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This paper aims to address a gap in investigating specific impacts of climate change on mental health in the Pacific region, a region prone to extreme events. This paper reports on a study on the connections between climate change, public health, extreme weather and climate events (EWEs), livelihoods and mental health, focusing on the Pacific region Islands countries.

This paper deploys two main methods. The first is a bibliometric analysis to understand the state of the literature. For example, the input data for term co-occurrence analysis using VOSviewer is bibliometric data of publications downloaded from Scopus. The second method describes case studies, which outline some of the EWEs the region has faced, which have also impacted mental health.

The results suggest that the increased frequency of EWEs in the region contributes to a greater incidence of mental health problems. These, in turn, are associated with a relatively low level of resilience and greater vulnerability. The findings illustrate the need for improvements in the public health systems of Pacific nations so that they are in a better position to cope with the pressures posed by a changing environment.

This paper contributes to the current literature by identifying the links between climate change, extreme events, environmental health and mental health consequences in the Pacific Region. It calls for greater awareness of the subject matter of mental health among public health professionals so that they may be better able to recognise the symptoms and relate them to their climate-related causes and co-determinant factors.

This study aims to examine the determinants of bank stability based on three measures of bank stability while accounting for key bank-specific, macro-finance and structural variables. The aim is to underscore key indicators of stability that can be tracked by analysts, bank managers and regulators, especially in small economies such as Fiji.

The sample comprises a balanced panel of seven banking and financial institutions over the period 2000-2018. For consistency of data and similar functions in terms of deposit and loans, this paper considers five commercial banks and two credit institutions in Fiji. A fixed-effect method of regression is applied, to control for bank heterogeneity. The dependent variable is bank stability, which is based on three measures – the Z-score, the risk-adjusted return on assets and the risk-adjusted equity to assets ratio.

It is noted that bank size, funding risk, credit risk and Herfindahl-Hirschman index are positively associated with bank stability. In the extended model, both inflation and economic growth are positively associated with bank stability, although only inflation is statistically significant. Moreover, factors having a negative association with bank stability are the liquidity risk, the net interest margin and the remittances inflow. Additionally, the domestically generated political crises of the years 2000 and 2006 and the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 are negatively associated with bank stability.

This study empirically examines the determinants of bank stability in Fiji’s banking sector. Unlike previous studies, this study considers three measures of stability, with z-score as the dominant measure and as explanatory variables, bank-specific, macro-finance and structural variables. The bank-specific data used in the study were hand-picked from the disclosure statements of banks and macro-finance data were extracted from the World Bank Indicators. The study underscores pertinent factors associated with bank stability in the small island economy of Fiji, which can be of interest to analysts, bankers, regulators and researchers in this domain.

Higher education plays a vital role in educating citizens about climate change and promoting pro-environment behavior. Based on this statement, this study aims to analyze and evaluate students’ perception of climate change at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. The study aims to understand the main ideas and concepts of climate change by analyzing information habits and individual opinions on the causes of climate change as perceived by the students of two student organizations aimed at environmental protection.

A qualitative approach was used to gather data on students’ perceptions and information habits toward climate change. The data were collected through a questionnaire to characterize students from the socio-demography and their perceptions, information habits and knowledge relating to climate change. This paper uses the case study method to examine students’ climate change perceptions at two different student organizations at the same university. The research study involved a focus group technique. Two focus groups at the University of the South Pacific were administered. The focus groups’ selection in this study took into account the aims and objectives of the students’ organization toward climate change awareness, adaptation, mitigation and environment protection.

The focus groups participants believe that climate change is a serious problem in the South Pacific region. Results suggest significant differences in climate change perception at the two students’ organizations chosen for this study. Students at the Econesian society nicknamed climate change as a nuclear weapon for the South Pacific responsible for changes in the habitat, coral bleaching, lifestyle changes, mother of all other environmental problems and the introduction of invasive species into Fiji. Students at Wantok Moana-related climate change to drastic weather changes, lack of fish feed and additional toxins in the sea. The results also showed that students at the Econesian society have a better understanding of climate change than the students of Wantok Moana.

This paper provides an insight into how students of Small Islands Developing States view climate change and the factors affecting their opinions. It also shows how climate change perception varies within the same university. This implies the need to integrate climate change into the higher education curriculum and more research on this topic.

This paper is the first to compare and contrast university students’ climate change perception in Fiji. The results make an essential contribution to the extant climate change literature by identifying and categorizing climate change perception and the factors that shape students’ perception of climate change from the university students’ perspective in Fiji.

The banking sector stability depends in large part on the size of non-performing loans (NPLs). Hence, the factors which explain the problem loans are very useful information for banks. Notably, studies in this regard with respect to the small developing countries’ banking sector have received less attention. Therefore, this study aims to examine the determinants of NPLs with a case of Fiji’s banking sector, over the period 2000-2013.

The balanced sample consists of the entire banking sector (five commercial banks and two non-bank financial institutions). First, the authors estimate a base model which comprise bank-specific indicators that are related to bank management and then they extend the estimations to include macroeconomic/structural factors such as economic growth, inflation, changes of the real effective exchange rate, unemployment, remittances, political instability and external events like the global financial crisis. The estimations are done using pooled OLS, the random effects and the fixed effects regression methods.

The results show that the following indicators have negative association with NPL and are statistically significant with the conventional levels: return on equity, capital adequacy requirement, market share based on assets, unemployment and time. On the other hand, the net interest margin has a positive and statistically significant association with NPL.

Subsequently, the stability of the banking sector in small developing countries such as Fiji is largely dependent on banks’ profitability, solvency, size in terms of market share and the presence of a learning curve and keeping a close tab on the interest rate spread between loans and deposits.

The paper highlights the specific factors determining NPL in small developing economy of Fiji.

This study is the first to examine specific factors determining NPLs with respect to small developing economies in the Oceania region.

Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, this study explores employees’ learning agility (ELA) as an antecedent of knowledge sharing behaviour, specifically in the supply chain environment. However, such discretionary behaviour can be negatively affected by the prevalence of psychological contract breaches. According to COR theory, employees' resources (knowledge, ability and skills) act as motivational factors that employees strive to protect, retain and at the same time invest in favour of obtaining more resources. On the other hand, when resource loss weighs more than resource gain, an individual agitated with resource depletion will minimise resource loss by decreasing their effort for future displays of resources. A random sample of 418 participants from the public sector in the Fiji Islands yielded a sample of 418 participants. The proposed model was analysed through structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine its fit. The analysis supports the proposed theoretical framework, providing a new dimension for ELA as an unexplored phenomenon for knowledge sharing behaviour (KSB) in the supply chain. The study specifically draws the attention of policymakers on industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG09), where immediate actions are needed to create resilient supply chain management through ELA. Research shows that agile employees can easily adapt to unexpected changes, actively participate in discussions and quickly contribute to innovative and creative solutions. KSB can be further developed through a culture of learning and sharing, rewards for KSB, psychological support and upholding its promised obligations through regular communication, establishing a more resilient supply chain management.

This study examines the contribution of urban development to Vietnam's economic progress over the period 1986–2020. The study uses an augmented Solow framework, where urbanization is included as a shift variable in addition to capital per worker and accounts for structural breaks. It examines the cointegration and the long-run and short-run effects of urban development from four different cases of cointegration (constant, restricted constant, restricted trend and trend options), with each case accounting for the effect of a significant structural break. Also, the study provides causality nexus to check the presence of urbanization-led growth hypothesis. From the results, we note a long-run positive effect of urbanization on economic growth, but no short-run effects. In all cases, a 1% increase in population results in 0.8–0.9 increase of output, hence supporting a positive and momentous effect of urbanization over the long-term. We note a significant positive effect of a single structural break period (1991), which is a period of major shift towards economic progress. We note bidirectional causality between capital and output and a unidirectional causality from output and capital to urbanization. The former suggests a mutually reinforcing effect of capital accumulation and economic growth, and the latter indicates that urban development necessitates economic growth and capital accumulation. The findings derived from this study provide further impetus for urban development and urban policies and consider urbanization as a critical source of economic growth for Vietnam.

Deposits, a liability component of banks’ balance sheet, are an important source of funding for commercial and retail banks. In this study, the authors consider deposits as dependent variable and examine factors (bank-specific, macrofinance and structural) that could plausibly explain deposits. Subsequently, the findings are expected to support analysts, bank managers and regulators, especially in small economies such as Fiji, for asset–liability management.

This study uses a balanced panel of six commercial banks and two credit institutions over the period 2000–2022. To control for bank heterogeneity, a fixed-effect regression method is used.

Bank-specific variables such as bank size, profitability, loan-to-deposit ratio and bank stability are positively associated with bank deposits, whereas the capital adequacy ratio is negatively associated with bank deposits. Macroeconomic variables such as remittances and gross domestic product per capita are positively associated with bank deposits. Moreover, institutional variables such as control of corruption, political stability and regulatory quality are positively associated with bank deposits. However, tail events such as the global financial crisis of 2007–09 and the COVID-19 pandemic negatively influence bank deposits. Structural breaks for 2007 and 2011 of two banks (Bank of the Baroda and Bank of the South Pacific, respectively) are positively associated with bank deposits.

Previous studies have considered profitability, competition, nonperforming loans and stability of banks in Fiji. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to consider the determinants of bank deposits, an important source of funds for banks in many small countries including Fiji. In addition, this study examines the impact of structural breaks, tail events such as the recent pandemic (COVID-19) and institutional variables.