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Japan's Awaji Island offers a gourmet taste of a sustainable future
TOKYO, Japan, 31 January 2025 (Pen) - Known as Miketsukuni, or a ‘Land of Food,’ Awaji’s legacy as a culinary treasure lives on through exquisite local ingredients and innovative approaches to wellbeing and sustainability. The island straddles myth and modernity, past and future, offering a singular destination where history resonates, nature thrives, and greener possibilities bloom.

The wider impact of blackbirding across the Pacific
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 30 January 2025 (RNZ) - More than 160 years ago, slave ships arrived at Tonga's 'Ata Island. Bishop Silouan Silala Vea's ancestors were invited aboard for a meal in a gesture the villagers thought was "great hospitality" by the ship's captain. But sadly, while they were enjoying the meal, the ship took off, and we never heard from those 140 people again. The people of 'Ata Island were just a fraction of more than 3,600 captured by slave ships bound for Peru in a process known as "blackbirding".

Vanuatu launches its first State of the Environment Report
PORT VILA, Vanuatu, 30 January 2025 (SPREP) - The first Vanuatu State of the Environment Report reflects the state of Vanuatu’s natural resources, environmental challenges, and pathways for strengthening sustainable development directions which supports national development plans and regional frameworks such as the 2050 Blue Pacific Strategy. 

The fight for Greenland's Northwest Passage
NUUK, Greenland, 30 January 2025 (Guardian) - With the potential to slash shipping times between Europe and Asia by thousands of miles – or as much as two weeks – the opening up of the Northwest Passage as the Arctic ice melts is viewed by some as an upside of the climate crisis and one of the main reasons Trump has taken such an interest in Greenland.

Why we should all try to eat like people in rural PNG
CORK, Ireland, 29 January 2025 (Conversation) - Western diets - high in processed foods and low in fibre - are associated with obesity, diabetes and heart disease. These diets don’t only harm our bodies, they also harm our gut microbiomes, the complex community of bacteria, fungi and viruses found in our intestinal tract that are important for our health. Scientists, including my colleagues and me, are actively searching for ways to create healthy microbiomes to prevent chronic diseases. And my search has taken me to Papua New Guinea.

Tasmanian tree standing at almost 100m tallest in the country
LONDON, UK, 29 January 2025 (Guardian) - Australian researchers have documented the tallest and most massive living trees in Tasmania, a “global hotspot of gigantism in plants”, including 18 examples over 90 metres.

SPREP
Fourth Pacific Ocean Pacific Climate Change Conference, 20-24 May 2024, Apia, Samoa

ISLAND INNOVATION
Global Sustainable Islands Summit 21-23 May, 2024, Prince Edward Island, Canada

SIDS
4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States 27-30 May 2024, Antigua and Barbuda

NAF
North Atlantic Forum bi-annual international conference 17-21 June, 2024, Connemara, Ireland, 

ISISA
19th Islands of the World Conference 25-29 June, 2024, Lombok Island, Indonesia

IWRA
1st Islands Water Congress 4-6 Sept, 2024, Torshavn, Faroe Islands

ANATOMY OF ISLANDS
12th Anatomy of Islands symposium 26-28 Sept, 2024, Jelsa, Hvar Island, Croatia

CIS
Critical Island Studies 4th international conference 3-4 Oct, 2024, Manila, Philippines

CBD
COP16 21 Oct-1 Nov, 2024, Cali, Colombia

UNFCCC
COP29 11-22 November, 2024, Baku, Azerbaijan

ISLAND DYNAMICS
DARKNESS II conference, 20-23 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland

JICAS
Islands And Island Studies conference 3-7 June, 2025, Jersey, Channel Islands

UNITED NATIONS
UN Ocean Conference 9-13 June, 2025, Nice, France

UPEI
3rd international conference on SIS and SNIJs 16-20 June, 2025, Charlottetown, PEI