Health & Development: A new Devpolicy Blog analysis says Pacific life expectancy has risen to 68.8 years since 1960, but progress is slower than in other middle-income countries, with Naoero singled out for a sharp drop from the region’s top ranks in 1960 to the lowest in 2023. Climate & Ocean Research: Australia’s CSIRO will lead a major Pacific Ocean voyage on the RV Investigator (Fiji to Antarctica) to track how the ocean is absorbing heat and carbon and how marine ecosystems are changing, supporting Fiji’s pre-COP push. UN Diplomacy & Climate Finance: Pacific leaders used the UN General Assembly to stress sea-level rise as “present reality,” and called for climate finance as grants at the scale needed for unavoidable impacts and loss and damage. Skills & Capacity Building: India proposed tailored training programmes for Pacific Island countries under the FIPIC framework, sending professionals to India for priority-focused modules. Culture & Creative Industries: Niue-linked Pacific storytelling continues to gain visibility, with MOTHER VAKA (featuring Pacific design references) taking runner-up at the World of WearableArt.