PACIFIC – An anthology of first-person accounts of climate change from around the Pacific is hoped to add a personal touch to the climate change debate.

The accounts are contained in a report by the Catholic aid agency Caritas, which will be released next week.

Speaking from Kiribati, the executive director of Caritas New Zealand, Julianne Hickey, told Radio New Zealand’s Dateline Pacific it will add a human face to the extent of suffering due to environmental changes in the Pacific.

“The report is our attempt to listen to the voices of the people from across Oceania,” she said.

“We listened to those on the coastal edges and the grassroots to find out what they’re experiencing in their environment and to find out how they’re coping and managing the challenges of what’s happening in the Pacific.

“Pacific peoples are, by and large, resilient.

“The challenges, though, with the ever-increasing weather patterns, the way in which they can’t understand it like they used to, a lot of the traditional knowledge that they knew about weather patterns and places which were dry and places which were wet, all of that seems to be changing.

“So they’re having to adapt regularly. They’re also struggling with the compounded nature of things that are happening in the environment.

“For example, here in Kiribati at the moment, I visited a community and they’re suffering from coastal erosion which in turn affects how they can grow food and that means that they’re more liable to getting hungry.

“At the same time, because of the coastal erosion, their well water is becoming brackish –so they’re finding that they’re getting thirsty as well.

“ I heard it very clearly when I went into one of the small villages and they said to me, ‘this well that we have here, at the moment it is the only well in the village that has water that we can drink’.

“It has been very dry for the last few months and they think it might continue for a number more months.

“I saw just the one well that was still working. I saw four wells in the village but three of them could not be used for drinking water because the water was contaminated either by salty water or by other pollutants.

“And unfortunately in that particular village they don’t have a water tank, but I’ve been hearing that a number of the water tanks on South Tarawa are either empty or close to empty.”

Dateline Pacific said that there have been many reports on climate change in the Pacific.and asked what was different about this one?

Hickey replied: “The report does not focus on lots of scientific evidence, I think the scientific reports speak for themselves.

“Our report is different because it focuses on the voices and experiences of peoples and their communities across the Pacific so we get that perspective of what’s happening to those on the coastal edges and at the grassroots. - Dateline Pacific

NRL test in Apia an opportunity for new players

FIJI – Fiji plans to use next month’s historic rugby league test against Samoa in Apia as a chance for fledgling players to press their World Cup claims.

Toa Samoa will celebrate 30 years of rugby league in the country by playing it’s first official Test on home soil against the Fiji Bati.

Fiji Bati coach Mick Potter said it will be a chance for some younger players to impress.

“We’re going to have the opportunity to have a look at some guys that probably just sit below some of the other players.

“We’ve had about 13 players have to pull out for various reasons, so we’ve got a pretty deep squad and there’s an opportunity to have a look at some younger guys playing, as well as some regulars you’ve seen before.”

Proposed changes to rugby league’s eligibility rules could also benefit Fiji in the lead-up to next year’s World Cup.

The Rugby League International Federation has approved plans that would allow eligible players to nominate both a tier one and tier two nation to represent.

Players would also be free to switch between the countries multiple times with no stand-down period and play both State of Origin, if eligible, and for their native Island country.

Coach Potter said the proposals could be a big boost to the Fiji squad.

“The possibility of Jarryd Hayne coming back, the possibility of Semi Radradra – if he doesn’t get picked for Australia – to be able to play and there’s quite a few opportunities for others players to be able to drop back, so whether or not they’re Tongan, Samoan or Fijian. It does open up some avenues and some options for us.”

Potter said the bulk of the Fiji team will be picked from NRL level as well as the Queensland and New South Wales Cups but there will be a few locals included too.

Samoa will host the historic test match against Fiji in Apia on October 8 – Samoa’s first official test match on home soil.

Rugby League Samoa Chairman Tagaloa Faafouina Su’a said he was delighted to celebrate 30 years of rugby league in Samoa by hosting a test match. “We have come a long way in 30 years,” he said.

Along with supporting the match financially, the NRL will also provide one of its leading NRL referees along with senior staff and management.

- PNC/RNZI