There is Nothing ‘Neo’ about the Colonialization of West Papua

UN Chief’s Call to ‘Save the Pacific to Save the World’

.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was vital “to save the Pacific to save the world” as he wrapped up his brief South Pacific tour in Vanuatu on Saturday.

Guterres has spent the past week in the region pushing for urgent action ahead of a U.N. summit in September billed as a last chance to prevent irreversible climate change.

According to the U.N., Vanuatu is the world’s most at-risk country from natural hazards, but Guterres said it was also “leading the way” with is resilience.

At a joint press conference with Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, Guterres praised the way the country had bounced back from the catastrophic Cyclone Pam which lashed the archipelago in 2015.

It claimed at least 15 lives, flattened villages and impacted nearly half the 300,000 population.

“It is clear that the Pacific is on the frontline of climate change even though they don’t contribute to climate change,” Guterres told AFP, referring to low-lying Pacific islands which are threatened by rising sea levels.

“So the Pacific has the moral authority to offer a lesson for the rest of the world. We absolutely need to save the Pacific to save the world.”

What’s Next

The U.N. target is to limit rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial revolution levels and Guterres urged governments “to understand that we need transformative measures, in industry, in agriculture and in relation to the oceans.”

“I believe it is time to recognise that we need to shift taxation away from people to carbon and pollution instead,” he said.

“We need to stop subsidies for fossil fuels. It doesn’t make any sense that taxpayers’ money is contributing to increased storms, the spread of drought, glaciers melting, corals bleaching and putting these islands in danger.”

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More on the Subject

On Saturday, The Guardian has become the first outlet to change the language it uses to cover climate change.

“Instead of ‘climate change’ the preferred terms are ‘climate emergency, crisis or breakdown’ and ‘global heating’ is favoured over ‘global warming,’ although the original terms are not banned,” Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s environment editor wrote.

https://theglobepost.com/2019/04/10/food-climate-change-solution/

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Pacific Forum calls for action against climate change

With the United Nations Climate Action Summit slated for September, leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum issued a joint statement asking UN Secretary-General António Guterres to deliver their message to the world.

Source: https://pacificnewscenter.com/

The Pacific Islands Forum is a group of 18 independent states and self-governing territories who are vulnerable to rising sea levels, displacement, and other impacts of climate change.

Forum leaders recently had a high-level political dialogue with the UN Secretary General in Suva, Fiji on May 15.

In the collective statement, the  presidents representing the Pacific Island nations said, “Climate change is the single greatest threat to our Blue Pacific region. All countries, with no caveats, must agree to take decisive and transformative action to reduce global emissions, and ensure at scale mitigation and adaption support for those countries that need it.”

“If we do not, we will lose. We will lose our homes, our ways of life, our well-being and our livelihoods. We know this because we are experiencing loss already.”

The members of the forum are: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Here’s the complete statement from the Pacific Forum:

Our Message

Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum warmly welcome the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, to our Blue Pacific region – to witness the everyday reality of climate change and drive momentum in the lead up to his Climate Action Summit in September.

As we approach the 25th iteration of the Conference of the Parties, it is difficult to find new words, new anecdotes, new experiences to press our Blue Pacific message – but our commitment to multilateralism is unwavering, as is our commitment to continue the fight for a safer climate for a safer world.

At the Climate Action Summit, platitudes and repackaged commitments cannot be the substance of our deliberations. We need transformational change at scale, and courageous leaders prepared to deliver on it.

Leaders of the Pacific commit to doing all we can to make the Climate Action Summit a global turning point for ambitious climate change action.

We ask the United Nations Secretary-General to share our message with the world:

The Blue Pacific – our great ocean continent, our thousands of islands, our strong and resilient people – is running out of time.

We need to act now. Our survival, and that of this great Blue Pacific continent depend on it.

Climate change is the single greatest threat to our Blue Pacific region.

All countries, with no caveats, must agree to take decisive and transformative action to reduce global emissions, and ensure at scale mitigation and adaption support for those countries that need it.

If we do not, we will lose. We will lose our homes, our ways of life, our well-being and our livelihoods. We know this because we are experiencing loss already.

We have talked and debated about the science for years. Now we find there is no doubt. We are facing an unprecedented global catastrophe for our beautiful Blue Planet.

We must change this course. Limiting warming to below 1.5°C remains feasible and the only viable path. We urge all parties, at all levels, to act now. Our actions must be swift and they must be ambitious.

As one Blue Pacific, we are – and will continue – to take decisive action.

We enacted the Boe Declaration to put climate change at the forefront of our collective security action. We have driven global advocacy on climate change and set ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions. We have taken a world-leading integrated approach to tackling climate change and disaster risks through our Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific.

After meeting today, we will return to our island homes. Some of us will find our villages inundated by waves and our homes and public infrastructure wrecked by cyclones. Our coral reefs are dying, our food is disappearing, and we fear for the safety of our loved ones, who are being injured and even killed by some of the most ferocious of cyclones and other extreme weather events ever witnessed in our region.

The multilateral concurrence of targets and commitments is not enough. Multilateralism must be effective, and we must do better at orientating our collective efforts towards action at all levels – international, regional, national and local.

Let us together seize the opportunity of the UNSG’s Climate Action Summit to make the changes we need to reverse climate change.

To the major polluters – our today in the Pacific is undoubtedly your tomorrow.

Sea level rise in Tuvalu is sea level rise in New York, though one might go under before the other.

Climate change impacts will undermine – and potentially reverse – economic development, create instability and conflict, and threaten lives all over the globe. No one country or individual will be spared.

We urge all world leaders to listen and to act.

Act for all of us.

Act for our children and their children.

Act for our future.

Let us come together to save our Blue Planet.

This must be our legacy.

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UN chief’s call to ‘save the Pacific to save the world’

Port Vila (Vanuatu) (AFP)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was vital “to save the Pacific to save the world” as he wrapped up his brief South Pacific tour in Vanuatu on Saturday.

Guterres has spent the past week in the region pushing for urgent action ahead of a UN summit in September billed as a last chance to prevent irreversible climate change.

According to the UN, Vanuatu is the world’s most at-risk country from natural hazards, but Guterres said it was also “leading the way” with is resilience.

At a joint press conference with Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Charlot Salwai, Guterres praised the way the country had bounced back from the catastrophic Cyclone Pam which lashed the archipelago in 2015.

It claimed at least 15 lives, flattened villages and impacted nearly half the 300,000 population.

“It is clear that the Pacific is on the frontline of climate change even though they don’t contribute to climate change,” Guterres told AFP, referring to low-lying Pacific islands which are threatened by rising sea levels.

“So the Pacific has the moral authority to offer a lesson for the rest of the world. We absolutely need to save the Pacific to save the world.”

The UN target is to limit rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial revolution levels and Guterres urged governments “to understand that we need transformative measures, in industry, in agriculture and in relation to the oceans”.

“I believe it is time to recognise that we need to shift taxation away from people to carbon and pollution instead,” he said.

“We need to stop subsidies for fossil fuels. It doesn’t make any sense that taxpayers’ money is contributing to increased storms, the spread of drought, glaciers melting, corals bleaching and putting these islands in danger.”

? 2019 AFP

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via IFTTT May 18, 2019 at 08:55PM

Residents, Business Houses and Diplomatic Corps Assured PNG Capital Covered CCTV

MEDIA RELEASE
FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2019

PORT MORESBY: City dwellers, diplomatic corps and business houses have been assured the city is already covered by closed-circuit television (CCTV) which can improve safety and security to higher standards and reduce crimes by 80 percent.

National Capital District Governor, Powes Parkop confidently gave the assurance after being briefed about the capacity of the Royal PNG Constabulary-owned CCTV Control Centre at the Oakley Haus in Hohola, one of the legacies of APEC Leaders’ Summit.

“Our city is already covered by CCTV. It is almost 100 percent. It can go very local and specific. It can get images of individuals. This setup cost us K42 million,” he told reporters after the briefing with the police on Friday, May 24, 2019.

He said the long range cameras can track down activities at roundabouts and even markets, citing petty crime hotspots like Badili, 2-Mile, Koki, Gordons and others.

Governor Parkop said the Commission’s areas of concern are betelnut vending and spittle, and graffiti amongst others, whilst the Central and Metropolitan Command’s are bigger crimes.

He is warning parents to take responsibility over their children who are engaged in vandalising private and public properties with spray paints as they will be caught using the CCTV capabilities.

Parkop also extended the warning to street and betelnut vendors and chewers, saying once the magisterial stream and police prosecution unit are dedicated to the Commission, they will be prosecuted.

He urged them to change their behaviour to be on the safe side.

He thanked the APEC Secretariat for handing over the facility to the police so that NCDC reservists can work in collaboration with them to clamp down criminals and illegal vendors.

Parkop continued that it worked well for many cities around the world and that he is reaffirmed that everything done in the city will be under the watch of CCTV.

Despite the challenges, he further stated that the facility is being worked on to full capacity.

He also thanked the Metropolitan Superintendent, Perou N’Dranou and the Police Commissioner Gary Baki for working with the Commission now after four years of futile attempts.

Mr N’Dranou said now that they have the system in place, they need to work together.

“Our communication operation from Boroko was here one week. The general public can call us now on 3249900 to report crimes or any other offences committed in the city. I am grateful our governor and the Commission are working with us to address security and safety in the city.”

APPROVED FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

……………………………………………………..
HON. POWES PARKOP, LLB, LLM, MP
Governor for NCD

Picture caption: (Left to Right) Executives of Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry Peter Goodwin and Rio Fiocco, Metropolitan Superintendent Perou N’Dranou, Governor Parkop and City Manager Bernard Kipit inside the CCTV control centre at Hohola.

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Long Woes for Fresh Water to End for Motu-Koitabu Villages

Urban Planning Holds Key for Proper Land Use and City Development

By WANPIS AKO, FB

The National Capital District is fast running out of state lease land as the demand for its availability by various interest groups for development is very high.

Rural-urban migrants, who cannot afford to secure land tenure, squat on idle, undeveloped state lease land or customary land with unapproved and improper structures.

Most of their developments do not conform to the city’s urban planning; thus, defeating the principles of proper urban land-use which promotes desirable social and environmental outcomes for the city.

One fine example is the structural developments taking place at Taurama Valley and Tuna Bay.

Speaking at the Inaugural Lands Summit this month in Port Moresby, National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop highlighted how challenging it is for the municipal authority to provide electricity, telephone lines, proper access roads and drainages, sewerage and water supply in these areas.

Governor Parkop emphasised the importance of urban planning to address this issue and the rise in rural migration.

He used the occasion to flag the need for the National Government to take a lead role in establishing policies, administrative and legislative frameworks to address the issues.

“A proactive government intervention in policy, law, finance, management and implementation is needed for Port Moresby’s increasing population to achieve affordable housing and curb unplanned settlements,” he said.

Governor Parkop told the summit that the commission and his office were working on the Master Plan to curb the increasing urbanisation-related issues.

Urban planning holds the key to provide a conducive environment for the various interest groups to pursue their interests harmoniously and in an orderly manner.

It sees the city through the bird’s-eye view. It is a vehicle through which the city is driven.

Urbanisation, he said, is a global phenomenon, adding United Nations reports suggest the world has been urbanised by 60 percent.

Governor Parkop wants to see a one-stop shop for lands and physical planning board who can administer and manage land use to achieve the outcomes that he envisages for the city.

He admitted that urbanisation is leaving many people being deprived of basic utility services and that he has been working tirelessly to at least address it slowly but surely.

In partnership with the UN-Habitat, he started rolling out the Settlement to Suburb Upgrade project since last year to help improve the overall living conditions of the people and the city’s landscape.

The spill-over effects of this project will address most of the city’s socio-economic woes.

Almost half of the city is living in informal settlements without or with less electricity, proper sanitation, treated water supply or security over land tenure.

As such, malaria, tuberculosis and water-borne diseases are on the rise in the settlements because they don’t meet health, development or safety standards.

Through the project, Governor Parkop reaffirms his commitment to upgrading the settlements into suburbs and undertake affordable housing initiatives to benefit low income households living and working in the city.

“Four out of five citizens in our city live in hazardous environments. This has to change for the good of our city and our people.”

He has committed to create a “one-stop-shop” for private sector companies which are ready to build affordable housing, and to work with the finance institutions and the communities to tailor affordable mortgage products for low income people.

He already started the process by establishing dialogues with the customary landowners, real estate companies and donor agencies for collaboration to share resources and his vision.

While the process is complicated by land titles and the lack of government intervention in terms of finance, laws and policy, the commission has already surveyed some 18 thousand households to better understand their needs, and convened a high level task force to advance the affordable housing initiative and demonstrate results by the end of 2019.

“I have a goal to transform Port Moresby into a 21st Century city. “I know we can get there if everyone leans on. So much of the city is joining me in walking and becoming healthy: now we need to work together to rid our city of the pollution and crime that is holding us back.”

The project and the master plan will not only solve many of the urbanisation issues in the city but also expand the availability of state lease land for the city’s growth.

ENDS/-

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via IFTTT May 20, 2019 at 10:05AM

Waffling on West Papua

Sekjen PBB kunjungi Vanuatu