SPC Geoscience Division

The Government of Papua New Guinea has confirmed that it intends to take up a 30% stake in the Solwara 1 project in the Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Nautilus Minerals will retain a 70% holding in a joint venture to be established with the PNG Government. In a letter to Nautilus, PNG Treasurer Peter O’Neill said the Ministerial Committee on Economic Sectors and the National Executive Council (NEC) had endorsed a recommendation that the State exercise its rights to 30% equity in the a joint venture.

Read Full Article (Source: Australian Journal of Mining)

Thursday 16 March 2011, Papeete, French Polynesia – French Polynesia will receive technical expertise and funding from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to mitigate the risks of natural disasters facing the country.

In a ceremony bringing together the Government of French Polynesia, the French High Commission, the European Union and SPC, President Gaston Tong Sang praised “the perfect symbiosis” between all parties. He remarked that “when we all pull in the same direction, we can achieve high results to the benefit of our people, particularly the most vulnerable.”

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.

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.

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Mosese Sikivou
Deputy Director,
Disaster Reduction Programme