Pacific needs a concrete plan on loss and damage financing around climate change
A lead negotiator for Fiji at COP26 said the Pacific needs a concrete plan on loss and damage financing around climate change.
The Climate Action Network discussed the wins and losses for the Pacific following COP26 in a webinar on Friday.
Fiji's lead negotiator for loss and damage, Dr Siobhan McDonnell said research into the cost of climate change to the pacific is the urgent next step.
"We don't want an insurance based scheme which some other regions do want. So I think there is some very important work to figure out what the Pacific wants and it is not work we have done yet and it's work that we need to do really quickly."
Dr Siobhan McDonnell also said more Pacific negotiators are needed at COP27 when it meets in Egypt in November next year.
East West Center appoints first Native Hawaiian to lead Center
The East West Center in Honolulu has appointed the first Native Hawaiian and first woman to lead the Center since it was founded in 1960.
The Center's Board of Governors has selected Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum to be its next president.
New president of the East West Center in Honolulu , Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum Photo: East West Center
A former Major General in the US Army, Ms Vare-Lum said the Indo-Pacific region presents many future opportunities and solutions to global issues and she is humbled and honoured by the opportunity.
She said the East West Center is renowned as an inclusive space and both the Center and Hawai'i play a unique role in bridging East and West to address the critical issues that will impact our future generations.
Ms Vare-Lum replaces out-going president Dr Richard Vuylsteke.
The East West Center is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960.
New Caledonia hospital demands payment from Vanuatu hospital before it receives patients
Medipole Hospital in New Caledonia is demanding an upfront payment from Vanuatu's Port Vila Hospital before it receives any patients sent for treatment.
The hospital in New Caledonia is concerned at an already burgeoning debt for services that has not been paid by the Vanuatu Government.
Medipole Hospital says it's owed over 41 million vatu, or $US359,000 dollars, for medical treatment received by government leaders and senior civil servants.
Now it's asking for pre-payment of ten million vatu, or approximately $US87,000 dollars, before additional patients can be sent from Vanuatu.
Vanuatu's deputy prime minister, Ishmael Kalsakau, has told parliament that the Council of Ministers has agreed to sort out the outstanding money owed to the Medipole Hospital.