Activities
Through Congress and Inter-Congress meetings, and ongoing scientific Working Groups, PSA provides an interdisciplinary platform for scientists to discuss and review common concerns and priorities in the region. Through our scientific network, PSA links scientists from developed countries with those from developing countries, including the archipelagic and more remote states of the Pacific. PSA facilitates research initiatives on critical emerging issues for the region, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, infectious diseases, and the social implications of globalization, in which science can provide crucial information in a way that is required by both society and policymakers to make sound and informed decisions. PSA is a Scientific Associate of the International Council for Science (ICSU).
PSA's ongoing activities include:
Multi-symposia Pacific Science Congresses, held in a different location every four years. Somewhat smaller and more topically focused Inter-Congress meetings are also held in between each Congress. There have been 23 Congresses and 12 Inter-Congresses held since 1920, at venue ranging from Tokyo, Honolulu, Vancouver, Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Tahiti, Fiji, Khabarovsk, and Valparaiso. The most recent 23rd Congress was held at the campus of Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan in June 2016. The 24th Pacific Science Congress will be co-hosted by the China Association of Science and Technology held on the campus of Shantou University in Shantou, China from 28 June to 3 July 2021.
Pacific Science , the official journal of the PSA. Pacific Science is a quarterly journal devoted to the biological, physical, and social sciences of the Pacific Region.
Membership
The Pacific Science Association is composed of national, individual, and NGO/corporate members. National members (i.e. 'adhering organizations') are typically represented by the National Academies of Science from each country, but some national members are universities located within countries which are also national members (for example, the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan is a 'national member', although Japan itself is also a member). Individual and NGO/corporate memberships also form an important part of PSA's constituency.
The Pacific Science Council is the governing body of PSA, and is composed of one or several representatives from each Adhering Organization to PSA. Current national members to PSA include Australia, China-Beijing, China-Hong Kong, China-Taipei, France, Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Okinawa, Pacific Islands (Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu), Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.
Kiribati is a full member of the Commonwealth, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999. Kiribati hosted the Thirty-First Pacific Islands Forum in October 2000. Kiribati has Least Developed Country Status and its interests rarely extend beyond the region. Through accession to the Lomé Convention, then Cotonou Agreement, Kiribati is also a member of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group. Kiribati maintains good relations with most countries and has particularly close ties to Pacific neighbours Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Kiribati briefly suspended its relations with France in 1995 over that country's decision to renew nuclear testing in the South Pacific.
The foreign relations of the People's Republic of China (PRC), commonly known to most states as China, guides the way in which China interacts with foreign nations and expresses its political and economic weaknesses and values. As a great power and emerging superpower, China's foreign policy and strategic thinking are highly influential. China officially claims it "unswervingly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace. The fundamental goals of this policy are to preserve China's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, create a favorable international environment for China's reform and opening up and modernization of construction, and to maintain world peace and propel common development." An example of a foreign policy decision guided by "sovereignty and territorial integrity" is not engaging in diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the Republic of China (Taiwan), which the PRC does not recognise as a separate nation.
The Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, has full diplomatic relations with 14 out of 193 United Nations member states, as well as the Holy See. Historically, the ROC has required its diplomatic allies to recognise it as the sole legitimate government of China, but since the 1990s, its policy has changed into actively seeking dual recognition with the PRC. In addition to these relations, the ROC also maintains unofficial relations with 57 UN member states via its representative offices and consulates.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of ASEAN's series of post-ministerial conferences launched in the mid-1980s, APEC started in 1989, in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; it aimed to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe. Headquartered in Singapore, APEC is recognized as one of the highest-level multilateral blocs and oldest forums in the Asia-Pacific region, and exerts a significant global influence.
The Pacific Community (SPC) is an international development organisation owned and governed by its 26 country and territory members. The organisation's headquarters are in Nouméa, New Caledonia, and it has regional offices in Suva, Fiji, and Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, and Port Vila, Vanuatu, and field staff in other Pacific locations. Its working languages are English and French. It primarily provides technical and scientific advice, and acts as a conduit for funding of development projects from donor nations. Unlike the slightly smaller Pacific Islands Forum, SPC is not a trade bloc, and does not deal with military or security issues.
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of the Pacific Ocean, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum (SPF), and changed its name in 1999 to "Pacific Islands Forum", so as to be more inclusive of the Forum's Oceania-spanning membership of both north and south Pacific island countries, including Australia. It is a United Nations General Assembly observer.
George H. Kerr, also known in Taiwan as 葛超智, was a United States diplomat during World War II, and in later years he was an author and an academic. His published works and archived papers cover "economic and political affairs in Taiwan in the 1930s and 1940s, Taiwan's transition from Japanese rule before and during World War II to postwar Chinese rule, Taiwanese rebellion against Chinese rule in 1947, and U.S. foreign policy toward Taiwan." His works also include "information about economic and political conditions in Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands after World War II."
The World Anti-Communist League (WACL) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups founded in 1952 under the initiative of Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and retired General Charles Willoughby. It united mostly ultra-right and libertarian people and organisations, and acted with the support of the right-wing authoritarian regimes of East Asia and Latin America. During the Cold War, WACL actively participated in anti-communist and anti-Soviet positions.
The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) is an intergovernmental organization, composed of the four Melanesian states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front of New Caledonia. In June 2015, Indonesia was recognized as an associate member.
The International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) is the global scientific organization and voice for food science and technology representing more than 200,000 food scientists and technologists from over 38 countries. It is a voluntary, non-profit association of national food science organizations. IUFoST is a full scientific member of the established in 1962, devoted to the advancement of, one of only 31 scientific unions worldwide and the only global representative of food science and technology to notable organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, United Nations Development Programme and (UNDP), CODEX Alimentarius.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a cabinet level policy-making body, governed under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The fundamental purpose of the ministry is to promote, expand, and conduct bilateral foreign affairs with other nations. The current Foreign Minister is Joseph Wu. The MOFA headquartered in Zhongzheng District in Taipei.
Oceania is, to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, a stage for continuous diplomatic competition. The PRC dictates that no state can have diplomatic relations with both the PRC and the ROC. As of 2019, ten states in Oceania have diplomatic relations with the PRC, and four have diplomatic relations with the ROC. These numbers fluctuate as Pacific Island nations re-evaluate their foreign policies, and occasionally shift diplomatic recognition between Beijing and Taipei. The issue of which "Chinese" government to recognize has become a central theme in the elections of numerous Pacific Island nations, and has led to several votes of no-confidence.
The Harvard International Relations Council(HIRC) is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote awareness of international relations based out of Harvard University. As several semi-independent but centrally funded programs, the IRC focuses on a number of different outreach areas in an attempt to engage and inform people on international issues and policy-making. Programs within the IRC include:
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is a treaty-based organisation established to conserve and manage tuna and other highly migratory fish stocks across the western and central areas of the Pacific Ocean. Its full name is Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. It commenced operations in late 2005, and its secretariat is based in Pohnpei, in the northern Pacific state of the Federated States of Micronesia.
Asset Recovery Interagency Network - Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP) is an informal network of experts and practitioners in the field of asset tracing, freezing and confiscation which intends to serve as a cooperative group in all aspects of tackling the proceeds of crime in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Tuvalu Meteorological Service (TMS) is the principal meteorological observatory of Tuvalu and is responsible for providing weather services to the islands of Tuvalu. A meteorological office was established on Funafuti at the time the islands of Tuvalu were administered as parts of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony of the United Kingdom. The meteorological office is now an agency of the government of Tuvalu.
The 45th Pacific Islands Forum was held from 29 July to 1 August 2014 in Palau. The forum's official opening was held in the capital Ngerulmud, in Melekeok State, but the majority of events were held in Koror, Palau's largest city and former capital. The official theme of the meeting was "The Ocean: Life & Future". Topics under discussion include climate change, commercial fishing, non-communicable diseases and the possibility of readmitting Fiji to the forum.
The International Economic Association (IEA) is an NGO established in 1950, at the instigation of the Social Sciences Department of UNESCO. To date, the IEA still shares information and maintains consultative relations with UNESCO. In 1973 the IEA became a federated member of the International Social Science Council.
