Leota Kosi Latu
Director-General of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme
In office
January 2016 – 3 April 2022
DeputyEaster Chu Sing
Preceded byDavid Sheppard
Succeeded bySefanaia Nawadra

Leota Namulauulu Lalomanu Kosi Latu is a Samoan lawyer and diplomat who served as Director-General of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme from 2016 to 2022. He is the brother of rugby player and lawyer George Latu.[1]

Latu was educated at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.[2] He worked as a prosecutor for the Samoan Attorney General's Office before moving to London to work as a lawyer for the Commonwealth Secretariat.[3] From 2006 to 2008 he worked for the United Nations Office for Project Services alongside the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat in Suva, Fiji.[2]

In 2008 he was appointed Deputy Director-General of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme.[4] In September 2015 he was selected as its Director-General.[3] From the beginning of his term as Director he was a strong voice on climate change, urging Pacific nations to speak up[5] and demanding rich nations show greater ambition in reducing emissions.[6] At the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice he urged countries to hold temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.[7] In 2019, he opened the Pacific Climate Change Centre in Apia, Samoa, to serve as a regional research center on the issue.[8][9] Other issues he focused on included nuclear waste shipments[10] and waste dumping by fishing boats.[11]

His term as Director-General ended on 3 April 2022. He was replaced by Sefanaia Nawadra.[12][4]

References

  1. ↑ Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop (1998). Tamaitai Samoa: Their stories. Suva: University of the South Pacific. p. 140.
  2. 1 2 "Mr. Kosi Latu". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 "New Director-General of SPREP, Mr. Kosi Latu". SPREP. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  4. 1 2 Adel Fruean (1 April 2022). "SPREP pays tribute as Director General bows out". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  5. ↑ "Even louder regional voice needed in international arena". RNZ. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "SPREP head calls for more ambition at COP23". RNZ. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  7. ↑ "Pacific fighting for 1.5 degrees at COP24". RNZ. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "The Pacific Climate Change Centre Is Officially Open!". Reliefweb. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Sapeer Mayron (4 September 2019). "Climate Change Centre will bring experts, professionals to Samoa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "Nuke waste shipments in Pacific a worry for SPREP". RNZ. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "Call for curb on waste dumping by Pacific fishing fleets". RNZ. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  12. ↑ "Sefanaia Nawadra – New Director General For SPREP". Fiji Sun. 9 September 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2022.


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