Anote Tong was the President of the Republic of Kiribati from 2003 to 2016. He is a member and current chair of the Pacific Elders Voice group, comprised of former national, academic and diplomatic leaders from the Pacific region. Throughout his terms in office, he highlighted the human dimensions of the climate change challenge with a special focus on the existential threat it poses for Pacific island and other communities on the front line of the impacts of climate change. Whilst in office he was a Board Member of Conservation International (CI) and upon leaving office in 2016 was appointed as a Distinguished Fellow of CI. In 2015 he was awarded the SunHak Peace Prize and has been nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, was awarded the Edmund Hilary Award, the Peter Benchley Ocean Award as well as other awards for his work on climate change and ocean conservation.