South Pacific Nations Research Articles

Sustainability-oriented technology adoption in Tonga: the impact of Government's incentives and internal factors

PurposeThe paper seeks to investigate the impacts of government's incentives and internal aspects (i.e. firms' ethics and firms' attitudes) on the implementation of sustainability-oriented technology (SOT) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Tonga. Those aspects are imperative to examine as numerous enterprises in developing nations possess insufficient assets that suspend applying innovations, specifically SOT incorporated with enterprise management. Thus, it is unavoidable for an intermediary to intervene in technology implementation, and developing the more effective implementation process is reckoned. Meanwhile, governments possess the assets and authority to motivate the SOT implementation extensively. Therefore, this paper assesses governmental factors as influencing drivers for realizing cost-effective and well-organized implementation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique to assess the information collected from 266 Tongan SMEs.FindingsThe outcomes indicate that government's policy and subsidies positively and significantly shape firms' ethics and attitudes regarding SOT implementation in Tonga.Research limitations/implicationsThe research analyzes the SOT implementation in a single country of Tonga; thus, the findings cannot be generalized to other emerging countries. Besides, this study selects SMEs as the sample; hence, it cannot be used to explain the behaviors of large companies.Originality/valueThe research is the first attempt to assess such impacts in the SMEs of a South Pacific nation.

РОЛЬ ФОРУМА ТИХООКЕАНСКИХ ОСТРОВОВ В БОЛЬШОЙ ИГРЕ МИРОВЫХ ДЕРЖАВ

This article examines the latest trends in the geopolitical situation in Oceania, a vast region where the fiercest competition for spheres of influence between the two titans, the United States and China, is currently taking place. Caught between two fires are 12 independent countries of Oceania, whose main regional interstate organization, the Pacific Islands Forum, has been subjected to foreign policy influence and now it is at risk of losing its fundamental role as a mechanism for bringing the South Pacific nations together, instead dividing them apart.

Strings attached: New Zealand’s climate aid in the South Pacific

Commentary: Throughout New Zealand’s history, the nation has maintained a close and privileged relationship with its island neighbours in the South Pacific, exemplified by centuries of trade and migration. As the effects of climate change encroach on South Pacific nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, New Zealand has implemented an aid programme via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in order to mitigate the effects of the changing climate on these countries economically and socially. However, research depicts an aid programme that may do harm alongside good—by prioritising climate change mitigation over more sustainable and community-centred strategies, New Zealand has created a situation in which these countries become dependent on our solutions to their problems. By researching the controversial record of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies funded by developed nations across the South Pacific, it becomes evident that New Zealand’s programme of climate aid in the region is neocolonial and unsustainable.

COVID‐19 and Food Security in Fiji: The Reinforcement of Subsistence Farming Practices in Rural and Urban Areas

<scp>COVID</scp>‐19 and Food Security in Fiji: The Reinforcement of Subsistence Farming Practices in Rural and Urban Areas

Wish You Were Here; A Short History of New Zealand Muslims and Integration

The recent court case of the Australian terrorist responsible for murdering 51 worshippers inside two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, has focused attention on this South Pacific nation. Nation-building, with its inherent practices of inclusion and exclusion into the social hierarchy, began here in the nineteenth century and accelerated throughout the twentieth century. History of Muslims in New Zealand, or New Zealand Islam, is a rich narrative illustrative of tendencies and biases that are both common to, as well as divergent from, patterns elsewhere in the English speaking world and Western societies in general. The integration of Muslim immigrants and refugees, and converts to Islam, into this complex social bricolage, however, has been challenging and at times convoluted. This essay will support us to consider why and how this is the case.

Future of Telecommunications is Open Source

Papers in the September 2020 issue of the Journal include the NBN Futures Forum on the social and economic benefits of broadband for digital inclusion and telehealth, the benefits of submarine cables to South Pacific nations, 5G transmission, the economics of over-the-top media, energy efficient wireless sensor networks and a celebration of the life of Liz Fell, journalist and Distinguished Fellow of the Telecommunications Society of Australia (now the Telecommunications Association). This year, open source has moved into focus with the telecommunications industry, with open core systems and open radio access networks for 5G taking centre stage. The Journal welcomes contributions on telecommunications and the digital economy.

How will increasing surgical volume affect mortality in the Pacific, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste?

Nine South Pacific nations, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste, have collaborated to report and publish their surgical metrics as recommended by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (LCoGS). Currently, these countries experience about 750 postoperative deaths per year, representing 1% of crude mortality in the region. Given that more than 400 000 annual procedures are needed in the nine nations to reach the LCoGS target of 5000/100 000, we aimed to calculate the potential contribution of perioperative mortality to national mortality where these procedures are performed. We utilized reported surgical metrics with current rates for surgical volume (SV) and perioperative mortality (POMR), as well as World Bank/WHO mortality statistics, to predict the likely impact of surgical scale-up to recommended targets by 2030. We tested correlations between SV and POMR in countries from our region using Pearson's r statistic. Funnel plots were used to evaluate the dataset for outliers. Surgical scale up would result in perioperative mortality contributing on average to 3.3% of all national crude mortality. This prediction assumes POMR stays the same, which is challenging to predict. In our region countries that achieved the LCoGS target (n = 5) had a lower POMR than countries that did not (n = 8). Surgical volumes in the South Pacific region must increase to meet the LCoGS target. Postoperative mortality as a proportion of all mortality may increase with the surgical scale up, however, the overall number of premature deaths is expected to reduce with better access to timely and safe surgical care.

Habitus of informality in small scale society agrifood chains – filling the knowledge gap using a socio-culturally focused value chain analysis tool

Western business management literature tells us that agrifood market systems are based on formalised (e.g. contract-based), economic and demand-driven supply and value chain approaches and that in developing economies, growth and development need to be similarly underpinned. Social sciences literature, on the other hand, recognises the existence of small-scale, informal, socio-culturally driven societies in which local livelihoods dominate. In these communities, economic growth and development are based on informality. In an era where agrifood market development in developing countries is a focus of international aid agencies, an understanding of the dichotomy of formality and informality in doing business in a socio-cultural context is critical for agencies to ensure their aid is effectively targeted.In this study, horticultural product chains in two South Pacific nations (Tonga and Solomon Islands) were studied to address the informal/formal dichotomy associated with ‘doing business’ in small-scale societies. A multi-methods approach was used, featuring a Hybrid Value Chain Framework (HVCF) to ‘capture’ socio-cultural norms that exist in these small-scale societies when dealing with food production and marketing. It was found that a strong and well developed ‘habitus of informality’ underpins sustainable economic systems in these communities. We conclude that being aware of, and understanding, the habitus of informality that exits in small-scale societies is essential in aid design to ensure the sustainability of aid projects past their completion.

Implementation of legal mechanisms of environmental protection by the South Pacific regional organizations

Objective of the article is to present a multitude of the South Pacific regional organizations, whose one of the most vital issue is to implement legal mechanisms of environmental protection. As the Pacific countries and territories are the most affected by the climate change effects, the goal of the politicians, diplomats, representatives of private sector and civil society organizations is to protect their islands. The islanders have been trying to achieve that through multilateral gathering, seminars and other so-called soft law instruments, but also, recently, through hard law mechanism, which can be de iure executed. There are however many obstacles which come from both structural and social barriers of the South Pacific nations. The methodology, which has been used to write this article, is the legal analysis of the documents made on both national and transnational lever, mainly by the regional intergovernmental organizations, as well as non-binding communiques after summits and further political declarations. The value author wishes to bring is first of all publicising the Pacific region, as it is not anymore isolated or dependent on the bigger global actors. Secondly, environmental protection made by the grass roots initiatives, being de facto the regional organizations, can shed new light on this matter. Conclusion shall, nonetheless, present still a long way before the South Pacific microstates on their way to achieving both better regional cooperation, as well as mechanisms of more effective implementation of the regional norms.

Underbanked and Foreign Reserve Deficient: Is Cryptocurrency the Strategic Panacea for Small South Pacific Nations?

Underbanked and Foreign Reserve Deficient: Is Cryptocurrency the Strategic Panacea for Small South Pacific Nations?

The sword of Damocles in the South Pacific: Two media regulatory case studies

Constitutional guarantees of free speech and media freedom are well established 'on paper' in most South Pacific nations. How these gurantees are interpreted is constantly a source of tension between policitans, media practicioners and constitutional advocates. Recent attempts by two countries in the region, Fiji and Tonga, to introduce draconian legislation have partially successful, provoking international condemnation. In Feburary 2003, a series of five bans on the Auckland-published Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper led to conflict between the island kingdom's Supreme Court and the Privy Council. This eventually provoked controversial consitutional changes that were adopted on October 16 in spite of unprecedented protests. These changes, in the form of the Media Operators Act 2003, Newspaper Act 2003, and Act of Constitution of Tonga (Amendment) Act 2003, are expected to effectively ban the paper for good and, according to some legal analysts, may end the rule of law. In Fiji a draft Media Council of Fiji Bill was made public in May 2003 and submissions were invited. However, the proposed law stirred a strong reaction from the media and civil society groups as being 'unconstitutional'. This article examines and analyses the debate over self-regulation and public accountability of the media versus state control in the South Pacific.

Cinematic diplomacy and the exotic other in the film Tanna: implications for bilateral relations and tourism

The term the exotic other is invoked in this paper via the 2016 film, Tanna (Bentley Dean and Martin Butler). Set in the South Pacific nation Vanuatu, Tanna is an emblematic rendering of the exotic other through ethnography-inspired film. Film and narrative analysis is a fundamental method used to scrutinise and ponder the discernible and latent discourses evident and this is leveraged through the theoretical framework of cultural diplomacy. Cultural diplomacy has its genesis in its utility as a tool for foreign policy and the promotion of a nation's strategic interests abroad. Cinematic diplomacy underlines the link between film and the representations of people and place and can be considered a subset of cultural diplomacy in that it mobilises and delivers film for diplomatic and bilateral relationship-building purposes. Tanna raises multiple issues including ascertaining the extent to whether essentialising the other 'glamorises primitivity' and if so, what mitigates against this.

Cinematic diplomacy and the exotic other in the film Tanna: implications for bilateral relations and tourism

The term the exotic other is invoked in this paper via the 2016 film, Tanna (Bentley Dean and Martin Butler). Set in the South Pacific nation Vanuatu, Tanna is an emblematic rendering of the exotic other through ethnography-inspired film. Film and narrative analysis is a fundamental method used to scrutinise and ponder the discernible and latent discourses evident and this is leveraged through the theoretical framework of cultural diplomacy. Cultural diplomacy has its genesis in its utility as a tool for foreign policy and the promotion of a nation's strategic interests abroad. Cinematic diplomacy underlines the link between film and the representations of people and place and can be considered a subset of cultural diplomacy in that it mobilises and delivers film for diplomatic and bilateral relationship-building purposes. Tanna raises multiple issues including ascertaining the extent to whether essentialising the other 'glamorises primitivity' and if so, what mitigates against this.

The Challenges of Regulating Diffuse Agricultural Pollution to Improve Water Quality

Worldwide, the cumulative effects of diffuse pollution arising from a range of human activities are diminishing the quality and ecosystem capacity of lakes, rivers, estuaries, and oceans. Devising effective ways to regulate the causes and effects of diffuse pollution is a fraught legal, political, policy, and management challenge given the difficulties in identifying and measuring who is responsible for what, where, and when. In 2011, under its Resource Management Act, 1991, the South Pacific nation of New Zealand introduced national policy to arrest diffuse pollution with a requirement for local government to institute enforceable water quality and quantity limits on all freshwater bodies. The blueprint for these national freshwater policy reforms comes from its South Island region of Canterbury. Canterbury's regional council has adopted a catchment load approach whereby an overarching limit on nutrient losses from agricultural land is calculated and linked to land use rules to control property-scale agricultural activities. With a focus on the Canterbury region, this case study examines two approaches to establishing a catchment load for diffuse nutrient pollution to link to legal provisions in its regional plan. One is based on a river's nutrient concentrations and the other relies on predictive modelling. The case study opens important questions about measuring and regulating diffuse pollution and the difficulties faced by policy-makers and regulators in linking numbers to legally binding compliance and enforcement mechanisms, e.g. how to account for lag effects when establishing ‘in-stream’ limits and how to address changes in software when relying on ‘modelled’ limits?

To Leave or Not to Leave? Climate Change, Exit, and Voice on a Pacific Island

Observers predict that climate change will lead to massive migrations. Yet, most of the empirical micro- and macro-research on the link between climate change and migration fails to find much evidence of this migration happening. We focus on Tuvalu, a small South Pacific atoll nation that can serve as the canary in the mine for climate change research. If migration driven by climate change is not happening, Tuvalu may explain why. One plausible reason is the desire by Tuvaluans to Voice. ‘Voicing’, a concept we borrow from Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, is the advocacy of expressing wish for change. We argue that Tuvaluans have decided that their preferred policy is to stay and Voice. This present choice to Voice may explain why the evidence on climate-induced migration is so fragile. Tuvalu may be using Voice to attempt to avert dire outcomes, or to strengthen its bargaining position for the discussions about compensation. The risk may be that the equilibrium choice between Voice and Exit is unstable and that the transition from one strategy to the other may be abrupt—in response to a catastrophic disaster. Advance planning and funding for climate-induced migration are therefore necessary through the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.

A Critical Analysis of Tax Avoidance Schemes in Australia

Taxation, as defined for the purposes of this paper, is - the compulsory acquisition of goods and services, usually in the form of cash, by a government, from its people, for no return. It differs primarily from a gift in that it is taken by way of compulsion rather than being given voluntarily. There is an expectation on the behalf of taxpayers that the government will provide security and social order as well as social, infrastructure and welfare services such as education, health and amenities. Governments, faced by the eternal economic problem of boundless wants and limited resources often fail to deliver to the satisfaction of all. By its very nature therefore, a natural human aversion is created to the payment of taxes. In modern democracies, which rely on the goodwill of the populace to retain office, the matter of government revenue is a heavily debated political issue. The emotional nature of the social issue often far outweighs the logical economic issue of government responsibility for the fair and equitable distribution of wants and needs of society. In modern capitalist society there remains a need for government intervention in the economy to ensure the populace have a fair distribution of wealth and that the economy is serviced by the infrastructure essential to maintain and service the needs of industry and commerce to conduct industry and professions. Since the times of the Punic Wars when the site of Hannibal’s camp was auctioned in Rome, confidence tricksters have created fanciful schemes to encourage the unwary or the naive into giving them large sums of money or goods for worthless or non-existent goods or services. No scheme works with greater efficiency than tax avoidance. Entrepreneurs and confidence tricksters have exploited taxpayer’s natural aversion to paying income tax to promote schemes to divert monies from taxation into projects which substitute payments from taxation revenue to their own projects. Australian commercial ventures and taxation legislation are influenced by the nation’s position as a sophisticated Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (‘OECD’) nation centred among the developing and third world nations of South East Asia and the South Pacific. Schemes range from genuine attempts to promote and provide incentive to introduce innovations to commerce and industry which are encouraged by the government through taxation incentives such as Part 10BA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) and afforestation project incentives, to outright frauds such as the sale of contracts and investments which are nominal or totally non-existent. This paper examines the impact of tax incentives in the encouragement of tax avoidance and the international responses to Australia’s sophisticated OECD taxation environment by it’s near neighbours. South Pacific Nations such as Vanuatu and the Cook Islands openly promote of their ‘tax haven’ status and encourage Australians to use their blatantly open tax avoidance legislation to bolster their own flagging economies at the expense of Australian taxation revenue. Anti-Tax Avoidance legislation such as Part IVA of the ITAA is proving ineffective as the government finds itself losing outright control in the political arena. Reliance on coalitions and the support of minority parties in Parliament has resulted in a series of legislative compromises which is placing Australian taxation systems in real jeopardy. Poor government decisions over many generations have produced a social and political climate which has eroded taxpayer confidence in government and Australian politicians. The modern Australian taxpayer now feels he or she is not getting value for money and is more willing than ever to avoid taxation liabilities. Taxpayers, as demonstrated by the proliferation of public scandals in recent times, are all too willing to join taxation beneficial schemes and projects that are nothing more than fraudulent shams. This paper seeks an answer to effective and efficient taxation revenue systems while encouraging industry and controlling the ever-present trickster, who is all too able to prey on the unknowing, unwary or equally devious taxpayer. Australia must recognise not only its political and social position but also its geographical position in determining its taxation policy for the future.

Dry Matter Accumulation, Nutrient Uptake and Nutrient Use Efficiency of Two Improved Cultivars of Taro (Colocasia esculenta) under Screen House Conditions in Samoa

Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is a staple crop of many of the South Pacific nations with an ever increasing export demand. In recent years, yields of taro have in creased dramatically through breeding and selection. However, selections of improved lines are often entirely based on final yield. There are many physiological pathways by which increased potential yield may be achieved. Factors such as the accumulation of dry matter and nutrient use efficiency, merit investigation. Two improved (blight resistant) taro cultivars were planted and harvested for biomass measurements on a monthly basis for a total of eight months (30-240 days after planting) through destructive sampling. At each harvest, plants were separated into various plant parts and their dry matter accumulation and nutrient content were determined. Comparatively, cultivar Samoa 2 showed significantly higher uptake of N (25%), P (37.5%), K (33%), Mg (36.4%), Mn (22.7%) and Zn (48.3%) than cultivar Samoa 1. Even though maximum levels of total plant uptake of nutrients by the two cultivars did not differ between the cultivars, cultivar Samoa 1 plants absorbed 17% less N,26% less P and 20% less K than those of cultivar Samoa 2 with the uptake uniformly distributed over the entire life cycle of the crop. Although cultivar Samoa 2 resulted in higher total plant (19.6%) and corm dry matter (10.4%) productions, cultivar Samoa 1 had a higher nutrient use efficiency, (kg of edible dry matter produced per kg of nutrient taken up), for N, P, K, Mg, Mn and Cu over cultivar Samoa 2. However, for Ca, Fe and Zn. Cultivar Samoa 2 had a higher nutrient use efficiency over cultivar Samoa 1. Based on nutrient use efficiency of the cultivars, Samoa 1 is recommended for marginal to rich soils while Samoa 2 for good to rich soils.

Saving rainforests in the South Pacific: challenges in ex situ conservation

Rainforests in the South Pacific hold a considerable amount of plant diversity, with rates of species endemism &gt;80% in some countries. This diversity is rapidly disappearing under pressure from logging, clearing for agriculture or mining, introduced pests and diseases and other anthropogenic sources. Ex situ conservation techniques offer a means to limit the loss of plant diversity. Seed banking is considered the most efficient and cost effective of these techniques but is applicable only to seed capable of tolerating desiccation and cold storage. Data on the degree of tolerance of these conditions was lacking for more than half of the 1503 South Pacific rainforest genera examined for this review. Of the 710 genera for which data were available, the storage behaviour of 324 was based on an assessment of only one or two species, although 76% of those genera contained at least 10 species. Many of the unstudied or poorly studied genera are shared across several South Pacific nations, providing an excellent opportunity for collaboration on future ex situ research and conservation. Of the 386 genera for which three or more species have been studied, 343 have a very high proportion of species (&gt;95% of those tested) that are suitable for seed banking. Seed banking could therefore provide a suitable means for preserving a large proportion of the rainforest flora before it becomes extinct in the wild. Alternatives for preserving species that are not suitable for seed banking are also discussed.

‘Always take the weather with you’ – Aotearoa New Zealand social work in a dynamic global society

Social work in Aotearoa New Zealand and in the international community has weathered many storms over the years. The forecast is for further challenges ahead as the world continues to grapple with economic uncertainties, changing political forces and environments. While in the South Pacific, indigenous and local models of practice are being recognised, developed and refined, social work is also shaped by the global context of our profession. This article reviews the history of the 2000 International Definition of Social Work (International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), 2000) and explores the increasing diversity of voices behind the proposed new definition to be presented forratification at the Joint World Conference on Social Work, Education and Social Development in July 2014. The influence that social workers from our small South Pacific nation are having on the future of global social work is then explored from the perspectives of an emerging social work student and one who has been active in the profession for over three decades.

Effects of farmer social status and plant biocultural value on seed circulation networks in Vanuatu

Thomas, M., and S. Caillon. 2016. Effects of farmer social status and plant biocultural value on seed circulation networks in Vanuatu. Ecology and Society 21(2):13.http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08378-210213