Places of interest in Vanuatu

Vanuatu's Finance Supervisory Authority (the Reserve Bank) could at last deal with the issues of the APMAFIC ( "APMA APMA AFIC "), which has many Pentecostal facilities and has long been the subject of Pentecostal questioning. The AFIC claimed to be a credit and saving alliance.

There are, however, no contributions with any of the country's merchant banking institutions. Three out of four merchant bankers are denying any dealings with AFIC. There' re a lot of open issues. Ambae will be reduced from stage 4 to stage 3. Euptions stay steady and are limited to Lake Voui.

Minor blasts and the ejecting of warm stones from the chimneys of the new small islet in the sea go on, there is also a small stream of water from the islet into the sea. Vanuatu's Department of Meteorology and Geo Risks is continuing to supervise activities related to the navv. Ambae Port Vila Disaster Committee has been a major contributor to the collection of much needed relief supplies for the Ambae community scattered around the north.

Following much debate about when the new teacher pay scale will come into force, it was stated that this will be the case from the beginning of 2018. Other educational reports awarded 21 pensioned educators for their 35 years of work.

Garden of Eden for sal. Vanuatu's blissful illusion of business expansion

In spite of several years of economical expansion, Vanuatu's capitol Port-Vila is experiencing severe tension in which a steadily increasing number of residents see their everyday living environment more and more harshly. Much of the country has been rented out to foreign investment and the economy is mainly driven and monitored by expats and/or non-native Ni-Vanuatu.

Most of the country's countryside is still subsisting on farming, and its robust and well-established lifestyles are under threat from the impact of change. Then it is necessary to remember that the calculation of gross domestic product (GDP) is not correct to assess the standard of living and standard of living in Vanuatu, which was chosen by one ngos as the "happiest people in the world" according to other, provocative criterions.

Despite economic growth and political stability for several years, social tension has arisen in Port-Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, in which living standards are becoming increasingly difficult. It should therefore be remembered that the criteria for calculating GDP are not very suitable for assessing the quality of life in Vanuatu, which was also voted "happiest country in the world" by an ngo that uses other, more provocative criteria.

1 In the last five years, the Republic of Vanuatu has been one of the most rapidly expanding Pacific States. However, behind the numbers, as an astrologer working in the outskirts of Port-Vila, the capitol, I have seen the damaging impact of an economy previously founded on gross domestic product (gdp) and FDI-driven prosperity, and ignored the peculiarities of this small tribal state.

Vanuatu is undergoing rapid change as a result of a huge boom in the property sector promoted by tourists and overseas investments. It is this kind of economical growth that is leading to new ways of alienating the country and creates tension between the Ni-Vanuatu populations. Few minorities of Ni-Vanuatu were able to benefit from it.

3DThis document describes the current economical and socio-political situations in Port-Vila and on Efate Isle in the wake of my own observation during the last three field missions ( (2007, 2008, 2009), as well as interview and criticism voiced by Ni-Vanuatu and others. 4Republic of Vanuatu has been one of the most rapidly expanding Pacific countries since 2006.

Numbers demonstrating this success in sustaining the economy are presented in detail in a number of Asian Development Bank (adb), IMF (imf) and other Vanuatu-based donor and decision-maker magazines. The various governmental bodies have been commended for their capacity to deliver good results and to maintain a stable state.

Nevertheless, as an arthropologist who has been conducting field research in this land for many years...I have experienced the damaging impact of an economy mainly driven by gross domestic production (gdp) and external investments and ignored the peculiarities of this small state. 5Vanuatu, voted the "happiest people in the world" in 20060, is undergoing rapid change as a result of a huge boom in the property sector and the development of this area.

Only a few Ni-Vanuatu nationals were able to benefit from this wealth during this time. In addition, this kind of evolution is leading to new types of urban estrangement that Ni-Vanuatu are competing against each other, especially in the city0. It seeks to describe the current economical and societal context in the context of my own observation, interview and other criticisms made in Vanuatu and elsewhere.

6 Vanuatu is often commended as an example among the small Pacific island states0, both for its commercial results and for the considerable consistency with which the country's governments support FDI. So what is behind Vanuatu's great excitement for its new business orientation? This is the result of the "Private Dairy Industry Assessment" published by the Asian Development Bank in August 2009:

7 According to this formal document, three main areas can be distinguished to account for these outstanding business results: travel, property and building and agriculture. Politics towards the public sphere has been enhanced by the Spanish authorities, with the clear intent to make Vanuatu an "investor-friendly" state. 8 This worrying declaration was not made by a farcical ngos campaigning for the interests of tribal people with a 1970s rhetoric: it is a quotation from a World Bank working document, an organization not really known for its criticism of free market economics.

But in Vanuatu, complacency is rife among members of the Vanuatu administration and those working for AusAid, NZaid0, the European Union or the Asian Bank for Cohesion. Immigrant communities residing in villages near Port-Vila have to move when the lands they occupy are rented to a property developers; and the large areas of grass on which townspeople could cultivate basic foods are quickly dwindling, despite increasing demand.

In these areas new amenities are offered (water, electricity, high-speed access to the Internet) that most Ni-Vanuatu homes cannot do. 9 The country's peasantry, which still depends mainly on sub-sistence farming, sees its sturdy and sturdy conventional way of life under threat from the impact of overdevelopment. In several other archipelagos (Gaua, Epi, Malekula), large parts of the so-called "underdeveloped" area have recently been rented out to international investment.

In spite of the government's promise not to promote the development of countryside travel to preserve the people' lifestyles, "Bali-Style Resorts" and "Meditation Centres" are being constructed in remote areas and islets. 10Tourism, after years of flattening, has seen tremendous expansion in Vanuatu over the last five years.

Despite the global downturn, the number of tourists arriving in January 2009 was 28% higher than in January 20080. That is directly related to the sharp decline in Fiji's travel industry, which was severely affected by the 2006 Commodore Frank Bainimarama takeover. For a long time Vanuatu tried to evolve itself, but the industry stagnated.

Vanuatu's tourist industry is now benefiting from very low wages: the monthly salary has recently been raised by 20% to 26,000 volts (approx. US$ 260 or ? 200). 11 Another important stimulus for investment is the relatively low costs of property, especially the unspoilt coastline, which has triggered a huge property bubble in the recent past.

Expanding the property market is connected with the tourist industry, but also with a new tendency, especially among Australia's infant boomer, to buy accommodation in Vanuatu, a non-taxable area. 12 One of the appalling features of tourist growth, especially for the anthropologist, is the increasing commercialisation of castom and conventional practice (Tabani, 2010).

Visiting local communities, dancing and tourist ceremonies are a good way to sell Vanuatu as a "destination "0. Condemning the devastating impact of travel on tribal culture can be seen as romatic and unrealist, yet the country people's tradition of maintaining the country's population is still the most sustained form of urban growth in these days of global uncertainty.

Trying to establish a viable economy and provide wage-dependent jobs in Vanuatu contradicts what makes the island so special: most of the population lives on their own native lands and sub-farm. The debate on whether or not Vanuatu should join the World Trade Organisation (wto) continues.

If this were the case, the property would have to give up one of the most important privileges of the 1979 constitution: the fact that all estates belonged to their native landowners and could not be resold. So it is not "fair" to allow some to own property and others not. Vanuatu's native countryside (and de facto its crops) is now considered one of the major obstacles to economic growth.

In the 2006-2008 economic booms, there were even ads on television in Australia and in the papers that offered "unmissable" investments in Vanuatu. The majority of international investments are therefore focused on the building, sale of properties and other propertyrelated operations. The previously mentioned abb reports show that FDI in housing has resulted in a significant increase in the price of plots and a building industry surge, which has significantly increased Vanuatu's economic upturn.

In recent years, the average level of investment in the Pacific Islands has exceeded 20% of GNP on average - the highest among the Pacific states. In a few years, a large amount of ground on Efate was rented out to international investment. Today it is known that about 80% of the coastline is rented on the Efate Isle ( "Port-Vila" is the capital) (see below).

14 Most of the country is already tethered or encircled, so tribal people have no beach or ocean access: "Tede, wifela mashima askem long oil wetman long kaetman long kaetman long solwota, ölsem haem we wifela I no casem independent yet" ["Today we must ask the whites for authorization to enter the ocean, just as before independence"], says Chief Roy Iasul (Interview with the writer, September 2008, cf. Man Vila, opt. cit.).

15 Furthermore, the rent of a large amount of ground causes many tension within municipalities and towns, as only a small percentage of the population is willing to rent the ground for their own advantage, which has long been considered unalienable (especially by younger generation, who have felt they have been sold by their elders).

After Efate's entire coastline has been rented out, designers and investment companies are now relocating to the Santo, Epi and Malakula isles. It is all the more disturbing when one knows the meaning of country and the term "ples" (place), both in the Vanuatu tradition and in the modern contexts, where immigrants have powerful and proactive ties to their home isle ("Lind", 2010).

Vanuatu's rural complexities, a mixture of tribal practice and West European laws (Van Trease, 1987), made even more complicated by the French and British dual and often conflicting traditions (Miles, 1998), are now seen as decelerating and daunting for migrants. As a result, there is a need to restructure the system of leases to allow equitable and universally accessible lands by keeping them free.

In view of the recent demand for a "Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations" (pacer), this is a topical issue that would strongly favour the exports of goods from Australia to neighbouring Pacific countries. In 1980, at the time of the country's sovereignty, all land was proclaimed native land and returned to its usual owner, with the only option of lease.

18 Ni Vanuatu crops are known for their strong relationship to the country (see for example: Curtis, 2002; Taylor, 2008). It is often described by humanists or tribal militants as a quasi-sacred relationship, and in any case it is the basis of Vanuatu's tradition of economics and way of being. It is often seen in a global context of global warming and global warming that the place and importance of subsidised farming is a great benefit for the poorest people.

In contrast to many other so-called poor nations, there was no unrest in Vanuatu when the prices of staples rose drastically around the world in the years 2007-080. 19 Agriculture is an important part of Vanuatu's economies and accounts for about 20% of the country's population. 20It seems all the more obvious that a larger, more powerful commercial sector will help to maintain the pace of expansion and lower the cost of imports, thus encouraging FDI and the evolution of agribusiness.

However, this undermines the fact that the people of Vanuatu have been living for hundreds of years and still live a large part of it, mainly from self-sufficiency. Such an environmentally sound, sustained lifestyle is not founded on growing and is therefore seen as an antagonist of the country's economical development. Ralph Regenvanu0 and the Vanuatu Cultural Center's longstanding effort to gain credit for "kastom ekonomi'"0 was partially honored when the then Prime Minister Ham Lini proclaimed 2007 (and later 2008) the "Year of Tradtional Economy" (Regenvanu, 2007).

That was after a "pig bank" project was launched under the patronage of Unesco0, which used the esteemed beast as a trading currency, especially for remote indigenous peasants who had little contact with the money industry. However, it did not make much difference to the government's main focus on developing an economics geared to attracting investments from abroad.

In order to build huge monocultural orchards in which rows of palms are planted, these plants need extensive diversification of the countryside. 21 Contrary to popular opinion, the Ni-Vanuatu people have many years of livelihood experiences in the free enterprise and cash-driven farming. The Vanuatu peasants find their place in the sub-sistence activity without endangering their ecosystem. 0.

If you mix these species in a clever way, these orchards become much more resilient to the climatic insecurities that are common and extremely common in Vanuatu. 22 In addition, conventional occupations such as yam roots or swine or by-products such as matting, pork cutters (which are used as a means of payment on the islands) are important in the ceremony exchange that takes place during marriage, birth, settlement of disputes and so on.

Following "kastom" (a comprehensive and varied system of practice and rule that has become the umbrella concept for everything to do with tribal peoples in most regions of the Pacific), these actions ensure the preservation of societal coherence. Therefore, although well anchored in the community for a long time, the West is only a complementary and occasional business of most Ni-Vanuatu.

Vanuatu has no home lost due to the extensive roles and philosophies of the conventional subsistence farming, and the vast pre-independent and post-independence populations have always been able to survive with very little state assistance or accessibility to state service. 23 According to Ralph Regenvanu (2007), the specific advantages of the conventional economies are the following:

There' s more than enough to feed everyone in the land, and we are enjoying a level of nutritional safety that goes hand in hand with the cultivation of our own crops; the conventional garden foods are secure, wholesome and nourishing; there is no homeless in Vanuatu, a braggadocio (as far as I know from my trips around the world) that only we, the Solomon Islands and PNG can do (the three economies where the conventional economies are probably the strongest);

There are no retirement and psychiatric facilities - everyone is looked after in the large household; we have a general standard of peacemaking and harmonious society throughout the land, which is the product of a set of traditional principles such as mutual esteem, justice, the advancement of relations and a restaurative system of joint disputat.

Nevertheless, there is general consensus among the governing coalition and donor countries that the best, if not the only way, was to achieve GDP expansion on the basis of FDI. Therefore, a powerful stimulus to help the privatisation process and to diminish the state' s part in the business world, which has been restricted since the Comprehensive Reform Programme (crp) was implemented in 19970.

See the work of the Vanuatu Women Micro-Credit Movement. On the particular issues of young people in Vanuatu, cf. Mitchell (2004). 25 In Vanuatu, the umbrella word "private sector" encompasses a broad spectrum of little in common activity. One of the major issues in the Ni-Vanuatu venture is accessing finance.

Therefore, it is very embarrassing for Ni-Vanuatu to start a business because it is very tough to get credit from a local banks. One of the only options for an interest rate of 14% on averages is to have real estate as a guaranty. However, if the credit is not paid back in due course, those who do not receive it may loose their country.

However, of the many new areas that provide assisted housing to traders, only a few (Teouma, Salili Blacksand....) are available to Ni-Vanuatu. 27Most employees in the business community - tourist, building, retail trade - receive the minimal wage: 26,000 vol. wages or just under 200 euro.

Labour law exists in Vanuatu, but it is not implemented; employer does not abide by the regulations on holiday pay, overtime or dismissal. There are also many who are refusing to make a contribution to the Vanuatu Provident Fund (vnpf) for their people. 28Beyond the fact that Vanuatu is a taxation haven, with an off-shore centre operating since 1971, it also has a very appealing municipal taxation system.

Ni-Vanuatu's difficulty in obtaining the necessary funds is an impediment to more just commercial competitiveness and thus to maintaining the necessary level of societal coherence for a nation that has applied for "paradise" outdoors. When developing to a large extent the Ni- Vanuatu, who own seaside resorts to establish a touristic company instead of renting their lands to overseas invest.

29 With its continuing policy stableness and economical expansion, Vanuatu is undoubtedly a "good student" in the opinion of the Arab League and other global givers. Applauding the governments instability and the Finance Minister for their rigour, overseas states and non-governmental organizations that have an important part in the Vanuatu economy are doing their best to persuade the state that it is on the right path.

Enforcing a stable policy is a major factor in achieving good results, more than the opposite. In September 2008, the new Prime Minister Edward Nipake Natapei (Vanua'Aku Party) gave his first English address as a signal to donor and international investment, but the majority of the native people do not speak this fluently.

30 The guidelines put forward by Vanuatu's recent government are aimed at facilitating external investments without taking into account the real advantages for the people. "31 While there is still a thorough discussion about whether or not there should be free access to training, the "much needed ring road" (ibid.) around the major Efate platform, financed by the US-borne Millennium Challenge Account, is now complete0.

However, most Ni-Vanuatu tribes are still not able to buy a vehicle, so the roads are of particular value to expats, who now own most of the coast on Efate anyway. We need a more thorough assessment of the societal and macroeconomic impact of a pattern of growth, disregarding the fact that 80% of the people still live mainly from a millenary, self-sustaining and locally-cultural tradeculture.

We must remember here how imprecise the calculations of GNP are in order to gauge the Vanuatu standard of living and standard of living. Conversely, in a land like Vanuatu, the abrupt collapse of the international economic system in 2008 may have been a paradox: contrary to the unstoppable tendency that is drawing the public into the international economic system, more and more individuals have started to use their traditional self-help abilities and the new " castom economi ".

In order to recover the status of "the happiest nation in the world", Vanuatu may have to remain "underdeveloped". So could the global financial turmoil be a boon to some of the small South Pacific islands? Kidnapping of development futures: "in Vanuatu, Briefing Paper Report. Establishing Christianity and cash cropping in a new Hebrew community, Journal of Pacific Historical 3, pp. 25-46.

The Asian Development Bank 2009 (August). Sustainable growth: For Vanuatu,Mandaluyong City, Phil. Asian Development Bank. Identities, stories and forces among the Na'hai speakers of Malakula (Vanuatu), Doctorate, Canberra, Australian National University. Vanuatu : Kastom und State Justice Systems in Vanuatu, Canberra, Australian National University E-Press. Criticism of the'Africanization' of the South Pacific Thesis, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 42 (1), pp. 1-34.

The National Census (short version), Port-Vila, Vanuatu National Statistics Office. Urban phenomenon in Melanesia, S. 219-30. Kastom, Colonialism and Gender in Vanuatu, Chur and Reading, Harwood Academic Publishers. Vanuatu, The Contemporary Pacific 20 (2), pp. 475-80.

Place Paamese: Location of issues with place, gender and movement in Vanuatu, dissertation, University of St Andrews. Vanuatu Identity and Development, Honolulu, University of Hawai'i Press. Killing Time' in a post-colonial city: Youth and Settlement in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in V. Lockwood (ed.), Globalization and Cultural Change in the Pacific Islands, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, pp. 358-376.

Remarkable' growth in tourism: A world in crisis, Vanuatu Projects Growth, Islands Business, Suva (Fiji), pp. 6-7. Place, Castom, Gender and'Real Estate' in a Vanuatu Peri-Urban community: Year of the Tradicional Economies, what is it about? Main talk at the Pacific Alternatives Conference, Honolulu, Hawai'i, East-West Center.

Africanisation of the South Pacific, The Australian Journal of International Affairs 54, pp. 261-268. Nationalism of Cook Islands Nationalismus seit 1965, in T. Otto & N. Thomas (Hrsg.), Narratives of Nation in the South Pacific, Amsterdam, Harwood Academic Publishers, S. 163-188. Price of tourism: Country Alienation in Vanuatu, Justice for the Poor2 (1), World Bank Organization (http://indigenous-ni-vanuatu.blogspot.com/2008/01/price-of-tourism-land-alienation-in.html).

Shore dives, thousand year old parades and other spectacular rituals in Vanuatu, Oceania 80 (3), pp. 309-328. Paths of Being and Place in Vanuatu, Honolulu, Hawai'i University Press. Vanuatu: From Colony to Independence, Suva, University of the South Pacific, Institute of Pacific Studies. On some recent events in Vanuatu, Journal of the Society of Oceanists 106, pp. 79-90.

Vanuatu, a democracy in the Pacific, Montreuil, Aux Lieux d'Être. A" manager" in Vanuatu's business is like the" quartermaster" on a ship: he looks after everything and is in charge of everything that is subordinated to the actual chief, the proprietor. Most of the small snack bars in the city offer 300 vatus, and a dish of "lokol kakae" (traditional food) at the local markets cost about 200 vol.

In the new divisions recently created around Vila, a small area ('1,000 to 1,500 square meters) will cost at least 1.2 million patu (8,000 euros) in the less expensive areas. Obviously, Henry would go to the banks and lend as part of honest business tender.

However, a bank is hesitant to give funds to ni-Vanuatu unless they can provide a country security to ensure the mortgage. Rates, although high in both cases (around 9-10%), was even better than the 12-14% interest rates interest rates provided to ni-Vanuatu businessmen. She was interviewed by: I have been working in Vanuatu since 1997.

This research trip was sponsored by the Pacific Islands Development Program (pidp) of the East-West Center (Honolulu) and a fellowship from a research program headed by Dr. Marie Salaun ("Indigenous People and the State in the Pacific"- iris/ehess) financed by the National Research Agency (Agence national de la Recherche).

The New Economics Foundation, a London-based company named ngos, chose to assess the stage of development: instead of measuring the number of cars or per capita incomes, they studied the effects on the enviroment, childhood, or culturality. Vanuatu came in first place when the classical bip ranking by nations narrowed the list in the lower third.

The estrangement of lands was a milestone in the New Hebrides' story, but without necessarily standing up to Ni-Vanuatu, as the lands were normally not rented on a voluntary basis, but acquired unlawfully by Europeans (Van Trease, 1987). "Remarkable' tourism growth: Vanuatu with a world in crisis, projects growth" (Pareti, 2009). In the first 30 years of its sovereignty, Vanuatu has never seen a military coup d'état and there has never been any serious threat to it.

NZaid and Aus Aid are the offical developing organisations for Australia and New Zealand. This is a different story from that described by Delphine Greindl (1996) in her research on the use of foods in Vanuatu city. Most of Vanuatu's lands are regarded as tribal by the country's constitutional system and therefore cannot be formally marketed.

It' s amazing - and potentially unfair - that the document confuses a common number in Vanuatu that has remained constant for many years: the last one ('2009') shows that only 24% of the overall populace is city. O Ralph Regenvanu, former Vanuatu Cultural Center manager and tribal government leader, became a member of parliament for Port-Vila in September 2008 after a landmark win in the parliamentary election.

He was recently named Minister of Ni-Vanuatu Trade in December 2010. The word muslama refers to the tradition of economics, the way of life that has reigned in Melanesia for centuries. Vanuatu is the most multifaceted linguistic land in the word with 113 national tongues.

The" Schweinebank " programme was part of a major Unesco programme to promote traditionally used currency, which is regarded as part of the immaterial patrimony. A research document published by the World Banc in July 2008 came to the conclusion that"[...] the sharp increase in biofuel output in the US and Europe is the major cause of the sharp increase in the world' s rising price of food" (Mitchell, 2008).

This also applies to Vanuatu cattle, the other major exporter, which is mainly generated by Europeans. Incorporated by Australia's consultants and the Asian Development Bank, the aim of the crisis is to reform the state and promote the free enterprise of the country's people. See the work of the Vanuatu Women Micro-Credit Movement.

On the particular issues of young people in Vanuatu, cf. Mitchell (2004). The only Pacific island land that can be funded under the Millennium Challenge is Vanuatu. Vanuatu's cute illusion of economical growth", Le Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 133 Thurs. 2011, 323-332.