Anote Tong
Anote Tong is an I-Kiribati politician who served as President of Kiribati, from 2003 to 2016.
Tong has been at the forefront of raising global awareness about catastrophic risks caused by climate change. He directed Kiribati’s purchase of approximately 20 square kilometers of land inFijiin 2014 as a contingency refuge for his people. This follows advice from the IPCC following its fifth assessment that many Pacific Island states such as Kiribati could be submerged by rising sea levels within a few decades. Tong has said the purchase of land in Fiji was partly an investment in property, partly for food security purposes since it is prime farming land, but also a last resort it could be a home for the I-Kiribati people fleeing from the effects of climate change. Anote Tong, dubbed as a ‘climate warrior’, pioneered the notion of ‘migration with dignity’ to avoid the people of Kiribati from becoming ‘climate refugees’.
He is responsible for a number of other initiatives to combat climate change and protect the environment, such as calling for a global moratorium on using coal in 2015, as well as overseeing the creation of a 480,250 square kilometer marine park, the largest protected marine area in the world. The marine park was later adopted as a UNESCO World Heritage List site (Phoenix Islands Protected Area, or PIPA).
As part of his global advocacy on climate change, A. Tong has met with various world leaders to discuss the plight of small island states, including Pope Francis, US President Obama and spoke before world leaders at the COP21 Paris meeting. He also currently serves on the board of Conservation International.
Among many prices, he was awarded the Sunhak Peace Prize and the Leadership Award from the Hillary Institute of International Leadership and the Peter Benchley Ocean Award.