The Duchess of Cambridge wearing her Cook Islands-made TAV dress at the Solomon Islands Governor-General’s house in Honiara and talking to a local woman. Image: Cook Islands News

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By the Pacific Media Centre news desk

Prime Minister Henry Puna has joined a public outcry over a controversial Cook Islands News cartoon mocking Solomon Islanders over their outrage over a dress protocol gaffe during the Duchess of Cambridge’s recent visit.

The Cook Islands leader branded the newspaper as “callous” and “devoid of community spirit”.

“I think it’s disgraceful,” he said shortly after returning from an overseas assignment to the United Nations where he had worked closely with Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo of the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands leaders. Read more »

Solomon Star founder and publisher Father John Lamani … favoured “homegrown” indigenous solutions. Photo: David Robie/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch in Honiara

The Pacific media family was today mourning the untimely passing away of one of the region’s successful indigenous media owners and life member of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), Father John Lamani of Solomon Islands.

Father Lamani, as he was affectionately known, died at his Skyline Ridge home in Honiara early this morning.

He was a pioneering Pacific Islands newspaper publisher – owning the Solomon Islands daily newspaper, the Solomon Star, PAOA FM radio and a printing business. Read more »

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jokes with Richard Benyon, UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries, at the Post-Forum Dialogue partners meeting on Rarotonga today. Image: Harvie Allison/Forum photographer

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – By Barry Coates on Rarotonga

The 43rd Pacific Islands Forum will be remembered for a major step forward in enabling women in the Pacific to live free from violence, discrimination and exclusion.

Long-term funding by the Australian government has been underpinned by a clear commitment from the heads of Pacific states to exercise their leadership in supporting gender equality.

This has the potential to be a huge step forward. Read more »

Pacific Islands Forum leaders meet at their retreat on Aitutaki atoll in the Cook Islands yesterday. Image: Cook Islands News

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Shaun Tandon, Neil Sands and Rachel Reeves on Rarotonga

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has vowed the United States will remain active in the South Pacific for the “long haul” but says the region is big enough for a rising China.

Clinton announced some $32 million in new aid projects as she became the first US secretary of state to take part in the traditional dialogue after the Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit, in a sign of renewed interest in the vast region.

Clinton’s visit came as many island states have been forging closer ties with China, which according to Australia’s Lowy Institute has pledged more than $600 million in low-interest and mostly strings-free loans to the South Pacific since 2005. Read more »

Cook Islanders welcome US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Rarotonga last night for the post-Forum dialogue today. Image: CSM

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Calida Smylie on Rarotonga

After much hype and speculation about whether US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would attend the Forum, she finally arrived in Rarotonga last night and was engaged in talks with the Pacific today.

Clinton flew in last night just before 11pm on her personal jet, one of four government C-32s, or a Boeing 757 fitted with auxiliary fuel tanks enabling it to fly about three hours longer than a regular 757.

She had breakfast today with other leaders at Trader Jack’s and afterwards attended the 24th post-forum dialogue partner’s meeting at the National Auditorium. Read more »

Pacific Scoop:
Report

Here is the 43rd Pacific Islands Forum Communiqué released at the end of the Leaders’ Retreat held in Aitutaki in the northern Cook Islands today:

FORUM COMMUNIQUÉ

The Forty-Third Pacific Islands Forum was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, from 28 to 30 August 2012 and was attended by Heads of State and Governments of Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. Read more »

Tawaa Tebunang, 46, at Tanikabaai Village, Tabontebike, Abaiang, in Kiribati. This land was inundated with water following a king tide in 2004. Many crops
were lost as a result including pawpaw, pandanus, banana, taro and figs amongst others; the soil is now too saline to grow food. Image: Rodney Dekker/Oxfam Australia

A NEW report on the way climate change funding is managed in the Pacific is calling for a coordinated and “inclusive” approach in fighting the multiple threats of climate change. A special Pacific Scoop backgrounder.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Cassandra Mason

Oxfam has proposed a strategic “big picture” approach to regional coordinated funding for Pacific climate change in a new report launched at the Pacific Islands Forum today with the issue being a “core item” on the agenda.

The report, Owning Adaptation in the Pacific: Strengthening governance of climate adaptation finance, gives a detailed look at how climate finance is being managed in Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu and makes recommendations for improvements – and also across the Pacific.

Funded by the British High Commission and launched by Oxfam and Richard Benyon, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries in DEFRA, the report acknowledges good work that is already being undertaken by governments, donors and civil society. Read more »

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton … leading largest delegation expected to hit Rarotonga. Image: CSMonitor

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Rachel Reeves in Rarotonga

Some of the world’s most prominent superpowers could converge on the little Pacific island of Rarotonga next week.

The Pacific Islands Forum could be the impetus for the United States, China and Russia to be in the same place at the same time.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is making global headlines this week, as the world wonders whether she is in fact hauling a cargo plane and a delegation of about 50 people to this South Pacific paradise. Read more »

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon waves to West Papuan protesters during last year’s Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland. Image: Karen Abplanalp / PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Henry Yamo

While “Large Ocean-Island States – the Pacific challenge” is the theme for next week’s 43nd Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands, the region’s two key powers, China and the United States, will be jockeying for supremacy.

When Prime Minister Henry Puna spoke on behalf of the Cook Islands while expressing gratitude as the host nation, he said the theme was coined with a focus on greater balance in the inter-relationship between the Pacific Islands nations and their large ocean realm.

“We should recognise our national and regional initiatives and act with pride and determination to secure the future we want for our people and region,” he said. Read more »

Shailendra Singh … points to lack of resources in newsrooms, lack of training for journalists and repressive environments as constraints for Pacific investigative journalism. Photo: USP

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Parijata Gurdayal in Suva

Research evaluating the general state of investigative journalism in seven Pacific Island countries proposes collaboration between media, civil society organisations, academia, and other social institutes to help strengthen capacity.

The author, Shailendra Singh, is former divisional head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific and ex-editor of The Review news magazine. He points out that lack of resources in newsrooms, lack of training for journalists and repressive environments pose major constraints for investigative journalism in the Pacific.

Singh, who has widely researched and written on corruption and governance issues in Fiji and the Pacific, is a current doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland. Read more »