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A United Nations Special Rapporteur, Mr James Anaya, has invited submissions to inform his study on  extractive and energy industries in and near Indigenous territories. His mandate is to prepare an analysis of the impacts of extractive industries on Indigenous peoples and the human rights issues they have created, as well as to identify good practices that avoid or overcome those issues. The final report on the study, which will be presented to the Human Rights Council in 2013, will discuss the applicable human rights principles and include a series of recommendations.

The Republic Democratic of Timor-Leste has established the nation’s first ‘No Take Zones’ (NTZs), where fishing restrictions and other protections have been put in place to enable the replenishment of fish stocks, enhancement of food secruity into the future, and the protection of coral reefs that support local people.

Radio New Zealand International is reporting that lawyer, author and Assistant Registrar of PNG's National Court, Mr  David Gonol, is calling for the development of a Melanesian jurisprudence for Papua New Guinea.
Gonol is reported as saying the country should develop a legal system which utilises both custom law and modern law.
Gonol says the authors of PNG’s Constitution were wise to make provision for the development of the country’s own jurisprudence, which they referred to as ’underlying law’.

The Hon Tony deBrum, Minister in Assistance to the President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, gave a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York in mid-February, after speaking as a panelist about the security issues faced by his country and other small island developing States (SIDS). Mr deBrum aimed to draw attention to the human dimensions of climate change.