Tony deBrum (also Anton deBrum) (February 26, 1945 – August 22, 2017) was a Marshallese politician and government minister. His cabinet posts included

Minister in Assistance to the President of Marshall Islands Minister of Assistance to the President of the Marshall Islands is a member in the cabinet of Marshall Islands. The person is appointed by the President from among the members of the Nitijela. The person acts as a substitute for the President of th ...

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

and Minister of Education.

Life and Career

DeBrum was born in

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

as the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

was nearing its conclusion. The family later moved to

Likiep Atoll Likiep Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 65 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is approximately northwest of Wotje. Its total land area is only , but that enclos ...

. His father was a manager at

Marshall Islands International Airport Marshall Islands International Airport , also known as Amata Kabua International Airport, is located in the western part of Rairok on the south side of Majuro Atoll, the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The airport was built duri ...

, while his mother was a teacher. One formative experience for him as a child was witnessing the fallout from

nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll consisted of the detonation of 23 nuclear weapons by the United States between 1946 and 1958 on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Tests occurred at 7 test sites on the reef itself, on the sea, in the air, ...

. He witnessed the sky turn "blood red" when out fishing with his grandfather as a nine-year-old boy. For that reason, he was outspoken about the issues of nuclear testing and led a lifelong campaign for nuclear disarmament. In 2014, he filed unsuccessful lawsuits at the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

against all nine states that have nuclear weapons, describing the weapons as "a senseless threat to essential survival." He linked the issue to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, and declared that it was "repugnant" for any citizens to have to leave their islands due to

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

having already had to flee the fallout from nuclear testing. He attended

Chaminade University of Honolulu Chaminade University of Honolulu is a private Marianist university in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded in 1955 by the Society of Mary, Chaminade is located in Kaimuki, Honolulu at the base of St. Louis Heights. Chaminade offers bachelor's degrees in ...

and then the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...

, and was one of the first Marshallese to attend university. He helped organize the Marshall Islands' independence from the United States and later served as

from 1979 to 1987, from 2008 to 2009 and from 2014 to 2016. He was the

from 2012 to 2014. He was particularly outspoken on

, and participated in numerous conferences and demonstrations, including the People's Climate March in New York City in September 2014. In mid December 2015, he took part in the

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 or CMP 11 was held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015. It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Conve ...

. He succeeded in forming a new coalition between

developed countries A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...

and

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

called

High Ambition Coalition The High Ambition Coalition (HAC) is an informal group of countries within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) committed to advancing progressive proposals on climate ambition. The HAC was founded by the Republic of the Marshall ...

theguardian.com TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

How the historic Paris deal over climate change was finally agreed
(13 December 2015) The coalition of over 90 countries was credited with galvanising the conference around the goal of holding global temperatures to a 1.5 °C increase. He has been credited as instrumental in securing the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

, and its aspirational goal of limiting the rise in temperatures to 1.5 °C. He was an outspoken proponent for

ocean thermal energy conversion Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses the ocean thermal gradient between cooler deep and warmer shallow or surface seawaters to run a heat engine and produce useful work, usually in the form of electricity. OTEC can operate with a very hi ...

technology (OTEC) and tried to get the US and Marshallese governments to agree to build a 20 MW floating OTEC power plant by Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands in association with Energy Harvesting Systems of Honolulu, Hawaii. On Kwajalein the local children nicknamed him "Mr. OTEC".

Awards

DeBrum won the 2015

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob v ...

in recognition of his "vision and courage to take legal action against the nuclear powers for failing to honour their disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and customary international law.".

Personal life

deBrum is the uncle of Marshallese climate envoy

Tina Stege Tina Stege in 2021 Tina Stege is the Climate Envoy for the Marshall Islands (RMI). The RMI is one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change, mainly as a result of rising sea levels. Among other meetings, Stege has represent ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debrum, Tony 1945 births 2017 deaths Foreign Ministers of the Marshall Islands Ministers in Assistance to the President of Marshall Islands Finance ministers of the Marshall Islands Government ministers of the Marshall Islands Members of the Legislature of the Marshall Islands Marshallese politicians Marshallese activists People from the Ratak Chain Climate activists