PICISOC at Pacific IGF

At the Pacific Internet Governance Forum (Pacific IGF) 2024, held on 2–3 September in Wellington, New Zealand, PICISOC Head Andrew Molivurae moderated Session 5 on Internet Resource Services in the Pacific Islands, a technical discussion (held on 2 September 2024) on the region’s ccTLD infrastructure and registry innovation. This session was one of several co-organised by PICISOC alongside the main forum (live-stream available at https://isoc.live/18323/), which gathered over 165 participants.

The session opened with a reflection on the outdated and largely manual state of the .pg domain registry, highlighting decades of neglect and the absence of a formal policy review since the late 1990s. These reflections underscored the urgent need for structural reform, service automation, and capacity building to strengthen national internet infrastructure and ensure more reliable domain management.

A concept for a Pacific-wide ccTLD registry model was then introduced, proposing regional aggregation of services as a practical way to address scalability challenges. The model would enable smaller Pacific Island registries to pool resources, reduce costs, and gain improved access to global registrar platforms – thus overcoming the technical and commercial limitations faced by small, isolated markets. The session also included a discussion on Universal Acceptance (UA), Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs), and Email Address Internationalisation (EAI). These technologies were presented as key enablers of linguistic diversity, digital inclusion, and locally relevant online identities – especially important in multilingual regions like the Pacific.

The session highlighted systemic barriers facing small Pacific ccTLDs, including outdated infrastructure, high operational costs, and limited human resources. In response, participants explored collaborative approaches, such as shared infrastructure, policy coordination, and capacity development. The discussion was framed within a broader vision for a more connected, resilient, and sovereign Pacific internet ecosystem, with a strong emphasis on regional solidarity and practical cooperation.

Mr Andrew Molivurae, from PICISOC introducing the session on CIRs during the Pacific IGF on 2 September 2024