Pacific Island Countries to develop Advanced Warning System for tuna migration

19/04/2023 0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.04.2023 (IPS): Climate change and warming ocean waters are causing tuna fisheries to migrate to international waters, away from a country’s jurisdiction, thereby putting the food and economic security of many Pacific Island countries and territories at risk. Now a Pacific Community (SPC) led regional initiative will help ensure that these countries are equipped to cope with climate change-induced tuna migration.

“All the climate change projections indicate that there will be a redistribution of tuna from the western and central Pacific to the more eastern and towards the polar regions, that is not Antarctica or the Arctic, but to regions outside of the equatorial zones where they primarily occur at the moment,” says SPC’s Principal Fisheries Scientist, Dr Simon Nicol.

“This has really important implications for the Pacific Island countries. Our projections suggest that about one-fifth or about USD 100 million of the income derived from the tuna industry directly is likely to be lost by 2050 by these countries,” Nicol tells IPS.

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Food early warning systems can stave off famines

30/11/2022 0 Comments read Climate Change, Health & Science

Conflicts, climate change flip food security. Photo Credit ©Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 30.11.2022 (SciDev.Net): As reliable sources of quality food diminish and record numbers of people are driven to hunger due to conflicts, climate change and economic downturns, feeding the global population of eight billion poses a major challenge that demands better food early warning information systems.

Conflict is the biggest driver of hunger, with 60 per cent of the world’s hungry living in areas affected by war and violence. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) simulations indicate that the war in Ukraine could result in 19 million more people facing chronic undernourishment globally in 2023 — if reduced food exports from the breadbaskets of the Russian Federation and Ukraine continue to impact world food availability.

Acute food insecurity is likely to get worse in many parts of the world during the October 2022 to January 2023 outlook period, requiring urgent targeted humanitarian action to save lives and livelihoods, according to the 2022 Hunger Hotspots report of FAO and World Food Programme (WFP).

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COVID-19 bans hit women’s access to water in Pacific Islands

04/05/2022 0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Health & Science

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.05.2022 (SciDev.Net): COVID-19-related restrictions have further exposed inequalities in people’s access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the Pacific Island countries, especially among women, experts say.

Women and girls have a larger role relative to men in WASH activities, including in agriculture and domestic labour. Ninety per cent of the total population in the Pacific have access to an improved drinking water source, but this rate is significantly lower in rural areas. Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu host 81 per cent of the population without access to improved sanitation, according to the CARE Rapid Gender Analysis COVID-19 Pacific Region 2020 report.

“Women and girls feel the impacts first when it comes to lack of access to clean water and hygiene facilities. The impact of climate change, ongoing disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic will increasingly test the resilience of sanitation systems and the availability of safe water owing to floods, droughts and extreme weather patterns, impacting vulnerable communities in our Pacific communities,” says Shirleen Ali, Pacific senior gender and inclusion adviser for CARE International.

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