Climate change is expected to seriously affect agricultural livelihoods and food security in all Pacific Island countries. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation contends that, to adapt, both ‘modern’ and Indigenous agricultural practices and knowledge are needed. A challenge lies in combining agricultural knowledge systems and enabling adaptive knowledge to be shared amongst Pacific Islanders. Opportunities to integrate different types of agricultural knowledge (including ‘modern’ and Indigenous) are needed. This paper argues that international labour mobility programmes provide an avenue for knowledge exchange that can support climate change adaptation in agriculture. It presents empirical evidence from research with 33 Pacific Islanders who grow crops in their home countries and were employed in Australia's Seasonal Worker Programme (SWP). We demonstrate how SWP participation opened new possibilities for climate change adaptation in agriculture in the Paci
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN): BNK Capital Lao Non-Deposit Taking Microfinance Institution Co., Ltd. (BNK MFI) of the Republic of Korea and Laos’ Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in providing financial services to Lao nationals planning to work in Korea, through the provision of low interest sources of financing.
The President of Vanuatu's Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs has told Australia's foreign minister, Penny Wong, Melanesian custom must be preserved in the Seasonal Worker Programme.