DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – April 18, 2018, “Most tourists who visit Papua New Guinea want to return, according to the International Finance Corporation.

“The IFC has released an assessment into tourism demand in Papua New Guinea with the results of the 2017 International Visitor Survey.

“It identifies five key niche markets – cultural tourism, soft adventure, bird watching, diving and historical tourism – where it is says PNG can unlock its tourism potential.

“As part of its collaboration with Australia and New Zealand through the Papua New Guinea Partnership, the IFC is urging government and private sector investment in tourism in PNG.

“IFC’s Tourism Operation Officer (Pacific) Becky Last said the Survey underscored that visitors connected with PNG’s friendliness and cultural uniqueness.

“When people come, they actually love it. The people are one of the strongest elements that came through when we asked people what they enjoyed most about their trip. The statistics absolutely tell the story.

“About 75 percent of people are satisfied, and 92 percent would return – and that’s out of the total number of visitors, that’s not just the tourist arrivals.”

“The International Finance Corporation recommended a range of small and large-scale investments in PNG tourism.

“Small-scale investment recommendations include development of specialised guiding, for instance in PNG’s bird-watching sector.

“We know that bird watching is a really important growth market in the global sense, and Papua New Guinea has phenomenal assets in this regard,” Ms Last said.

“It (PNG) has some really unique bird species, and we know that bird travellers are prepared to travel distance and put up with some slightly more basic infrastructure in order to be able to see these dream birds that are on their wish list.”

“The IFC said developing niche market tourism could attract another 40,000 tourists annually to Papua New Guinea.

“Its findings showed that last year PNG had 86,403 air visitors, who spent around US$205 million dollars, mostly business visitors.

“Ms Last said it was recommended that PNG invest about 78 million US dollars to address critical constraints and stimulate growth.

“If that’s done, PNG’s niche markets could reach in the region of 87-thousand arrivals (in a year) by 2027, bringing in about US$286 million in annual revenue.”

“She said it was a strong message that could help people understand why it was important to activate these investment recommendations in PNG.” Copyright © 2018, Radio New Zealand

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, as the country head towards the poll, people started to push hard for their preferred candidates.

It is normal but abnormalities is happening in some churches where Pastors are laying hands on their preferred candidates urging their congregation for their support.

This is very wrong and evil.

The good book told us that when the apostles need a replacement for Judas Iscariot, they did not appoint but prayed for the Holy Spirit to reveal the replacement.

So what some Pastors in some SSEC congregations are doing by anointing their preferred candidates during Sunday Services and forcing church members to support is unbiblical and ungodly.

Pastors as such should be dethroned from church leadership.

In other words, they are opportunists with greed that will accumulate wealth from their candidates should they win.

They have very bad intentions and the SSEC church in Solomon Islands must severely discipline them for bringing the name of the church into question.

Their actions is far worse than those chewing betelnuts which the church regarded as backsliders.

John Aonima

G Camp

DEAR EDITOR, speaking in Honiara in March on the occasion of Women’s Day, Casper Fa’sala, the Acting General Secretary of the National Council of Women, said to his audience (quote)

“Let me remind all of us again that this International Women’s Day is a reminder that gender equality is a basic human right for all women and girls to enjoy their full legal equality of opportunity and have the same life prospects as their male counterparts.”

“Solomon Islands as a State must do everything possible to ensure that the dignity of our women is never trampled upon but translate our statements and good intentions into concrete actions for the betterment of our women who represents almost half of our Solomon Islands’ population.”

I am mindful at the time of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; violence against women was recognised as a violation of their human rights, but several decades on the international community is still coming to terms in tackling the problem of physical violence and effective enforcement by bringing to bear the human rights framework on women’s private experiences.

Violence against women, and clearly evident in the Solomon Islands context, is linked to the historical inequality between men and women.

It has been argued that removing the political, economic and cultural structures which oppress women is the main way to eradicate male violence.

The SINCW gives voice for women to articulate experiences of violence and I would urge the organization to continue to define violence in all forms against women in terms of human rights. By so doing, the level of expectation about what can and should be done makes the state and civil society more accountable; the problem will then be seen as a legitimate public policy.

Thinking in terms of human rights will encourage a buildup of energy through major campaigns by local women’s organizations such as the SINCW and could lead to better systematic policies to criminalize gender violence, and to empower women seeking remedies.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT

DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand International – April 15, 2018, “The global shipping industry agreed a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions for the first time on Friday in a deal that had been hard pushed by small Pacific countries.

“The agreement came at the end of a week-long meeting of the International Maritime Organisation, a United Nations body, in London, where small countries were pitted against large shipping nations that were against such restrictions.

“Friday’s agreement calls for global shipping emissions to peak as soon as possible, and to reduce the total annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent of 2008 levels by 2050. It also calls for efforts to be pursued to phase out greenhouse gas emissions from shipping entirely.

“The IMO’s Secretary General, Kitack Lim, hailed the agreement as a “successful illustration of a spirit of cooperation,” while Pacific leaders called it historic.

“Today the IMO has made history,” said the Marshall Islands president, Hilde Heine, in a statement. “While it may not be enough to give my country the certainty it wanted, it makes it clear that international shipping will now urgently reduce emissions and play its part in giving my country a pathway to survival.”

“More than 2 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide come from the shipping industry, which is roughly equivalent to Germany’s emissions. But shipping, like aviation, has been excluded from previous environmental accords, such as the 2015 Paris Agreement, because its focus was based on a system of state-level targets.

“The Pacific countries have long pushed for a reduction in shipping emissions, which have been mostly unregulated until now.

“In 2015, the then-foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, Tony de Brum, called the former IMO secretary general Koji Sekimizu “danger to the planet” after Mr Sekimizu spoke against regulating emissions in the industry. Last year, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga called for greater accountability for shipping emissions.

“But while the agreement has been hailed by these countries as a victory, it’s just as much a compromise. It falls well short of some of the lofty ambitions Pacific countries and others held going into discussions.

“The European Union and the Marshall Islands, which is the world’s second-biggest ship registry, had sought a goal of cutting emissions by 70 to 100 percent by 2050 going into the meeting. The Marshall Islands, at the conference’s opening, warned failure to achieve deep cuts would threaten the country’s survival as global warming intensifies.

“In a joint statement on Saturday, the EU’s transport commissioner Violeta Bulc and climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said that while the union had “sought a higher level of ambition, this is a good starting point that will allow for further review and improvements over time.”

“The Marshall Islands’ environment minister, David Paul, said that “to get to this point has been hard, very hard. And it has involved compromises by all countries. Not least by vulnerable island nations like my own who wanted something far, far more ambitious than this one.”

“If a country like the Marshall Islands, a country that is vulnerable to climate change, and particularly depends on international shipping, can endorse this deal, there is no credible excuse for anybody else to hold back,” he said.

“Clearly, other large shipping nations didn’t agree.

“The United States, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Panama didn’t want any targets for cutting shipping emissions at all and, according to reports, it was their opposition that saw the target dragged down to 50 percent. After the deal was signed with a clear majority, the head of the United States delegation to the talks, Jeffrey Lantz, continued to state his country’s opposition.

“We do not support the establishment of an absolute reduction target at this time,” he said in an interview with the BBC, where he also criticised the IMO’s handling of the talks, describing it as “unacceptable and not befitting this esteemed organisation.”

“A clear majority of the 100-plus nations at the IMO meeting, though, did agree with the need to cut emissions, signing an agreement which also committed to rapid innovation in the industry in terms of fuel efficiency and ship designs.

“But a final plan is not expected until 2023, and even then, the initial strategy would not be legally binding for member states.

“Still, Mr Paul said history had been made: “Our job is far from over. This is a step – an important step – on our journey to a safe and sustainable future,” he said in a statement. “There are many steps to come.” Copyright: RNZI 2018   (All Rights Reserved)

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT