Comments

Hi Aunty Michelle!!!!! It's me Hana-Dawn. I loved reading your article <3

As a APTC graduater and been looking throught the post iam a fiji citizen i was graduated last year with certificate 3 in individual support aged care and community-worker who are willing to work in Australia Iam a mother of 3 which i looked throufh this web site trying to seek for oppotunities most of us are here not employed please we need your assitance ans as for me Sir am looking after my daughter who is studying in university y doing neutical science

Thank you very much Ashlee for this clear statement. I was trying to ask for a load to study in Australia but you made it clear so I'm grateful for you.

First off, we keep Fiji and all other COVID-19 affected areas in our thoughts and prayers as we continue on with our fight against this pandemic. Let us not lose hope and remain vigilant! I wanted to thank you for this article, which I think highlights a very important fact that Pacific communities need to understand - that many of the challenges faced by governments and especially public health institutions across region in response to this (and any other) pandemic, are not merely clinical or biomedical in nature - but rather also include political, social, and economic influence. During the past 18 months here in my native Palau (as also faced by many other Pacific health authorities), we've had to deal with many issues indirectly spawned by the coronavirus pandemic including economic recession, political pressure to re-open borders, and community hostility and stigma against repatriated travelers and persons suspected of being COVID infected. These are indirect consequences of the pandemic that only add more to the complexity and uncertainty of the pandemic and should also be realized and addressed if we are to expect effective and timely mitigation efforts. I think it is these types of articles that should be heeded by mainstream media, and citizenries alike as they provide important insight into these issues that are often left in the background, and are arguably the key drivers of governments' actions and inactions against this unprecedented global health threat. Thank you.

Thank you Dr very well spelt out. I only hope this govt to listens to economists like you and many who have been voicing out for so long. But it falls into deaf ears or simply because of pride and egoism.

Hi Holly how long does it take for the recruitment process to take ?

Thanks Nick, the 'invisibility' of mining operations and their local impacts is an interesting part of how mineral governance landscapes are changing during the pandemic. Your paper with John Owen and Deanna Kemp is instructive here - and a little prophetic given that it was written early on in the pandemic. The invisibility observation connects to some of the other themes in our report including: (1) Giving and receiving—corporate philanthropy and lobbying in pandemic times (which you also discuss in your paper); (2) Shrinking civic space, digital engagement contested (which we profile in this blog); (3) Stretched oversight—Regulator capacity and pandemic distractions; and (4) Border closures and restricted travel—Mediating and dislocating social relations. Of course, complexity: These and other trends are playing out in different ways, for different actors, across different geographies, in different mining jurisdictions.

Thanks Stephen. The race in Fiji is between the virus and the vaccine. The virus is ahead in the sprint, but will be beaten in the marathon when vaccinations are complete in the next month or so. It will greatly help if the leaders of or religious organizations - the churches, temples, mosques, gurudwaras, etc. - stood up, stepped forward, and rolled up their sleeves for vaccination of their entire congregation. PNG could give vaccination a head start by doing the same.

Yes, achieving several SDG targets by 2030 will be extremely difficult, if not unattainable. Sustained economic performance remains the best strategy to improve economic and social and outcomes. Apart from fiscal and monetary policies, other specific policies (labour market, trade, environment, agriculture and manufacturing) will be key towards maintaining inclusive and broad based growth.

Yes, the there is a change in methodology - the change, however, can not be associated with the increase in poverty rate.

We'll need another survey to clearly figure out the magnitude of the impact on specific sectors post-COVID.

Good to see these issues getting more detailed attention. We flagged several of these issues shortly after the pandmic broke, and it would seem that many of them are now entrenched. As we saw it, under pandemic conditions, it becomes even more difficult to 'peer through the looking glass', as visibility over what is happenning on the ground around mining projects is more clouded. "Invisibility and the extractive-pandemic nexus" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214790X20301490?casa_token=RhkfQ3miqDQAAAAA:gfJv3kNjqwEJtkc9lErIRiodY9EoNqekfSmFuVG6qWlf7AGFYqLShhravHA5QGrFeLFv6H6B5YpO