companies, which align with the interests and goals of the International organizations involved. This thesis recommends that any potential to improve this situation and empower a Pacific Island regional ICT policy which achieves goals set by the region for the region, lies with policymakers, both Pacific Island and international, through a broadening of their own horizons and awareness about the influences on and intentions of this process due to the direct relationship to international political and economic interests through international organizations engaged in and around the multilateral process. The imbalance in geopolitical power and realities of global ICT interests limit policymaker ability to change the processes and outcomes, therefore this research concludes that the dissatisfaction can most realistically be reduced by increasing understanding of the policy context, as explored in this research, to enable more informed policymaker action within the constraints of the context.

Reviewed by: Security and Development in the Pacific Islands: Social Resilience in Emerging States Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka Security and Development in the Pacific Islands: Social Resilience in Emerging States, edited by M Anne Brown. London: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007. ISBN cloth, 978-1-58826-505-0; paper, 978-1-58826-530-2; x + 347 pages, tables, figures, map, notes, references, index. Cloth, US$59.95; paper, US$24.50. Security and development are important issues in the contemporary Pacific Islands region. While these problems have long featured in discussions about the region, they have become more prominent in the past two decades, especially in light of the push for economic liberalization and the violent conflicts that have occurred in some Island countries and territories. The coups in Fiji, the violence associated with the demands for self-determination in New Caledonia and West Papua, the Bougainville crisis, the civil unrests in Solomon Islands, and the politically motivated riot in Tonga are some examples of violent conflicts in the region. Poor economic management and indigent social conditions are also matters of concern. Security and development in the region have also been influenced by global events and trends. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, for example, Pacific Island countries have become important in the war against international terrorism. Furthermore, socioeconomic developments have been influenced by the neoliberalism promoted by international financial and intergovernmental institutions. This book is, therefore, timely. It brings together an impressive group of authors who, in fourteen chapters, [End Page 194] examine some of the major security and development issues in the region: natural resource development, ethno-nationalism, gender, decolonization, public sector reform, poor economic management, and international intervention. The book covers not only the independent Pacific Island countries, but also the nonindependent territories of New Caledonia and West Papua, for whom self-determination is the most important issue. The introduction provides general and useful insights into the security and development issues and the experiences of the Pacific Islands region. Editor M Anne Brown notes that development and security are inter-related and "cannot exist without each other" (1), and that development, while desirable, can generate conflicts. This is because development involves significant and sometimes rapid change that "creates new winners and losers, recasts the contexts in which communities give substance to their beliefs, and plays into dynamics of conflict already present, perhaps triggering latent violence" (1). She outlines the major conflicts in the region and notes that "many of these crises have roots in historical patterns of uneven development, disruption of land tenure, or conflict around highly destructive resource extraction" (8). Brown takes particular issue with the description of Pacific Island countries as "failing states," arguing that Pacific Islands are, rather, "emerging states." Furthermore, the region is relatively peaceful and its people quite resilient—different in many ways from parts of Africa and the Balkans. Brown says that the issues that underlie security in the region are economic pressures, land, self-determination, and gender inequality. The rest of the chapters examine specific country experiences. Marion Jacka locates Papua New Guinea's development experiences within global development discourses and trends. In recent years, neoliberalism and the push for structural reforms have been promoted as both the answers to and explanations for what is described as the "failure of development" in Papua New Guinea. These initiatives have, however, contributed to new challenges—hence the need for alternative perspectives for explaining Papua New Guinea's development "problems." Jacka says that not only internal factors but also historical and global factors (such as the country's colonial legacy, the imposition of Western values, and the demands and the requirements of international agencies and aid donors) must be considered. She argues that aid has produced "a mixed bag" of results. She also outlines lessons that can be drawn from community development initiatives, arguing that, in a situation where "the state has still to be built, support for such community rebuilding must logically provide the way forward. Rather than trying to engineer change, it is important to consider ways of facilitating the efforts being made by Papua New Guinean communities to tackle their issues at the local level" (59). Orovu Sepoe...

Poor municipal solid waste management is a major threat to sustainable development in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories, with potentially negative consequences on public health, environmental quality, water resources, fisheries, agriculture, tourism, trade and other areas of national development. Waste management in the Pacific Islands region is currently undergoing a transformation, which began in the early to mid 2000s with consistent support from several donors. Even with the progress being made through regional initiatives and national programs, solid and hazardous waste management remains an ongoing and escalating priority problem for the region. This chapter provides a regional overview of solid waste management in the Pacific Islands region.

By the middle of February 2021, the COVID-19 pandemicsCovid-19 are still ongoing. Globally, 110 million cases have been recorded. More than 2.4 million people have died from the disease caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus. Figures presented in this chapter are taken from the WHO database (WHO 2021), except those from Hawai’i (New York Times database 2021) and Easter Island (France24 2021). All currencies have been converted into USD using Oanda database (Oanda 2020) as of February 9, 2021. In many Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT), however, morbidityMorbidity and mortalityMortality have been low. Most PICs have no cases. Where cases exist, mortalityMortality has been low with a few exceptions. That being said, social and economic consequencesEconomic consequences are severe in all places. The chapter gives a brief reflection on historical experience with epidemics in the Pacific Island region. The remainder of the chapter looks at the epidemiologyEpidemiology of the COVID-19Covid-19 pandemicsPandemic, the “who, when, and where” of COVID-19 in the Pacific Islands, its associated risk factors, and possible ways to controlControl the pandemicsPandemic. Medical preparednessPreparedness of PICT health systemsHealth systems in PICTs, and their material and organizational constitution are covered as well as the support PICT received from outside to deal with the situation. The chapter also provides an account of social and economic impactsEconomic impacts of COVID-19Covid-19, including challenges to care for Pacific Islanders away from home. SomeFiji PICs (Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu) Solomon Islands had to deal with severe tropical cyclones just at the time when governments tried to implement measures against COVID-19Covid-19. To conclude, the chapter provides recommendations of how to strengthen PICT capabilities and capacities to improve preparednessPreparedness against similar medical treats in the future. In the chapter, FijiFiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) stand inPapua New Guinea (PNG) the center of analysis. Some other Pacific Islands and Territories were included, where reported cases emerged and/or where important situations arose. In a few instances, the chapter also looks at the situation Pacific Islanders faced outside their countries.

Recent developments in the seaweed aquaculture industries of Pacific islands are reviewed from the perspective of technical, production, geographic, marketing, species-diversification, socio-economic and institutional-support advances. Successful commercial aquaculture of seaweeds in the Pacific island region is presently based on two species, Kappaphycus alvarezii in Kiribati, Fiji and Solomon Islands, and Cladosiphon sp. in Tonga. It is possible that other candidate species could be considered for aquaculture for food (e.g. Caulerpa racemosa or Meristotheca procumbens) or extraction of agar (Gracilaria), although further research on the technical feasibility of aquaculture methods to produce sufficient tonnage, and particularly on their marketing, is needed. While the Pacific island region may be environmentally ideal for seaweed aquaculture, the limitations of distance from main centres and distance from markets, vulnerability to world price fluctuations, and socio-economic issues, make it unlikely that the Pacific Island region will ever rival the scale of Asian seaweed production. Regional seaweed farming can nevertheless make a useful contribution to supplement other sources of income, and can be an important economic boost for isolated outer islands where few alternative income-generating opportunities exist.

The most game changing event of the twenty-first century so far has been the unprecedented rise of China as world's second largest economy edging to surpass the United States—the largest economy of the world for last hundred plus years. Concurrently, China’s foreign policy has also undergone a drastic transformation. China has been developing a multifaceted relationship with countries of different regions and genres. China’s grand vision of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to connect it to Asia, Europe, Africa and their adjoining seas by constructing roadways, railways and ports, and Confucius Institutes. China has also become increasingly proactive in various multilateral organizations. One novel experiment in this has been China’s arrival in the Pacific Islands Region. For a long period of time, the region had been dominated by the United States and its allies—Australia and New Zealand in particular. The Pacific Islands, located in the Central and Southern Pacific Ocean, suffer from multiple challenges like remote locations, infrastructural deficit, and non-accessibility to the mainstream markets. Lately, their most crucial hurdle has been the climate change that entails rising sea levels and changing rainfall patterns which have come to be an existential threat for pacific islanders. They, however, also offer opportunities. Due to the abundant supply of natural resources like fish, minerals and natural gas and growing amount of sea trade they have acquired geo-strategic significance inviting the attention of major powers which China emerging as the new game-changer. The diplomatic relations between rising China and Pacific Islands Countries (PIC’s) goes back to 1970s and recent decades have witnessed a gradual increase in China’s trade and investment with these PIC’s. As a result, China today gives tough competition to region’s major partner nations. Australia has been especially anxious about China’s increasing trade and developmental assistance under BRI which has seen PIC’s constructing schools, hospitals, bridges, roads and stadiums with China’s investments. In addition to China’s competition to major partner nations of this region, China’s engagement with PIC has also been guided by its efforts to undercut PIC’s diplomatic support for Taiwan. Lately, China is also suspected of using its economic power to accomplish military interests as well. In this context, this chapter seeks to explore the discourse on China’s engagement in the Pacific islands region. It also elucidates how the ‘Taiwan factor’ has influenced China’s perspectives on this region. Lastly, it illustrates China’s use of economic diplomacy to achieve security interests where it examines Solomon Islands security agreement with China as a case study to extrapolate possible future trends.KeywordsPacific Islands CountriesTaiwanDiplomatic CompetitionSolomon Islands

Providing access to food in schools can serve as a platform for food system transformation, while simultaneously improving educational outcomes and livelihoods. Locally grown and procured food is a nutritious, healthy, and efficient way to provide schoolchildren with a daily meal while, at the same time, improving opportunities for smallholder farmers(1). While there is significant potential for school food provision activities to support healthy dietary behaviours in the Pacific Islands region, there is limited evidence of these types of activities(2), including scope and links to local food production in the region. Therefore, the aim of this scoping study was to understand the current state of school food activities (school feeding, gardening and other food provision activities) and any current, and potential links to local agriculture in the Pacific Islands. A regional mapping activity was undertaken, initially covering 22 Pacific Island countries. The mapping included two steps: 1) a desk based scoping review including peer-reviewed and grey literature (2007-2022) and 2) One-hour semi-structured online Zoom interviews with key country stakeholders. Twelve sources were identified, predominately grey literature (n = 9). Thirty interviews were completed with at least 1 key stakeholder from 15 countries. A variety of school food provision activities were identified, including school feeding programs (n = 16, of varying scale), programs covering both school feeding and school gardens (n = 2), school garden programs (n = 12), and other school food provision activities (n = 4, including taste/sensory education, food waste reduction, increasing canteen capacity for local foods, supply chain distribution between local agriculture and schools). Existing links to local agriculture varied for the different programs. Of the 16 school feeding programs, 8 had a requirement for the use of local produce (policy requirement n = 6, traditional requirement from leaders n = 2). Of the 12 school garden programs, 6 used local or traditional produce in the garden and 5 involved local farmers in varying capacities. Challenges to linking local agriculture into school food provision programs were reported for 17 activities and were context dependent. Common challenges included limited funding, inflation, Covid-19, inadequate produce supply for the scale of program, limited farmer capacity, limited institutional support for local produce, low produce storage life, climatic conditions and disasters, water security, delayed procurement process, and limited professional development and upskilling opportunities. Modernisation and colonisation of food systems resulting in a preference for hyperpalatable foods and challenges in incorporating local produce in a way that is accepted by students was also identified as a challenge. This evidence can be used to develop a pathway to piloting and implementing models of school food provision programs and promoting opportunities for shared learning and collaboration with key stakeholders across the Pacific Islands region.

Human resources for health (HRH) are a crucial component of a well-functioning health system. Problems in the global HRH supply and distribution are an obstacle to achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals and other health outcomes. The Pacific Island region, covering 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the South Pacific Ocean, is suffering a serious HRH crisis. Yet updated evidence and data are not available for the 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories. The objective of this study was thus to explore the current HRH situation in the Pacific Island region, focusing particularly on the issue of health workforce migration. HRH trends and gaps differ by country, with some showing increases in HRH density over the past 20 years whereas others have made negligible progress. Currently, three Pacific Island countries are facing critical HRH shortages, a worsening of the situation from 2006, when HRH issues were first brought to widespread global attention. In this region, skilled personnel migration is a major issue contributing to the limited availability of HRH. Political commitment from source and destination countries to strengthen HRH would be a key factor toward increasing efforts to train new health personnel and to implement effective retention strategies.

The school setting can provide an environment that supports healthy behaviours, including the provision of food. School food activities, that is, school feeding, are commonplace globally, but not well understood in the Pacific Islands region. The aim of this research is to explore learnings associated within existing school food programmes (SFP), and adoption resistors in those Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT) without SFP, with the intent of improving current and future SFP interventions. This observational cross-sectional study utilised four facilitated workshop sessions to explore SFP within an existing framework. Pacific Islands region. Fourteen participants representing the education and health sectors from eleven PICT, and two participants representing regional organisations. Most countries reported some form of related policy, but key critical constraints to the use of SFP included local food environments, strategic alignment to organisational priorities, advocacy and organisational leadership, and community and cultural connections and collaboration. There are opportunities for integration of SFP into existing frameworks (i.e. Health Promoting Schools), increased collaboration, greater professional development and awareness activities, improved monitoring and evaluation, improved awareness of SFP and promotion of healthy eating for the wider school community. Given the current health, social and economic challenges faced by countries and territories in the Pacific Islands region, SFP should be considered as an opportunity for food provision and associated nutrition education for students and their wider community. Further research is needed to understand the critical constraints of SFP in this region and how to support stakeholders to advocate for, develop and sustain SFP that are contextually and culturally appropriate.

Seasonal prediction provides critical information for the tropical Pacific region, where the economy and livelihood is highly dependent on climate variability. While the highest skills of dynamical prediction systems are usually found in the tropical Pacific, National Hydrological and Meteorological Services (NHMS) in the Pacific Islands Countries (PICs) do not take full advantage of such scientific achievements. The Republic of Korea-Pacific Islands Climate Prediction Services (ROK-PI CliPS) project aims to help PICs produce regionally tailored climate prediction information using a dynamical seasonal prediction system. The project is being jointly implemented by the APEC Climate Center (APCC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), in close collaboration with NHMSs in PICs. The regionally tailored, dynamical-statistical hybrid climate prediction system uses predictors that were identified through communications with NHMSs. The predictors were selected based on the empirical physical relationship of the local climate fluctuations, indicated by multi-institutional and multimodel ensembles. This hybrid system makes full use of dynamical seasonal predictions, which have not been commonly utilized in current operation in PICs. In accordance with system development, additional efforts have been made for PIC NHMSs to build capacity by increasing their knowledge and skill needed to develop such methodologies and systems. Nonetheless, the successive and strategic efforts to sustain and further improve climate predictions in the Pacific Islands region are required.

The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the US has caused much international consternation and anxiety. Reactions have been based on distrust and rejection of Trump’s political ideology, behavioural disposition and unpredictable policy positions. His campaign speeches were filled with provocative utterances which were racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-environment and self-centred. This article examines some possible impacts of Trump’s presidency on the Pacific island countries (PICs). The first issue refers to how Trump’s proposed isolationist and militarisation policies may affect regional geopolitics. The two policies tend to contradict each other because while isolationism means pulling back on US economic and strategic presence in the Pacific, a reversal of the pivot to Asia-Pacific policy, militarisation implies greater strategic reach, regionally and globally. What does this seemingly contradictory approach mean for the PICs? Second, the article looks at the impact of Trump’s climate change denial stance and the responses by PICs, given the fact that climate change is the single most significant foreign policy and development initiative of the PICs since their independence. The third issue deals with the potential impact of Trump’s restrictive migration policies on remittance flow to the PICs and how these affect the small island economies and well-being.

The enclosure and exclusion of Australia's ‘Pacific family’

A review of domestic animal diseases within the Pacific Islands region