SPC Geoscience Division

17 August 2016, Suva

The Pacific Community’s Emily Artack is representing Fiji in an international delegation participating in the prestigious International Visitors Leadership Programme on Law of the Sea and Maritime Security in the United States.

The three-week programme, which starts this week in Washington D.C., will include exploring how customary law applies in the South China Sea and the Pacific, assessing the roles of international stakeholders, observing interagency coordination and approaches to maritime security operations, and discussing multilateral policy and cooperative efforts in South China Sea territorial and maritime disputes.

The international programme will also take the 12-country delegation to Baltimore, New York, Florida, Seattle and Honolulu to meet with professional counterparts and explore various perspectives on the impact of the Law of the Sea Convention.

Koror, 5 August, 2016
Representatives from 16 States in Palau have completed an Introduction to Disaster Management (IDM) training course with Palau’s National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) to strengthen their capacity in disaster preparedness and response.

The three-day training (2-4 August), supported by the European Union funded Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific Project which is implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC), aimed to assist the participants who will be the focal points when their respective State Disaster Risk Management Plans will be reviewed in order to be consistent with the recently drafted National Disaster Risk Management Framework.

“The strengthening of the 16 States Disaster Risk Management Plans is the way forward to ensure that the States can better support the victims in their jurisdiction before the national support can be mobilised,” NEMO Coordinator, Priscilla Subris said.

The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Geoscience Division is being bestowed the Asia Geospatial Excellence Award for Disaster Management by Geosmart Asia, a leading conference and exhibition for the Asia-Pacific region showcasing the capabilities of geospatial technologies for national development and industry growth.

The award recognizes exemplary innovation and practices in geospatial information and technology in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The Pacific region is prone to the vagaries of nature and geospatial information has proven to play a significant role in preparedness and mitigating losses. In such a scenario, the vision and initiatives of SPC’s Geoscience Division to promote geospatial information for safeguarding the region are commendable,” Geosmart Asia Pacific Vice President, Prashant Joshi said, in announcing the accolade.

Port Vila, 22 June 2016

A reflection on what worked well and what could be improved upon in the Government of Vanuatu’s response to tropical cyclone Pam has been released today.

The Vanuatu Lessons Learned Report is a collation of recommendations and reflections from a range of local and international representatives to improve disaster response in the region as a result of the lessons from Cyclone Pam.  These recommendations were made during a workshop help in Port Vila in June 2015.

The Lessons Learned Workshop was funded by the European Union through its EUR 19.37 million Building Safety and Resilience (BSRP) in the Pacific project, implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC).