Read the latest news from regional and global sources, presenting different voices and perspectives.
UN climate chief warns Australia not to pick a ‘bog standard’ 2035 carbon emissions target
The Guardian
·
July 28, 2025
The UN’s climate chief has declared Australia’s 2035 emissions target will define the country’s future, and urged the Albanese government to not pick a “bog-standard” number but to “go for what’s smart by going big”. Speaking in Sydney on Monday,...
How Pacific students took their climate fight to the world's highest court. And won.
RNZ
·
July 29, 2025
By Jamie Tahana for RNZ Pacific It was 2019 when a group of law students at the University of the South Pacific’s campus in Port Vila, the harbourside capital of Vanuatu, were set a challenge in their tutorial. They had been learning about...
Bateteba left what once felt like ‘the safest place in the world’ to build a life in Australia. Thousands hope to follow
The Guardian
·
July 25, 2025
Bateteba Aselu describes her former life in Tuvalu as like living in the “safest place in the world” where the community looked out for each other, there was no homelessness and you rarely heard the sirens of police or ambulances. But rising sea...
Not only are rising seas causing people to leave, but warming waters are forcing out tuna
The New Zealand Herald
·
July 27, 2025
By morning’s end, the pair had caught eight tuna - a haul far smaller than when Petaia’s father taught him to fish 30 years earlier. “We have to spend longer and go farther to get them,” the 48-year-old said as the fishermen unloaded their catch....
Geopolitical tensions challenge Pacific regionalism
Pacific News Service
·
By Niuone Eliuta The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), a vital platform for regional cooperation, has long been a space where Pacific nations address shared challenges like climate change, economic development and cultural preservation. However, recent...
To protect coral reefs, we must also protect the people who depend on them
The Conversation
·
July 28, 2025
Coral reefs are vital ecosystems that sustain millions of people, yet they face a growing crisis. Rising ocean temperatures are causing coral bleaching, a process where heat disrupts the relationship between corals and the microalgae living inside...
Top court says countries can sue each other for climate damage – this is what to expect
The Independent
·
July 25, 2025
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our...
How the world’s highest court bolstered the fight for climate reparations
Grist Magazine
·
July 28, 2025
As global inaction over the climate crisis has mounted and Pacific islands nations have watched in frustration as their calls for decisive action have gone unheeded, a growing number of them, led by Vanuatu, have turned to the courts. If...
Nauru seeks transform its economy by becoming a cryptocurrency powerhouse
RNZ
·
July 27, 2025
Nauru's Command Ridge Virtual Asset Authority creates a licensing and regulatory scheme for digital asset transfers, including cryptocurrency lending and exchange. Photo: RNZ Pacific / AFP An Australian finance director has flown to Nauru with...
Friends to all: Nauru-Australia security treaty brings confidence and stability
The Strategist
·
July 28, 2025
At a time when many Pacific leaders are expressing concerns about the impacts of geopolitical competition in their respective countries and the region, the government of Nauru, led by President David Adeang, has opted to sign a comprehensive...
Healthy environment ruled a human right by world’s top court, as campaigners hail ‘seismic’ win
The Independent
·
July 23, 2025
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our...
Te Ipukarea Society: Ocean lovers unite against deep-sea mining
Cook Island News
·
July 26, 2025
Saturday July 19, people worldwide gathered to join the call to defend the deep. Our event included creative, imaginative sea-creature costumes, Tumu the eke, and paddling into the water with the large ‘Protect our Ocean’ banner, for a group chant...
Terrifying truth about island paradise
Cairns Post
·
July 23, 2025
The number of applications for a landmark climate visa to live in Australia are rising rapidly in the tiny island nation of Tuvalu, as ominously rising seas lap at its shores. More than 80 per cent of Pacific nation Tuvalu’s population is now...
Landmark Climate Change Case This Week – Expert Reaction
Scoop
·
The International Court of Justice will be delivering its advisory opinion on what obligations countries have to address the impacts of climate change very early morning this Thursday (NZ time). The case started with Pacific youth lobbying...
Has high immigration fallen out of favour in Australia?
ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
·
July 27, 2025
If you've spent any time on social media in recent years, you would have seen people criticising Australia's high levels of immigration, for various reasons. But in recent months, we've seen some of the most severe criticisms of high immigration...
India’s climate demands were once moral claims. Now ICJ says they’re international law
The Print
·
July 26, 2025
When a group of Pacific Island law students first proposed in 2019 that the International Court of Justice should weigh in on climate change, few imagined the world’s top court would respond with one of the most sweeping legal opinions in its...
Climate ruling puts Australia on notice, but is Canberra listening?
ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
·
July 24, 2025
To the beat of ancient drums, in the language of their ancestors, dancers from Australia's northernmost islands share a modern story. Outside the federal court in Cairns, Torres Strait Islander dancers wear grass skirts and the traditional...
Report to UN: New Zealand’s immigration system discriminates on disability grounds
Pacific News Service
·
Ahead of New Zealand’s review with the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) highlight a clear pattern of discrimination pertaining to immigration from the Pacific – and recommend key policy...
Health and climate leaders applaud landmark decision on climate accountability: comprehensive wrap of reaction
Croakey Health Media
·
July 24, 2025
*** This post is being updated as further commentary lands *** Health, climate and community leaders have warmly welcomed an International Court of Justice opinion that States are obligated under international law to protect the global climate...
Reframing conservation as livelihood
Cook Island News
·
July 21, 2025
Louisa Castledine, the owner of Ocean Toa Cook Islands, at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. SUPPLIED/25071832 A new movement has been established to promote bold initiative that combines indigenous knowledge with scientific practices to...