Environment
Renewable energy top topic for PMs
Friday 19 August 2011 | Published in Environment
Last weekend Prime Minister Henry Puna met with his New Zealand counterpart for the first time. Puna met John Key at the Beehive on a snowy Wellington Monday (Sunday local time). He later asked reporters not to blame him for bringing the snow with him, but said it was quite exciting to be in Wellington […]
MMR monitors lagoon
Tuesday 16 August 2011 | Published in Environment
The Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) is continuing to carefully monitor the Manihiki lagoon as part of a New Zealand Aid Programme-funded plan to revive the Cook Islands pearl industry. Such was the basis of a presentation by MMR secretary Ben Ponia at the pearl industry forum yesterday.Ponia explained that pearl production dropped off dramatically […]
Local squad back from Te Aito Tahiti
Saturday 30 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Team Te Aito Cook Islands has returned from competing in the annual paddling race in Tahiti, which this year attracted 643 paddlers. Fletcher and Vaea Melvin, Tupuna Amos, Paul Pearson, Emilene Taulu and Andre Tutaka represented the Cook Islands at Te Aito along with three supporters two of whom travelled to Tahiti from Aitutaki. From […]
Team CI out to protect environment
Thursday 28 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Team Cook Islands to the Pacific Games is going green to foster good environment practices and proper waste management practices. The go green initiative is a partnership between the National Environment Service and the Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee. At the Team Cook Islands Pacific Games zumba fundraiser this evening, a team of […]
Pacific nations unite over disasters
Thursday 28 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Representatives from throughout the Pacific will meet in New Zealand next week to help develop a regional answer to natural disasters and climate change. Charles Carlson from the National Disaster Management Office will speak for the Cook Islands in Auckland among 22 nations and territories from the Pacific region between August 1 and 5. The […]
Water and sanitation meeting opened
Wednesday 27 July 2011 | Published in Environment
A regional Pacific water and sanitation meeting continues in Rarotonga today with participants reporting about their countrys progress on pilot projects. It is the third annual meeting of the regional steering committee for the project Implementing Sustainable Water Resources and Wastewater Management in Pacific Island Countries. That is a joint initiative of the Secretariat of […]
Pacific economic action plan released
Wednesday 27 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Finance minister Mark Brown, secretary Richard Neves and former acting financial secretary Priscilla Maruariki are back in the Cook Islands after attending the 2011 Forum Economic Ministers Meeting in Samoa. A Forum Economic Action Plan 2011 was released at the conclusion of the regional meeting, where Pacific ministers discussed common issues of economic management and […]
Funding the write way
Tuesday 26 July 2011 | Published in Environment
More renewable energy and saltwater desalination activities in the Pacific region will be forthcoming following the conclusion of a Pacific writeshop in the Cook Islands to help project proposal writing. During the workshop, held last week at Rarotonga, over 40 participants from throughout the region learnt the best way to develop project proposals and how […]
Dugout canoes free for locals
Saturday 23 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Three new wood-bottomed boats have joined Captain Tamas fleet of glass-bottomed boats at Muri lagoon. These dugout or carved outrigger canoes havent been built with the visiting crowds in mind. Instead, they are for the local families and fishermen and women in Muri. Captain Tama Tamaiva Tuavera and his crew spent about two months helping […]
VAT rise versus interest tax
Friday 22 July 2011 | Published in Environment
A smoke signaller writes: A couple of arithmetic homework questions for Messrs Brown, Puna and other members of the Confiscate Income from Pensioners party. (1) If the governments income from VAT will be $36.4 million a year at 12.5%, then to what does the VAT rate need to be raised in order to give the […]
Primary pupils test out model crafts
Tuesday 19 July 2011 | Published in Environment
The lack of breeze on Friday morning did little to dampen the spirits of Takitumu Primary School students who descended on Muri beach for a day of model vaka and boat racing. The Matavera school spent term two learning about water crafts from traditional voyaging canoes to modern yachts as part of the schools inter-grade […]
New offices to open in Muri
Thursday 14 July 2011 | Published in Environment
The new Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning (MOIP) water and sanitation site office in the Muri meeting house will be opened today. The office is funded through a partnership with the Cook Islands Government, New Zealand Aid Programme and the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC). Two main projects will fall under the water and […]
Tracking down Muri memories
Thursday 14 July 2011 | Published in Environment
The Muri Environment Care Group has started a project to collect memories and stories about Muri lagoon. They are collecting personal memories of happenings and features of the lagoon such as the motu, fishing, sailing, working on the plantation and camping stories. The project includes tales from the 30s and 40s right through to the […]
Sewerage upgrade report outlines project
Thursday 14 July 2011 | Published in Environment
An environment impact assessment (EIA) report has been prepared for the sewerage upgrade at Rarotongas hospital and is being considered by the Rarotonga Environment Authority. The 54-page document is available for viewing on the National Environment Service website. It states the project involves the installation of a new wastewater management system to replace the existing […]
Responsibility to protect what we have
Thursday 14 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Kevin Iro says setting up a marine park will give the local tourism industry a boost. A few years ago, as a member of the tourism board, Iro conceived the idea to raise the global profile of the Cook Islands by creating the worlds largest marine park in its waters. I was talking to a […]
TIS supports park
Tuesday 12 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Te Ipukarea Society (TIS) has thrown its support behind the idea establishing a marine park in Cook Islands waters. Research worldwide has found that protection of marine resources benefits us by increasing the number and size of fish, providing young fish to fishing areas and enabling coral reefs to be more resilient to the effects […]
Worlds oceans in grave state
Tuesday 12 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Cook Islands vaka crew members Tua Pittman and Nick Henry represented Marumaru Atua at the Kava Bowl Ocean Summit in Honolulu, which wrapped up last week. Organised by German philanthropist Dieter Paulmann, the summit aimed to bring together people from diverse cultures, backgrounds and expertise to creatively approach the problems facing the Pacific Ocean now, […]
Australian carbon tax wont hurt NZ
Tuesday 12 July 2011 | Published in Environment
WELLIGNTON, July 12 — Australias planned carbon tax regime will ensure there is no loss of investment in New Zealand industry, the government says. The Australian government has unveiled plans to tax its 500 worst polluters A$23 (NZ$29.50) for every tonne of carbon they produce from next July. Australia is the developed worlds worst per-capita […]
All about boats at Takitumu
Saturday 9 July 2011 | Published in Environment
Takitumu Primary School students have been learning all about boats from traditional canoes to the famous Titanic cruise ship as part of this terms inter-grade unit. As part of the learning unit students have written stories and poems as well as built their own models of traditional voyaging canoes and futuristic watercraft. Next Wednesday the […]
Recycling centre calls for help
Thursday 7 July 2011 | Published in Environment
For four-and-a-half years, Caryn Chilwell and her partner Brian Freeth have paid rent on a quarter-acre section in Turangi to run a small-scale commercial recycling business, a venture Chilwell calls a labour of love on account of its slim profit margins. But they are tired of paying out of their own pockets to subsidise what […]
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