Pacific Islands

A villager looks over a coral reef in the Solomon Islands.
Environment

Increased Logging Is Decimating Forests in the Solomon Islands

The small South Pacific island nation has become a major supplier of Chinese-imported timber.

Melanesian children float on a bamboo pontoon by Wicked Walu Island on the resort-studded Coral Coast of Fiji, November 11th, 2003. Since the Bali bombings 12 October 2002 tourism has overtaken sugar cane as the South Pacific archipelago's primary source of foreign revenue.
The Edit

The Edit, Episode #3: A Conversation About Climate Change, COP23, and the Future of the Pacific Islands

On the latest episode of Pacific Standard's podcast about how our stories are made, staff writer Kate Wheeling discusses her reporting from Fiji.

People inspect the damage from Cyclone Winston at the Namuimada settlement in Fiji on February 26th, 2016.
COP23

After a Record-Breaking Atlantic Hurricane Season, Here's What to Expect in the South Pacific

Forecasters in the region predict an average cyclone season for the Pacific Islands, but Fiji is still recovering from the last major hurricane to batter the island nation.

Environment

'We Are the First to Go'

Students on island of Yap learn that climate change is not an abstraction in their futures.