By Elilai Rengiil KOROR, Palau – With the High Seas Treaty now in force and its first global meeting expected by January 2027, Pacific leaders, conservation groups, and young ocean advocates gathered in Palau to discuss how the agreement can strengthen ocean management beyond national waters. BBNJ Panel, from left to right Marine Biologist and […]
Tag: Pacific Ocean
Posted inBillboard
CORAL REEFS AND A GLOBAL COMMITMENT: THE PACIFIC STANDS TOGETHER
Coral reefs are among the most precious resources in the Pacific. They feed families, protect coastlines from storms and waves, and hold cultural heritage. Yet these ecosystems face a growing threat from climate change and human pressures. Palau knows this intimately. Palau reefs are some of the most diverse and resilient in the world — […]
Posted inPacific News
Deep Sea Mining could leave countries liable: Civil Society warns Pacific Leaders
By Pita Ligaiula in Koror, Palau KOROR, 31 AUGUST 2026 (PACNEWS)—Pacific civil society organisations are maintaining their call for a ban on deep sea mining, warning Pacific leaders that seabed extraction could expose countries to major legal, financial and environmental liabilities. The warning was made during a civil society interview at the Pacific Media Workshop […]
Posted inOpinion
Tonga’s future is unfolding in Antarctic waters
By H.E. the Honorable Lord Fakafanua, Prime Minister of Tonga When Pacific leaders meet, we speak for nations whose futures are inseparable from the ocean. Yet some of the decisions affecting our people are made thousands of kilometres away, in negotiating rooms where Pacific countries are few and Large Ocean States are wholly absent. Tonga […]
Posted inPacific News
CNMI leader urges caution as U.S advances Pacific seabed mining plan
SAIPAN, 20 AUGUST 2026 (RNZ PACIFIC)—The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Governor David Apatang says protecting Pacific waters and island communities must come first as the United States moves ahead with plans that could eventually open a vast area of seabed around the Mariana Trench to mineral development. The U.S Marine Minerals Administration, […]
Posted inPacific News
Pacific Civil Society calls for Ocean protection, demilitarisation and regional control
SUVA, 20 AUGUST 2026 (PACNEWS)—Pacific civil society and regional leaders have called for stronger Pacific control over decisions affecting the ocean, rejecting deep-sea mining and warning against growing militarisation, economic exploitation and external pressures on the region. The call was made at the inaugural State of the Pacific Ocean Convening (SOTPOC) in Suva, where Pacific […]