Biographies
Solomon Kaho’ohalahala
Kupuna, Kua’āina Ulu ‘Auamo, Hawaii
Solomon Pili Kahoʻohalahala is a seventh-generation native Hawaiian descendant, kupaʻāina, from the small Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi. He is the current native Hawaiian Elder of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Advisory Council and Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group. He is the current Chair of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and also serves as a Cultural Community Member of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. In the past four decades, Solomon Kahoʻohalahala has served as an elected official to the Maui County Council and the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. He was appointed to the Hawaiʻi Sovereignty Commission; Executive Director of the Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission and served on numerous boards and commission at County, State, Federal and NGO levels. He is a member of the indigenous peoples NGO Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA).
Professor Andrew K. Sweetman
Leader of Seafloor Ecology & Biogeochemistry,
SAMS, UK
Andrew K. Sweetman (44) is the leader of the Seafloor Ecology and Biogeochemistry research group at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), UK. He holds a PhD in deep-sea ecology from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (Germany). Andrew is an expert on seafloor biodiversity and ecology and has a strong focus on the impact of anthropogenic stressors on shallow and deep-sea benthic ecosystems. He has led research to study the impact of seabed mining on open-ocean ecosystems and tested different approaches to help rehabilitate degraded ecosystems. His research and contributions have impacted policy and helped implement 4 new marine protected areas (Areas of Particular Environmental Interest or APEIs, each 400 by 400 kilometers) in the central Pacific Ocean. His research has led to over 80 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals such as AAAS Science, Nature, Nature Geoscience, Nature Communications, Nature Communications: Earth and Environment, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, Limnology and Oceanography, and Global Change Biology.
Professor Christopher Fleming
Professor of Economics and Dean (Research), Griffith University, Australia
Chris is a Professor of Economics and Dean (Research) at the Griffith Business School. Formerly the Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism (2020-2021) and Director of Griffith University’s MBA program (2015-2020), he teaches, researches, consults and provides public policy advice on the economic determinants of well-being and the sustainable management of the world around us. In collaboration with the Climate Action Beacon, Chris is involved in a number of ongoing research projects with a Pacific Island focus and is particularly interested in sustainable development pathways for Small Island Developing States in the Pacific and beyond. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from the University of Otago, a Master of Applied Economics with first-class honours from Massey University, and a PhD (Economics) from the University of Queensland.
Alanna Smith
Director, Te Ipukarea Society, Cook Islands
Alanna Matamaru Smith, holds a bachelors degree in Environmental Management and a Masters in Conservation Biology. Alanna is the current director of Te Ipukarea Society, and has been working with the NGO since 2015. Through her line of work she has most enjoyed working in biodiversity surveying, monitoring and conservation projects. Alanna also treasures her time spent working alongside youth and the wider community throughout the Cook Islands on environmental topics of significance to the nation.
Associate Professor Pascale Hatcher
Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury, NZ
Pascale Hatcher is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She works on the political economy of mining in the Asia-Pacific region with a specific interest on how transnational norms are being transplanted and contested in local arenas. She currently leads the project “Actors and Controversies Driving the Adoption of the World’s First Deep Sea Mining Governance” funded by the New Zealand Royal Society’s Marsden Fund.
Merita Tuari’i
Senior Research Fellow, Te Puna Vai Mārama, Cook Islands
Merita is of Cook Islands Maori and New Zealand Maori heritage, currently working as senior research fellow at Te Puna Vai Mārama. She has previously worked in government and non-government roles in the Cook Islands. At TPVM she conducted research on knowledge and use of climate and weather information and services, public experience and use of Cook Islands public services, gender and disaster management, she co-authored a paper on the Cook Islands response to COVID19, and is currently conducting research on gender and oceans governance in the Cook Islands.
Duncan Currie
Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, New Zealand
Duncan Currie has practiced international environmental law since 1985, mostly focusing on the law of the sea. Duncan has attended the International Seabed Authority negotiations since 2012. He also regularly attends BBNJ meetings and South Pacific RFMO and Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (or SIOFA). He was also counsel to NZ groups Kiwis Against Seabed Mining and Greenpeace in the three NZ seabed mining applications.
Professor John Hay
Professor, University of the South Pacific, and Griffith University, Australia.
John has over fifty years’ experience working as an environmental scientist in academia, the private sector and governmental organisations. As a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), John received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He has also been awarded a prestigious fellowship by the Guggenheim Foundation. John is a Professor at the University of the South Pacific and at Griffith University in Australia. He also works as a consultant and advisor to many national governments and
regional and international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the governments of New Zealand and Australia, and Live and Learn International.
Dr. Teina Rongo
Chairperson of Kōrero o te ‘Ōrau, Cook Islands
Dr. Teina Rongo is the Chairperson for environmental NGO, Kōrero o te `Ōrau, based on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. He obtained his PhD in Marine Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology.
Teina’s area of research has been around coral reef ecology, ciguatera poisoning, and climate change, and he has published in peer-reviewed journals. His field of study has cultivated his passion
for improving the well-being of indigenous Cook Islanders and their environment. Since 2018, Teina has been delivering environmental science and climate change programmes to young Cook Islanders
in schools, and he is also lecturing at the Takamoa Theological College. Teina is also a key member of an afterschool and holiday programme called ‘Ātui’anga ki te Tango that teaches young
indigenous Cook Islanders the value of their culture and traditional knowledge and the role it plays in conservation and the sustainable use of our natural resources. With the Cook Islands Government’s strong push towards deep sea mining (DSM) in the near future, Teina’s presentation will focus on the social and cultural concerns around DSM in our country’s context.
Dr. Helen Rosenbaum
Campaign Coordinator, Deep Sea Mining Campaign
Dr. Helen Rosenbaum is co-founder of the Deep Sea Mining Campaign (DSMC) and is its Research Coordinator. Helen holds a doctorate in Medical Science, has worked as a marine toxicologist and in the development of coastal zone policy in Australia. She also has 30 years’ experience in environmental and human rights advocacy and in community development in the Pacific region. Over the past 12 years the DSMC has undertaken science based advocacy in solidarity with civil society organisations, scientists and citizens around the world who are concerned about the likely impacts of deep sea mining on ecosystems and island and coastal communities. We have produced several evidence based reports and the video Blue Peril presents for the first time the results of modelling independent of mining companies showing the spread of pollution and the extent of seafloor destruction for actual exploration licence areas in the Pacific Ocean.
Tanga Morris
Knowledge Management Officer, Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority
Tanga Morris is a Knowledge Management Officer at Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority and has several years’ experience in deep sea biology, attending expeditions to both the Cook Islands, and Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ).
Dr. John Parianos
Knowledge Management Director, Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority
Dr. John Parianos is Knowledge Management Director at Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority and has over ten years’ experience in seabed minerals science from a variety of jurisdictions, including the Cook Islands, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, Tongan back-arc and Bismarck Sea.
Dr. Claire Slatter
Co-founder and Executive Committee Member of DAWN and co-founder and Steering Committee Member of PANG
Dr. Claire Slatter is a Fiji Citizen, a retired academic of Politics, Development, Human Rights and Ethics, at The University of the South Pacific (23 years) and Fiji National University (3 years), and scholar-activist. She is a co-founder and Executive Committee member of the global South network of scholar-activists, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), and a co-founder and Steering Committee member of Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG). She has been an active member of the Pacific Blue Line Coalition against deep-sea mining and researches and writes on deep-sea mining.
Tickets
Register for the Deep Ocean Symposium today!
