Tavau Teii is a political figure from the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

nation of

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

Election

After standing unsuccessfully for

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in the 2002 general election in the constituency of

Niutao Niutao is a reef island in the northern part of Tuvalu. It is one of the nine districts (islands) of Tuvalu. It is also one of the three districts that consist of only one island — not counting the three islets inside the closed lagoon. Niuta ...

, Teii won a by-election on 5 May 2003 triggered by the death of the incumbent.

Deputy Prime Minister of Tuvalu

He was Deputy Prime Minister of

in the Ielemia Ministry (2006–2010). His ministerial portfolio included that of Minister of Natural Resources. Teii lost his bid for re-election in the 2010 Tuvaluan general election. He was a candidate in the 2015 Tuvaluan general election and received 90 votes, but was not elected to parliament. He was a candidate in the 2019 general election, but was not elected to parliament.

United Nations appearances

During his tenure as Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Teii attended the Nairobi Climate Change Summit held in November 2006. As Deputy Prime Minister Teii represented

to discuss the implications of climate change at the United Nations High-Level Event on Climate Change at the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

, between 29 September 2007 and 1 October 2007. Teii proposed possible changes to the

Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is oc ...

to be discussed at the Bali Climate Change Conference held between 3 and 15 December 2007. In his speech on 29 September 2007, Teii declared that "Tuvalu is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change so we are seeking new funding arrangements to protect us from the impacts of climate change," and "Rather than relying on aid money we believe that the major greenhouse polluters should pay for the impacts they are causing."

Honours

Teii was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for services to politics.

References

External links