The humanitarian impact and implications of nuclear test explosions in the Pacific region

2015 ◽  
Vol 97 (899) ◽  
pp. 775-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman A. Ruff
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Nuclear Test ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Nuclear Testing ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Global Impacts

AbstractThe people of the Pacific region have suffered widespread and persisting radioactive contamination, displacement and transgenerational harm from nuclear test explosions. This paper reviews radiation health effects and the global impacts of nuclear testing, as context for the health and environmental consequences of nuclear test explosions in Australia, the Marshall Islands, the central Pacific and French Polynesia. The resulting humanitarian needs include recognition, accountability, monitoring, care, compensation and remediation. Treaty architecture to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons and provide for their elimination is considered the most promising way to durably end nuclear testing. Evidence of the humanitarian impacts of nuclear tests, and survivor testimony, can contribute towards fulfilling the humanitarian imperative to eradicate nuclear weapons.

scholarly journals A root for massive crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks in the Pacific Ocean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Yasuda ◽  
June Inoue ◽  
Michael R. Hall ◽  
Manoj R. Nair ◽  
Mehdi Adjeroud ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Pacific Ocean ◽  
The Western Pacific

AbstractRecurring outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) severely damage healthy corals in the Western Pacific Ocean. To determine the source of outbreaking COTS larvae and their dispersal routes across the Western Pacific, complete mitochondrial genomes were sequenced from 243 individuals collected in 11 reef regions. Our results indicate that Pacific COTS comprise two major clades, an East-Central Pacific clade (ECP-C) and a Pan-Pacific clade (PP-C). The ECP-C consists of COTS from French Polynesia (FP), Fiji, Vanuatu and the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and does not appear prone to outbreaks. In contrast, the PP-C, which repeatedly spawns outbreaks, is a large clade comprising COTS from FP, Fiji, Vanuatu, GBR, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands. Given the nature of Pacific Ocean currents, the vast area encompassing FP, Fiji, Vanuatu, and the GBR likely supplies larvae for repeated outbreaks, exacerbated by anthropogenic environmental changes, such as eutrophication.

The Marshallese look: Clothing, culture and identity in a disappearing world

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-312
Author(s):  
C. A. DeCoursey ◽  
Ewa B. Krawczyk
Keyword(s):  
Generational Differences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Nuclear Testing ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Central Pacific Ocean ◽  
Youth Identity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Style Preferences

Marshallese youth face extraordinary challenges in creating an identity, due to their economy, isolated location – the Marshall Islands are located in the central Pacific Ocean and comprise of more than 1200 islands and islets – the history of US nuclear testing in the islands and climate change. Contemporary youth identity construction requires constant acts of acculturation, due to media and globalization. This study used content and transitivity analyses to explore how Marshallese youth understand their distinctive look. Content sub-unit frequencies indicated that the Marshallese community was the most significant factor in defining style, particularly cultural uniqueness, history, religion and generational differences. Collective pronouns indicated that acculturation anxieties stemmed from cultural differences and loss and were managed by asserting community affiliation. Personal style preferences reflected contextual and financial limitations. Process-type analysis constructed culture as the most vigorous actor and speaker, where youth roles included perception and cognition, with other islands’ views mediating between the two. Roles attributed to the media and the West included emoting and wanting, where China more closely resembled Marshallese youth, though the ubiquity of western content may render its agency somewhat invisible to Marshallese youth. Overall, Marshallese youth harmonize their individuality within attributed community and contextual factors. This is likely to be their preferred strategy when they emigrate to the United States, a highly individualistic country. Marshallese parents and second-generation Marshallese will require support, in their new context.

scholarly journals Cascabela thevetia (yellow oleander).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Native Vegetation ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Noxious Weed ◽  
North And South America ◽  
North And South

Abstract Cascabela thevetia is a fast-growing woody species native to tropical North and South America that has been extensively introduced as an ornamental. It behaves as an aggressive weed that grows to form large and dense thickets, especially in low-lying areas and along watercourses, that displace native vegetation and alter successional processes. In addition, all parts of the plant are extremely toxic and can be fatal to humans and other animals if consumed. Currently, it is included in the Global Invasive Species Database and has been listed as invasive and as a noxious weed in East Timor, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Australia, Anguilla, Cuba, Hawaii, French Polynesia, Fiji and other islands in the Pacific region.

Two new species of Foa (Apogonidae) from the Pacific Plate, with redescriptions of Foa brachygramma and Foa fo

Zootaxa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 2988 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS H. FRASER ◽  
JOHN E. RANDALL
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Hawaiian Islands ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Pacific Plate ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Gill Rakers ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Anterior Body ◽  
A New Species

Species of the Indo-Pacific apogonid fish genus Foa known from the Pacific Plate are reviewed. The type species of Foa, F. brachygramma, is redescribed including information on the distribution of lateralis canal pores and free neuromasts on the head, body and caudal fin. This species, formerly ascribed as having a wide Indo-Pacific distribution, is restricted to the Hawaiian Islands. Foa fo, type locality Philippines, with an apparent Indo-Pacific distribution (but not the Hawaiian Islands), has 12–15 gill rakers (14–16 for F. brachygramma), and four or five irregular dark bars and whitish spots on the head and body (F. brachygramma has dark edging on the scales and lacks whitish spots). A lectotype from the Philippines is selected for Foa fo. Foa leisi is described as a new species from French Polynesia, olivaceous with three faint brown bars on body, one under each dorsal fin and on anterior on caudal peduncle; head and anterior body with dark-edged whitish spots. Foa nivosa is described as new species from Palau, Marshall Islands and Fiji, pale yellowish tan with numerous red-edged whitish spots, smaller on head. The axial skeletons are compared for Foa brachygramma, F. fo, F. hyalina, F. leisi, and F. nivosa. Foa madagascariensis and its synonym Apogonichthys zuluensis are not treated here, but Petit’s species is recognized as valid. The following characters can be used to identify species: color patterns, pored lateral-line scales as they vary with standard length, number of gill rakers and rudiments, mandibular pore and certain free neuromast patterns.

scholarly journals Two new species of Plectranthias (Teleostei, Serranidae, Anthiadinae) from mesophotic coral ecosystems in the tropical Central Pacific

ZooKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 941 ◽  
pp. 145-161
Author(s):  
Bart Shepherd ◽  
Tyler A. Y. Phelps ◽  
Hudson T. Pinheiro ◽  
Claudia R. Rocha ◽  
Luiz A. Rocha
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Coi Gene ◽  
Valid Species ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems ◽  
Two New Species ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Republic

Two new species of Plectranthias perchlets are described, collected from mesophotic coral ecosystems in French Polynesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the tropical Central Pacific. Plectranthias polygoniussp. nov. was collected at a depth of 105 m in Tahiti, French Polynesia, and 120 m in Maloelap Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. It was also observed in Moorea and Rangiroa (French Polynesia), and at Majuro and Erikub Atolls, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Plectranthias hinanosp. nov. was collected at a depth of 90–98 m in Tahiti, French Polynesia, and observed in Moorea. The barcode fragment of the cytochrome oxidase I gene of Plectranthias polygoniussp. nov. does not closely match any published sequence of Plectranthias, with approximately 15% uncorrected divergence from several species. Plectranthias polygoniussp. nov. can be distinguished from all of its congeners by coloration and morphology. The barcode fragment of the COI gene of Plectranthias hinanosp. nov. is closest to Plectranthias bennetti, with 5.4% uncorrected divergence. Plectranthias hinanosp. nov. is also distinguished from all of its congeners by morphology, and a coloration that includes two indistinct black spots along the base of the dorsal-fin, and transparent yellow dorsal and anal fin membranes. With this publication, the genus Plectranthias now comprises 58 valid species, with representatives from tropical to temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. These two new discoveries add to the growing body of research highlighting the rich biodiversity of mesophotic ecosystems.

Metapopulation vicariance in the Pacific genus Coprosma (Rubiaceae) and its Gondwanan relatives

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Heads
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Central Pacific ◽  
Transform Faults ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Igneous Provinces ◽  
High Level

Coprosma is perhaps the most ubiquitous plant genus in New Zealand. It belongs to the tribe Anthospermeae, which is distinctive in the family Rubiaceae through its small, simple, wind-pollinated flowers and its southern hemisphere distribution. The tribe comprises four main clades found respectively in South Africa, Africa, Australia and the Pacific. The high level of allopatry among the four subtribes is attributed here to their origin by vicariance. The Pacific clade, subtribe Coprosminae, is widespread around the margins of the South Pacific and also occurs on most of the high islands. Distributions of the main clades in the subtribe are mapped here and are shown to be repeated in other groups. The distribution patterns also coincide with features of regional geology. Large-scale volcanism has persisted in the central Pacific region since at least the Jurassic. At that time, the oldest of the Pacific large igneous provinces, the Shatsky Rise, began to be erupted in the region now occupied by French Polynesia. Large-scale volcanism in the central Pacific continued through the Cretaceous and the Cenozoic. The sustained volcanism, along with details of the clade distributions, both suggest that the Coprosminae have persisted in the central Pacific by survival of metapopulations on individually ephemeral islands. It is also likely that vicariance of metapopulations has taken place, mediated by processes such as the subsidence of the Pacific seafloor by thousands of metres, and rifting of active arcs by transform faults. It is sometimes argued that a vicariance origin is unlikely for groups on young, oceanic islands that have never been connected by continuous land, but metapopulation vicariance does not require physical contact between islands.

Is the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) Exclusively an Economic Regime?

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-148
Author(s):  
Richard A. Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Political Studies ◽  
Pacific Island Countries

Long neglected at the periphery of global politics, the Pacific region is home to more microstates than any other region on earth. As defined herein, the Pacific region comprises the sixteen states recognised by the Pacific Island Forum itself.** Inherently ocean-locked, the Pacific Island countries face numerous challenges of capacity and mobility. Though it maintains the typical diversity and variance of any region - from relatively resource-rich and mountainous Papua New Guinea (PNG), to the atoll states of Republic Marshall Islands (RMI), Tuvalu and Kiribati - it is noticeable for its reliance on foreign aid in order to maintain ongoing development. Even though lacking in major political flashpoints, the region still harbours strains of geopolitical struggle between major Asian powers. Japan, China and Taiwan all have investment and diplomatic interest in the region as the Pacific nations create a significant bloc of votes in the United Nations (UN). In addition to the proxy concerns of such nations, the Pacific Island countries have gained extra international influence in the past two decades due to their concerted lobbying in regard the negative impact of climate change in small island developing states. Their efforts have managed to bring the changing climate more consistently into the public arena, and also into the domain of security studies, thereby attempting to bridge the high and low branches of political studies.

The Nuclear Sensorium: Cold War Nuclear Imperialism and Sensory Violence

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Shiga
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
The United States ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
United States Military ◽  
Nuclear Testing ◽  
Testing Program ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractThis paper traces the sensory dimensions of nuclear imperialism focusing on the Cold War nuclear weapons tests conducted by the United States military in the Marshall Islands during the 1950s. Key to the formation of the “nuclear sensorium” were the interfaces between vibration, sound, and radioactive contamination, which were mobilized by scientists such as oceanographer Walter Munk as part of the US Nuclear Testing Program. While scientists occupied privileged points in technoscientific networks to sense the effects of nuclear weapons, a series of lawsuits filed by communities affected by the tests drew attention to military-scientific use of inhabitants’ bodies as repositories of data concerning the ecological impact of the bomb and the manner in which sensing practices used to extract this data extended the violence and trauma of nuclear weapons. Nuclear imperialism projected its power not only through weapons tests, the vaporization of land and the erosion of the rights of people who lived there, but also through the production of a “nuclear sensorium”—the differentiation of modes of sensing the bomb through legal, military, and scientific discourses and the attribution of varying degrees of epistemological value and legal weight to these sensory modes.

scholarly journals “Post-Quantal Garden” Annotated

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Boswell
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Speculative Fiction ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Nuclear Testing ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Bomb Test ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
Enewetak Atoll

The Post-Quantal Garden is a work of speculative fiction based on J.G. Ballard’s short story “The Terminal Beach” first published in 1964. Set within Donna Haraway’s climate-changed Chthulucene, the work is intended as an elliptical rumination on the history of nuclear testing in the Pacific, bio-hacking, tropicality, and apocalyptic narrative. Moving between historical fact and speculative fiction, the story takes the form of a scholarly introduction to and contextualization of fictional passages from an imaginary journal supposedly found during the very real radiological clean-up of Enewetak Atoll. Enewetak, an atoll in the Marshall Islands group, was used by the US for nuclear testing and was the site of operation Ivy-Mike, the first fusion bomb test, and is the setting for Ballard’s Terminal Beach.      

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