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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  

Newsflash

Disaster risk management and damage assessment: a training session for those working in those areas in New Caledonia

A disaster risk management and damage assessment training session is being held this week at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Headquarters in Noumea.  It is being run by SPC trainers who are disaster risk specialists and by civil safety officials from Vanuatu and Fiji.

This training programme responds to a request from the New Caledonian Government and is comes within the framework of the French Government’s transfer of powers for the civil protection area to New Caledonian authorities. It is designed to build knowledge about risk prevention/mitigation and post-disaster response.  It also provides a window onto the disaster risk management models that exist in other countries in the region.

Funded by The Asia Foundation and USAID (with the support of the European Union for the session in New Caledonia), over the past 15 years this training course has been held in 14 Pacific countries and territories with more than 7000 participants. The region faces many hazards such as tropical cyclones, flooding and tsunamis, which are often devastating and costly for the Pacific islands, so this training course helps ensure improved disaster risk management.

For further information, please contact: Jean-Noël Royer, SPC Assistant Communications Officer: [email protected], tel. (direct line) 26 01 71: [email protected]