scholarly journals The Melanesian Media Declaration

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-196
Author(s):  
Melanesia Media Freedom Forum

We, the participants at the Melanesian Media Freedom representing media from Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and West Papua, wish to express concern about growing threats to media freedom in our region and call on members of our industry and other organisations and individuals to take action to help secure the future of the Fourth Estate as a vital pillar of democracy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
Fred Wesley

Commentary: The Melanesian Media Freedom Forum (MMFF) notes democracy is in retreat and journalists like Victor Mambor (West Papua), Scott Waide (Papua New Guinea) and Dan McGarry (Vanuatu) are carrying the baton for media freedom. There has been a global reversal for a free press that has spanned countries in every region, including long-standing democracies like the United States and consolidated authoritarian regimes like China and Russia. The pattern has been consistent and ominous.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Alice Michie ◽  
John S. Mackenzie ◽  
David W. Smith ◽  
Allison Imrie

Ross River virus (RRV) is the most medically significant mosquito-borne virus of Australia, in terms of human morbidity. RRV cases, characterised by febrile illness and potentially persistent arthralgia, have been reported from all Australian states and territories. RRV was the cause of a large-scale epidemic of multiple Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) from 1979 to 1980, involving at least 50,000 cases. Historical evidence of RRV seropositivity beyond Australia, in populations of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Indonesia and the Solomon Islands, has been documented. We describe the genomic characterisation and timescale analysis of the first isolate of RRV to be sampled from PNG to date. Our analysis indicates that RRV has evolved locally within PNG, independent of Australian lineages, over an approximate 40 year period. The mean time to most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of the unique PNG clade coincides with the initiation of the PICTs epidemic in mid-1979. This may indicate that an ancestral variant of the PNG clade was seeded into the region during the epidemic, a period of high RRV transmission. Further epidemiological and molecular-based surveillance is required in PNG to better understand the molecular epidemiology of RRV in the general Australasian region.


Author(s):  

Abstract A new distribution map is provided for Rice grassy stunt tenuivirus Viruses: Tenuivirus. Hosts: Rice (Oryza sativa). Information is given on the geographical distribution in ASIA, Bangladesh, Brunei, Darussalam, China, India, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Indonesia, Java, Nusa, Tenggara, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Japan, Kyushu, Korea Republic, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, OCEANIA, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands.


Author(s):  
H. Y. M. Leung

Abstract A description is provided for Cercospora mikaniicola. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Mikania cordata, Mikania micrantha (Asteraceae). DISEASE: Leaf spot and stem canker. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Fiji, Guadalcanal, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Niue, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, USA (Florida), Vanuatu. TRANSMISSION: Conidia are presumably air-dispersed but there are no detailed studies.


Author(s):  
A. Sivanesan

Abstract A description is provided for Cochliobolus eragrostidis. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: Acacia, Agave, Allium, Alysicarpus, Amorphophallus, Anacardium, Arachis, Areca, Billbergia, Calamus, Callitris, Calotropis, Camellia, Cananga, Capsicum, Citrullus, Citrus, Clerodendron, Cocos, Coffea, Colocasia, Cymbopogon, Dendrobium, Digitaria, Dioscorea, Dracaena, Durio, Elaeis, Eragrostis, Eucalyptus, Euphorbia, Furcraea, Gladiolus, Glycine, Gossypium, Heliconia, Hevea, Hystrix, Ipomoea, Kaempferia, Lycopersicon, Mangifera, Manihot, Mystroxylon, Musa, Neyraudia, Oldenlandia, Opuntia, Oryza, Panicum, Pennisetum, Pentas, Phalaenopsis, Phaseolus, Pinus, Polygala, Pueraria, Raphia, Raphanus, Rhodomyrtus, Rhoeo, Rottboellia, Saccharum, Sesamum, Sorghum, Spinacia, Sporobolus, Stylosanthes, Theobroma, Thrasya, Tradescantia, Trichosanthes, Triplochiton, Triticum, Vanda, Vigna, Zea, Zingiber and soil. DISEASE: Leaf spots. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Australia, Bangladesh, Belize, Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Colombia, Cuba, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Trinidad, USA, Zambia, Zaire. TRANSMISSION: By wind-borne conidia.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4991 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
MING KAI TAN ◽  
SIGFRID INGRISCH ◽  
CAHYO RAHMADI ◽  
TONY ROBILLARD

Heminicsara Karny, 1912 is a katydid genus of Agraeciini from the Axylus genus group. It currently comprises 62 species from mainly New Guinea and surrounding archipelagos. Based on recent fieldwork in Lobo in West Papua, Indonesia, a new species of Heminicsara is described here: Heminicsara incrassata sp. nov. It is most readily characterised from congeners and other species of the Axylus genus group by the male tenth abdominal tergite forming a large shield-shaped plate. This represents the first species of Heminicsara described and known from the south-west of New Guinea.  


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Ceridwen Spark

In this article, I discuss two recent examples of women’s filmmaking in Melanesia. The documentaries are Tanah Mama (2014), focused on West Papua and Café Niugini (2015), set in Papua New Guinea. Both films explore and represent food in profoundly different ways. Here, I consider their respective depictions of food, demonstrating that Tanah Mama represents food as sustenance while Café Niugini renders food as ‘cuisine’ through the ‘creative performance’ of cookery. Nevertheless, and as I argue, both documentaries reflect the filmmakers’ interest in representing issues associated with food in the Pacific, including the importance of Indigenous access to land, population management, gender roles and the impact of changing cultural values on food consumption and health.


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