Environment
Rounding up rubbish
Tuesday 28 August 2012 | Published in Environment
The second annual ”Rubbish Roundup“ starts on September 8 and runs through the month. The Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI) ran the first annual event last year, with great support from CITC, several local businesses and the community. This year is looking to be bigger and better, as both WATSAN and NES have decided to […]
Aquaponics project unveiled
Saturday 25 August 2012 | Published in Environment
Associate agriculture minister Kiriau Turepu has hailed the new aquaponics project in Titikaveka as the solution for the outer islands. Named Te Raurau o te Kaingavai, the aquaponics facility is the first of its kind in the Cook Islands and is on show ahead of the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum next week. Internal affairs minister […]
Green living water garden thrives
Saturday 25 August 2012 | Published in Environment
Ensuring all Pacific people have access to food, and ways to grow it sustainably, is the long-term objective of a new project underway in Rarotonga. The Green Living Water Garden, as it is called in English, rests on 5756 square metres of Titikaveka land. Nestled amongst the garden is a pilot project that could prove […]
Progress for all to see at Muri
Wednesday 22 August 2012 | Published in Environment
A progress board to chart the work underway to upgrade all residential septic systems in the Muri and Avana areas was unveiled yesterday. The colourful board placed on the front-wall of the Muri meeting house is aimed at encouraging the local community to keep track of progress on WATSAN’s work to upgrade septic systems at […]
Toa fuel depot gains approval
Monday 20 August 2012 | Published in Environment
The Rarotonga Environment Authority has granted Toa Petroleum clearance to build its fuel depot at Nikao, and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning has approved its construction plans. On Wednesday Toa learned its environmental management plan had been ratified, and yesterday it received official confirmation that its building plans passed the test. Construction of the […]
Experts 'surprised' at climate change results
Saturday 18 August 2012 | Published in Environment
Two Australian climate change experts here to teach a training programme were surprised that a one-size-fits-all approach does not apply to Pacific Islands climate projections. Scientists John Clarke and Ron Hoeke from Australia’s national science agency CSIRO are in the Cooks this week for two reasons: to teach Meteorological Service staff how to use new […]
Tepuka sewerage problem solved
Friday 17 August 2012 | Published in Environment
No longer do Tereora College students have to endure the stench of untreated sewage wafting from tanks positioned at their school’s entrance. For over a decade the Tepuka wastewater plant has been under-performing, to put it politely, but this week the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning (MOIP) introduces an updated secondary treatment system, installed by […]
PM's office goes solar
Friday 17 August 2012 | Published in Environment
The prime minister’s office has now been converted to solar power. Eighty solar panels were installed on Prime Minister Henry Puna’s office roof by local company Andersons Ltd. The official handover ceremony was on Monday morning. The initial work started in June, when the workers began to put down the cabling and rails in preparation […]
Climate change books predict extreme rainfall
Saturday 11 August 2012 | Published in Environment
Two recent publications on climate change, which predict increased temperatures and extreme rainfall for the Cook Islands, are being released by the Cook Islands Meteorological Service next Thursday. This is the technical product of three years’ collaboration between the met service and the Pacific Climate Change Science Programme, as part of the Australian Government’s International […]
Raina's responsible rubbishing
Saturday 4 August 2012 | Published in Environment
Mau Raina is disappointed he has to pay for other peoples’ waste but admits there’s nothing more he can do about the problem. It comes after an unofficial rubbish tip ended up on their section this week as cartons of unopened soft drink bottles were complemented by burnt beer bottles and aluminium cans. Raina and […]
Unofficial tip causes a stink in Aroa
Thursday 2 August 2012 | Published in Environment
The emergence of a rubbish dump in the Murienua district is causing a stink amongst local residents. Boxes of soft drink are scattered amongst the burnt beer bottles and aluminium cans on a private property on the Aroa back road across from the horse training centre. Land owner Mau Raina said he had encountered such […]
PM asked to enforce raui penalties
Monday 30 July 2012 | Published in Environment
Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) senior fisheries officer Richard Story is speaking out against ”cowboys“ who pillage fish from raui areas in Aitutaki. Implemented to ensure food resources are able to be maintained consistently, a raui is a ban on an area for a given amount of time imposed by traditional leaders, known as the […]
Finance needed for climate change
Tuesday 24 July 2012 | Published in Environment
Pacific economic ministers have discussed finance options for climate change, which remains critical for vulnerable Pacific island countries. At the 2012 Forum Economic Ministers’ Meeting (FEMM) held last week in Tarawa, Kiribati, ministers received an update on climate change financing efforts. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat published a report to coincide with the FEMM, highlighting […]
A world without coral reefs?
Tuesday 24 July 2012 | Published in Environment
This startling article about the bleak future of the world’s coral reefs was written by ecologist Roger Bradbury, who does research in resource management at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. He has worked on coral reefs for 40 years. The article was published in The New York Times on July 13, 2012. IT’S […]
Lagoon Day educational
Saturday 21 July 2012 | Published in Environment
A successful and educational two days, is how this year’s Lagoon Day is being viewed by participants and organisers. The venue, in Arorangi, took participants from the sea to far inland, linking the message that what happens on the land impacts largely on the health of the lagoon. All but two schools from Rarotonga took […]
Water quality in streams deteriorates
Friday 20 July 2012 | Published in Environment
While water quality in the lagoons is improving, it is deteriorating in the streams. The Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) this year produced three separate water quality reports – two show five-year trends and one is last year’s annual report (which also includes data compiled in the first quarter of this year). For the year […]
Astounded by Lagoon Day
Thursday 19 July 2012 | Published in Environment
This opinion piece by secondary student Dean Tangata was written and submitted as a letter to the editor. I am a Nukutere College student and I attended the Lagoon Day on Tuesday July 17 and I was astounded at what I discovered. Did you know that the Arorangi waste facilities landfill was designed to last […]
Lagoon Day a great success
Thursday 19 July 2012 | Published in Environment
Lagoon Day co-ordinator June Hosking has hailed another successful two-day event. Over 700 students from 14 schools in Rarotonga attended the environmental education workshop and while numbers were down on previous years, the feedback from the surveys at the event has been positive. The bad weather that postponed the event from Thursday and Friday to […]
80 tonnes of waste per week
Wednesday 18 July 2012 | Published in Environment
School children from around Rarotonga learned of a statistic that was as concerning as the stench surrounding them when they visited the Waste Management Centre at Arorangi yesterday. Official data collected from the Waste Management Centre found Cook Islanders produce 80 tonnes of waste each week. ”That’s quite a bit for us,“ centre director Tai […]
Water quality reports released
Tuesday 17 July 2012 | Published in Environment
The Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) has this year produced three separate water quality reports. Two show the trends over five years for lagoons and streams respectively, whilst one is the usual annual report for year ending December 2011, but also has the first quarter of this year. The reports are part of a monitoring […]