Netatua Pelesikoti

Netatua (Neta) Pelesikoti (died 11 November 2020) was an environmental scientist from Tonga.[1]

Career

Pelesikoti studied geography and economics at the University of the South Pacific, followed by a master's degree in coastal management in the Netherlands and a Ph.D. degree in Australia in coastal monitoring. She began her career as an environmental technical officer in Tonga. She then moved on to work on policy and management at the national level. She also served as an advisor at the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), now called the Applied Geoscience Division of the Pacific Community.[1]

Pelesikoti was the director of the Climate Change Division at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme for seven and a half years. In 2012, she became the first Pacific island woman to be a lead author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report.[1][2] She was described as the 'Queen of Disaster Risk Management' in the Pacific region.[3]

In 2017, at the end of her term at the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, she returned to Tonga.[1] She ran as a candidate for Tongatapu 1 in the previous General Election and narrowly lost a 2019 By-Election.[4] In 2019 she was admitted to an International Scientific Advisory Panel for the World Meteorological Organisation, and was Deputy Chair of the Tonga Cable Ltd. Board.[4]

Pelesikoti died suddenly in Nuku’alofa on 11 November 2020.[4]

References
  1. "Netatua Pelesikoti". Pacific Community. 2017-08-19. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  2. Leewai, Kathleen. "Pacific women in climate change - meet Dr Netatua Pelesikoti, Tonga | Climate Change". www.sprep.org. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  3. "Netatua Pelesikoti". The Pacific Community. 2018-12-01. Archived from the original on 2020-11-13.
  4. "Dr Netatua Pelesikoti Taufatofua dies suddenly in Tonga". Matangitonga. 2020-11-13. Retrieved 2020-11-13.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.