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Kiribati is preparing to be the first country in the world to welcome the new year.

Situated in the central Pacific, Kiribati is made of 33 Islands grouped into 3 island archipelagos: The Gilbert Islands in the West; the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in the center; and the Line Islands in the East.

The islands straddle along and across the equator at the true heart of the Pacific; where the equator meets the International Date Line. It is the only country in the world situated on all four hemispheres of the globe – northern, southern, eastern, and western.

The Line group in the Eastern part of the country will be the first in the world to welcome the year. It is currently 1 hour ahead of Fiji and New Zealand, 3 hours ahead of the East Coast of Australia and 22 hours ahead of the West Coast of the USA.

To celebrate this, the Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) will host a live feed via its official Facebook page Visit Kiribati from Kiritimati (Christmas) island on the 1^st of January to capture the world’s first sunrise in 2021. The live feed will be active from 6.30am (Kiritimati time).

Kiritimati island is a world class saltwater flats fly fishing destination offering bonefish, triggerfish, giant trevally, and numerous other species.

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati undertook a cultural rehabilitation program and ecotourism development consultations on the island of Abemama from the 9^th to the 14^th of August 2020.

On the first week, TAK teamed up with Cultural and Museum Division during their village consultations. These consultations aimed at increasing awareness on the significance of maintaining cultural heritage and planting of resilient local food crops to enhance their food security and maintain the traditional cuisine and to sustain local knowledge and practices in response to the adverse impacts of climate change.

TAK was involved with the cultural rehabilitation consultations and site visit with village elders. This was the second joint Culture and Tourism mission to help restore and rehabilitate site of cultural significance for tourism purpose as well and for future generations to enjoy. The team had the opportunity to discuss with village decision makers ways in which these important sites could be preserved or beautified.

Whilst on the island, TAK had the opportunity to expand its awareness on the importance of ecotourism development to interested communities and villages and a follow up with Reina village on their cultural eco tour program that was developed in 2019. Reina village also informed the team on their interest to establish their own eco-accommodation. This was followed with a site visit and clean up.

Additionally, a visit to Kauma High School by the team, provided the school the opportunity to know and learned the importance of Agritourism Development and linkages between the tourism and agriculture.

The TAK team is expected to revisit Abemama in September to work with active communities, villages and school who have shown interest and to commence their eco-tourism business initiatives as well as continue its engagement with CMD on the beautification of Abemama cultural sites that were identified during the visit.

This activity is supported by the LDCF-1 Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented under the Environment and Conservation Division with the support of the United Nations Development Programme.

Every Friday of the week, staff of the Ministry of Line and Phoenix Islands take a day off from office work and work outside cleaning and gardening outside of their officer for a cleaner and healthier working environment.

The main purpose of the cleaning campaign is to encourage all employees to continue working in a working place that is clean, tidy and look inviting to customers.

Friday 20th June 2020, TAK staffs had the opportunity to work on their garden and their office entrance, beautifying it with flowers and other plants to make it look attractive and tidy. An inspection to be carried out once each sector completed their clean up and gardening.

Cultural celebration has been part of the fabric of Kiribati schools for decades and it is still celebrated in schools till date. Part of the celebration includes a competition on three different things, singing (choir), local dancing and playing different types of local games. Local produce and foods were also displayed for sale during the day.

Given that culture is recognized as the subset of tourism and provides social and economic benefits to the local community at large, sustainable revival of our culture through school cultural celebration is vital for maintaining and keeping our, identity and integrity as an I-Kiribati.

TAK support this initiative and is planning to work with schools that celebrate cultural day and have their dates included in the 2021 tourism event Calendar for travellers who want to see and experience the Kiribati culture and have it include it also on a list of things to do while in Kiribati.

The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) commemorated World Environment Day through a clean-up drive at the World War ll relics at Takoronga point in Betio on Saturday 06^th June 2020.

The war relics include 2x 8inch vickers anti-ship coastal guns and bunker installed by the Japanese during its occupation of Betio in World War ll.

As custodian of all World War ll relics in Kiribati, TAK is working with local partners such as the Ministry of Environment Lands and Agricultural Development (Environment Conservation Division), local communities and private businesses to undertake the clean-up and preservation of all World War ll relics in Kiribati.

The 06^th June clean-up was supported by the local Takoronga community who also planted flowers along the road to help beautify the site. The event concluded with refreshments and a community picnic the following weekend.

Honourable President Taneti Maamau declared Kiribati in a state of public emergency on Thursday 26 March 2020.

President Maamau confirmed that Kiribati was declared among other Pacific Islands to be in a state of emergency of COVID-19. He expressed that the alarming number of people infected with the pandemic around the world puts Kiribati in a very vulnerable state.

Kiribati is currently on Level 2 alert after a passenger displayed mild symptoms of the COVID-19 flu a week ago. The individual is currently self-isolating at his family home.

In his address, President Maamau strongly advised that the public observe all COVID-19 control measures announced by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS). These include minimizing public gatherings, maintaining the recommended 2 meters social distancing practice and a 20 seconds hand-wash after touching anything.

In preparation for upcoming Cruise Vessels to Kiritimati Island this year, a sounding survey was conducted by the Kiribati Port of Authority, Civil Engineering & Technical Unit, HMMD and Tourism Authority of Kiribati on Friday 14th February 2020 to provide spots or sites that need to be dredged.

The survey resulted from last year cancellation of cruise calls to Kiritimati Island concerning the shallowness of the Ronton Channel which prevented tender boats to cross over to the jetty. Since there is no other channel on Kiritimati for tender boats, the Ronton Channel should be deepened to a required depth of 5 meters.

Part of the preparation involves a cleaning campaign which was conducted at Tabontekee on the same day as the survey. Staffs of the Ministry of Lines and Phoenix Islands Development, Government agencies and some private operators were part of this cleaning campaign which will be conducted every week on Fridays.

Three teams which includes the Tourism Authority of Kiribati visited and conducted a roadshow program at all the pilot islands of LDCF-I project; Maiana Abemama and Nonouti from 25/10/19 – 4/11/19 in commemoration of the World Food Day. The roadshow was organized by the Project management unit within LDCF in collaboration with its Advocacy Working Committee. 3 youth drama groups were engaged in this awareness program.

The purpose of the roadshow is to increase the visibility of the LDCF-I project in its aim to build the resilience of the indigenous people on these islands so their capacity is enhanced to sustain their livelihood against the impacts of climate change. TAK delivered a presentation on the importance of Tourism in Kiribati.

During the roadshow, the benefits were also clarified to the people so they would be motivated to participate and appreciate the project activities. About 4,000 people were watching the roadshow from all the pilot islands including the women, men, youth and people who are living with disabilities.

According to the overall report received from the 3 teams, it shows that the audience did enjoy all the drama shows and that they were also willingly participated in the quiz competition. Such manners show that the audience did understand and absorb the concept shared in the drama show.

The roadshow program in all the pilot islands was supported by the Kiribati LDCF I Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented under the Environment and Conservation