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Kiribati receives phosphate report on Banaba Atoll

Thursday, 10 March 2011 13:58 administrator
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Ten years of research has culminated in the Banaban Report, a detailed study of phosphate mining on the Kiribati atoll island of Banaba (Ocean Island).The report, produced by SOPAC and commissioned by the Kiribati government, was presented to its President Anote Tong in a special ceremony in Suva recently. SOPAC is a division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

In presenting the report, SOPAC’s Director, Dr. Russell Howorth said that the contents were a milestone of achievement. “The challenges of sustaining such work over the long period of time is an endorsement of both Kiribati and SOPAC’s partnership commitment to the project,” said Dr. Howorth.

Joining Dr. Howorth at the presentation was SPC’s Deputy Director General, Mrs. Fekita ‘Utoikamanu, who said that SPC would investigate the use of its wider resources to further develop the resources on Banaba Island as an extension of the report.

President Tong accepted the report on behalf of the Kiribati government and thanked SOPAC for all the support it has given “to his country over the years.”

Caption: Kiribati President Anote Tong (left) receives the Banaban Report from SOPAC Director Dr. Russell Howorth (right), while SPC Deputy Director General (centre)  Mrs. Fekita ‘Utoikamanu looks on.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 16:51
 

New service to improve mapping

Thursday, 10 March 2011 13:54 administrator
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SOPAC has introduced a navigational positioning service into the region that could make a major contribution in improving the safety of lakes, rivers and the ocean, according to Robert Smith, SOPAC’s Senior Advisor Marine Geophysics, SOPAC is a division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

Mr Smith said that the service is called MarineSTAR and utilizes a combination of more than 50 satellites, permanently located base stations and a small transmitter/receiver computer called a Rover, that when operated together, can ensure pinpoint accuracy of a location within 10 centimetres.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 16:53 Read more...
 

Snapshots #66, Disaster Reduction Programme, Feb 2011

Monday, 07 March 2011 10:46 administrator
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From The Managers Desk

Bula and welcome to the February edition of Snapshots. There’s quite a hive of activity within the Disaster Reduction Programme and we’re happy to be able to share with you some of the successes of our Pacific island countries in disaster risk management.

Many of the staff did not have a moment to waste this past month and a number have been travelling around the region addressing a country priorities. You’ll hear about some of them in this issue. We are going to press with this issue shortly following the major devastating earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand where a number of lives have unfortunately been lost. We remember the families of those who lost loved ones in our prayers and also our untiring colleagues in the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management, and all emergency workers that have converged on Christchurch to assist in the rescue and recovery effort.

We also extend our best wishes to colleagues in the Vanuatu NDMO and other agencies in Vanuatu who have had to deal with relief efforts linked to 2 recent cyclones. It has kept them busy but they’ve still had time to support the on-going effort on a second phase of implementation for their DRM NAP which is currently underway. You’ll read more about this later.

Read Issue Online |  Download Full Issue

Mosese Sikivou
Deputy Director,
Disaster Reduction Programme

Last Updated on Monday, 07 March 2011 10:51
 

Regional project to promote seabed mineral wealth

Tuesday, 22 February 2011 08:19 administrator
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A four-year regional Deep Sea Minerals (DSM) Project has been designed to address the policy and law requirements of Pacific Island Countries. This is in relation to the potential mineral wealth on the seabed within their respective country’s waters.

This project will make a major contribution towards the sustainable management of deep-sea mining in the Pacific Islands Region. Deep-sea mining is expected to commence in the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea within the next 3years that underscores the importance of having policy and law requirements in place.

Once implemented, they will provide effective environmental, financial and social management controls for the exploration and exploitation of deep-sea minerals. Mr. Akuila Tawake, Aggregate Geologist at SOPAC, a division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) who was recently appointed as Team Leader of the Deep Sea Mineral (DSM) Project said, that based on the results of previous studies, a number of these island countries have “promising” seabed mineral potential.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 16:54 Read more...
 

SPC and New Caledonia sign Pacific OCT Agreements

Friday, 18 February 2011 07:36 administrator
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Wednesday 16th February, 2011, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Nouméa, New Caledonia. The Government of New Caledonia and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community have signed three agreements today to fund interventions to reduce public health risks resulting from contaminated drinking water, inadequate sanitation and drought.

In welcoming this signature, SPC Deputy Director-General Richard Mann noted the ‘importance of these agreements to the ongoing development of the country’ and their focus on ‘addressing priorities set by New Caledonia.’

The agreements worth € 1.55 million in total will support New Caledonia in the areas of water safety planning, sanitation, and integrated water resource management. These initiatives fall under a larger regional project aimed at reducing disaster risk in Pacific Overseas Countries and Territories thereby benefiting New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and Pitcairn Islands.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 16:55 Read more...
 
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Page 57 of 74

Newsflash

Local pilots play an important role in the safe passage of container ships and other large vessels into and out of Pacific ports. Foreign shipmasters rely on pilots for their local knowledge of depths, currents, locations of wrecks, reefs, navigation aids, and other potential obstacles. And now, updated oceanographic studies of Suva Harbour’s sea floor and currents are being used to localise and improve a computer-simulated training for ships’ pilots in the Pacific region.

A recent collaboration between two divisions – the Economic Development Division (EDD) and the Applied Geoscience and Technology (SOPAC) Division – of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has produced the first simulation of a Pacific Island port.

According to SPC Shipping Advisor John Rounds, the computerised simulator is a critical training tool because it can test a pilot’s ship-handling competence under a variety of challenging wind and sea conditions without the expenditure and risk of practising on actual vessels. ‘It’s like a blown up computer game,’ he says.