Netatua (Neta) Pelesikoti (died 11 November 2020), also known as Netatua Pelesikoti Taufatofua, was an environmental scientist from

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Biography

Pelesikoti studied geography and economics at the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public university, public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and ...

, followed by a master's degree in

coastal management Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...

in the Netherlands and a Ph.D. degree at

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

, Australia (2003) in Sustainable Coastal Resource Monitoring and Assessment, coastal water quality, coral reefs and sea grass. In 1999, Pelesikoti was named to an elite group of 15 international experts who were part of the World Meteorological Organization Scientific Advisory Panel (WMOSAP).

Career

A coastal ecologist by profession, she began her life's work 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 The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) was an inter-governmental regional organisation dedicated to providing services to promote sustainable development in the countries it serves. In 2010, its functions had been transferred to ...

(SOPAC), now called the Applied Geoscience Division of the Pacific Community. Pelesikoti was the director of the Climate Change Division at the Secretariat of the

Pacific Regional Environment Programme The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is an intergovernmental organisation based in Apia, Samoa with more than 90 staff members. The organisation is held accountable by the governments and administrations of the Pa ...

for more than seven years in

Apia, Samoa Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

. In 2012, she was the first Pacific island woman to become a lead author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report. She also worked as a consultant with the World Bank. She has been described as the 'Queen of Disaster Risk Management' in the Pacific region.

Candidate

In 2017, at the conclusion of her term at the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, she returned to Tonga. She ran as a candidate for Tongatapu 1 in the previous General Election and narrowly lost a 2019 By-Election. 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. Pelesikoti died suddenly in Nuku’alofa on 11 November 2020 in Tonga's capital, Nuku’alofa. She was survived by her husband, Dr. Pita Taufatofua, and children Siosi’ana and Filimone. She was buried in Telekava Cemetery in Kolomotu’a.

Selected works

* Looijen, J., Pelesikoti, N., & Staljanssens, M. (1995). ICOMIS: a spatial multi-objective decision support system for coastal resource management. ''ITC journal'', ''3'', 202-216. * Mimura, N., & Pelesikoti, N. (1997). Vulnerability of Tonga to future sea-level rise. ''Journal of Coastal Research'', 117-132. * Pelesikoti, N. (2003). Sustainable Resource and Environmental Management in Tonga: Current situation, community perceptions and a proposed new policy framework. * Penaia, A., Titimaea, A., Kohlhase, J., Nelson, F., Pelesikoti, N., Bonte-Grapentin, M., ... & Lumbroso, D. (2007). Reducing Flood Risk–From Science to Policy: The Samoa Process. ''Presented at: 24th STAR Session held in conjunction with the SOPAC 36th Session'', ''22'', 29. * Nurse, L. A., McLean, R. F., Agard, J., Briguglio, L., Duvat-Magnan, V., Pelesikoti, N., ... & Webb, A. (2014). Small islands. * Pelesikoti, N., & Suwamaru, J. K. (2017). ICTs in Pacific Islands’ climate change and disaster risk reduction policy and programs. In ''Achieving Sustainable E-Government in Pacific Island States'' (pp. 269-303). Springer, Cham. * Sohn, S. J., Kim, W., Yoo, J. H., Lee, Y. Y., Oh, S. M., Kim, B. R., ... & Pelesikoti, N. (2018). The Republic of Korea-Pacific Islands Climate Prediction Services Project. ''Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society'', 99(2), 253-257. * Mackay, S., Brown, R., Gonelevu, M., Pelesikoti, N., Kocovanua, T., Iaken, R., ... & Mackey, B. (2019). Overcoming barriers to climate change information management in small island developing states: lessons from pacific SIDS. ''Climate Policy'', ''19''(1), 125-138.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelesikoti, Netatua 2020 deaths University of the South Pacific alumni University of Wollongong alumni Year of birth missing Place of birth missing Environmental scientists Tongan scientists 21st-century Tongan women politicians 21st-century Tongan politicians 20th-century Tongan women 20th-century Tongan people Tongan women in politics