Page 11 - IB FEB 2018

Political Brief

Officer Solomon Kantha comes amid a Dhabi for featuring the school kitchen’s
standoff between the contracted company, solar and biogas powered cooking facility.
Paladin Solutions and guards from a rival Motufoua Secondary School scooped the
company that says it should have been 2018 Zayed Future Energy Prize in the
awarded the security contract. Global High School Category – OCEANIA,
Paladin Solutions, which secured a $72 at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
(USD58m) million four-month contract opening ceremony.
from the Malcolm Turnbull Government, Motufoua won after being shortlisted
had sought visas for 94 foreign personnel with two other high schools from Australia
to enter PNG. Most were believed to be as part of the Zayed Future Energy Prize
Australians. (ZFEP) Awards for 2018.
Kantha rejected more than half of those The school’s submission to the competi-
applications, saying the company needed tion was a combination of solar and biogas
be Prime Minister of New Zealand and to employ more local personnel. which aimed to expand the school’s solar
choose to have a family while in office, power capacity and install a bio digester to
making New Zealand a modern, progres- Fiji protects Great Sea Reef produce biogas for cooking in the school
sive, inclusive and equal country. Labasa, Fiji - Fiji’s cabinet has decided kitchen.
to protect part of the Great Sea Reef (GSR), It also included the collection of rainwa-
Samoa off USA work visa list which sits along the four coastal provinces ter to water the school’s vegetable garden
Washington DC, USA - Citizens of Sa- of Macuata to Ba on Fiji’s northern and and to clean the school’s piggery, the key
moa are among other countries that are western coastlines. source of feedstock for the biogas.
no longer eligible to apply for temporary Known as Cakaulevu, it is the world’s Tuvalu Government’s representative to
work visas to the United States. third longest continuous barrier reef sys- the 2018 IRENA Assembly, CEO Avafoa
This is after those countries were re- Irata and the General Manager of the
moved from a list of countries whose citi- Tuvalu Electricity Corporation, Mafalu
zens are eligible for temporary work visas. Lotolua were part of the audience who
This visa falls under the H-2A and H-2B witnessed the awards ceremony.
visas category – temporary or seasonal -- The ZFEP which is now in its 10th an-
non-immigrant work visas for agricultural niversary invites innovators from around
and non-agricultural work. the world to be part of a growing commu-
The United States Department of Home- nity, committed to finding solutions that
land Security (DHS) said the decision to will meet the challenges of climate change,
remove Samoa, Haiti and Belize from the energy access and water security.
lists was made as a result of “interagency
coordination” between DHS and the De- New Caledonia rolls change
partment of State. tem and it also extends along the coast- Paris, France - The French Senate will
According to a DHS report from last year, lines of Ra and Bua provinces. discuss the proposed law change to ac-
roughly 40 per cent of Haitians on non- Announcing the decision to make part commodate new but restricted electoral
immigrant visas, including but not limited of the GSR listed as a Ramsar site, Prime rolls for New Caledonia.
to H-2A and H-2B, overstayed. Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said the The law will translate the political accord
Two hundred and seventy-six H-2B decision was an important step to protect reached by the signatories to the Noumea
visas for seasonal workers were issued to the resource for future generations. Accord late last year which clears the way
citizens of Belize in the 2016 fiscal year, “My cabinet took an important step in to enrolling all people born in New Cale-
but the Central American country has been protecting this Great Sea Reef to approve donia if they have lived there for the past
blocked from the programme amid con- the nomination of a significant part of the three years.
cerns that it does not meet U.S. standards reef as a Ramsar site under the Convention The deal also provides for the automatic
to protect victims of trafficking, DHS said. on Wetlands,” said Bainimarama. enrollment of an additional 7000 indige-
Though no H-2A or H-2B visas were is- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands nous Kanaks who have customary status.
sued to Samoans in fiscal year 2016, DHS enables certification of natural water A total of about 158,000 people are
said they had blocked the country for not resource areas which abide by certain eligible to vote, however this excludes
taking back nationals ordered removed requirements, which includes sustainable citizens who have arrived in New Caledo-
from the United States. fishing practices. nia after 1998.
The Convention on Wetlands called the The exact referendum question was
Manus security standoff Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmen- yet to be worded but the Noumea Accord,
Lorengau, Manus - Papua New Guinea tal treaty that provides the framework for which expires this year, provides for a
officials have rejected the visa applica- national action and international coopera- referendum on whether the territory wants
tions of about 50 foreign private security tion for the conservation and wise use of to attain full sovereignty.
guards hired under an $18 (USD14.6m) wetlands and their resources. The referendum has to be held by No-
million-a-month Australian government vember with dates in October suggested
contract to protect asylum seekers on Tuvalu school scoops Energy Prize so far.
Manus Island. Abu Dhabi, UAE - A Tuvalu secondary Compiled by Priya Chand in partnership with
The ruling by PNG’s Chief Immigration school won a global energy prize in Abu Pacnews news service.

Islands Business, February 2018 11