He won the election in July 2003 with a slim plurality of votes cast (47.4%) against his older brother, Harry Tong (43.5%) and the private lawyer Banuera Berina (9.1%).

[4] Tong is primarily known abroad for his efforts to raise "global awareness on the threat posed by climate change".

Elected in 1994, at the Maneaba ni Maungatabu, he was nominated Minister for Environment and Natural Development by Teburoro Tito, and occupied this function until March 2002.

[9] During the 2003 election campaign, he promised to review the lease of a spy and satellite tracking base used by the People's Republic of China and "to take appropriate actions at the right time.

Due partly to this effort, Tong received in 2012 a Peter Benchley Ocean Award for "creating one of the World's largest and most biologically rich marine protected areas.

Tong directed Kiribati's purchase of approximately 20 square kilometers of land in Fiji in 2014[29] as a contingency refuge for his people.

This follows advice from the IPCC following its fifth assessment that many Pacific Island states such as Kiribati could be submerged by rising sea levels within a few decades.

[30] Anote Tong, dubbed as a 'climate warrior', pioneered the notion of 'migration with dignity' to avoid the people of Kiribati from becoming 'climate refugees'.

The marine park was later adopted as a UNESCO World Heritage List site (Phoenix Islands Protected Area, or PIPA).

It has been a huge source of disappointment for us to witness the constant changes of climate policies with the eddies of political parties in power, in both Australia and New Zealand.

Anote Tong is board member of Conservation International, and was previously an ambassador for the Global Challenges Foundation.