Sheila Therese Jack Babauta (born ) is a politician from the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territory and Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States consistin ...

and former member of the

Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives The Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives is the lower house of the Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature. In the 2007 election cycle, the CNMI House membership was increased from 18 to 20. Representatives serve two-ye ...

, representing District 4 for the Democratic Party.

Early life

She was born in 1989 or 1990 to Diego and Dolorina Babauta. Babauta was born and grew up on the island of

Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...

. In 2005 she travelled to the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on a scholarship from the

Close Up Foundation The Close Up Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic education organization in Washington, D.C. Established in 1971, Close Up offers programming to educate and encourage young people to participate in their civic affairs and government. Ab ...

Career

Babauta was elected to the

, representing District 4. In 2020, Babauta joined the

Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands The Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands is a political party in the Northern Mariana Islands. It began as a purely local territorial party and is now officially affiliated with the United States' national Democratic Party. History ...

and ran for reelection in the 2020 general election under their banner. At the start of the 22nd Commonwealth Legislature, Speaker Edmund Villagomez appointed Babauta the chairwoman of the Committee on Natural Resources and as a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Rules.Rosario, Venetia S. (House Journal Clerk) (January 11, 2021). "Announcements". ''CNMI House Legislative Journal''. 22 (1): 27. Retrieved September 4, 2024. In November 2021, she described her plans to attend the

2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, coun ...

(COP 26) in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland, although the journey would be "no easy feat. Crossing the Pacific Ocean, the entire North American continent, and the Atlantic Ocean, brings me a long way from our warm island home". She said that "my brothers and sisters across the Pacific hold the keys to solve the problem of militarization, climate change, and climate colonialism. We are not passive victims. We hold solutions that are grounded in our millennia of living as kin to the land and ocean." At the conference she introduced former United States President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

when he addressed the conference, saying that he was a "son of the Asia Pacific" who "recognizes that communities impacted by climate change must have a seat at the table to ensure accountability and action from all parties who contribute major carbon emissions". Babauta is chair of the Friends of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, a body which works to protect the

Marianas Trench Marine National Monument The Mariana Trench Marine National Monument is a United States National Monument created by President George W. Bush by the presidential proclamation no. 8335 Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is an oceanic trench located in the western Pacific Ocean, about east of the Mariana Islands; it is the deep sea, deepest oceanic trench on Earth. It is crescent-shaped and measures about in length and in width. The maxi ...

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Saipan Members of the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives Northern Mariana Islands women in politics 21st-century Northern Mariana Islands politicians 21st-century women politicians from insular areas of the United States {{NorthernMarianas-politician-stub