Page Title

About the Ocean Panel

The Hon Scott Morrison MP was sworn in as Australia's 30th Prime Minister on 24 August 2018.

He was first elected to the Australian Parliament in 2007 and has previously served as Treasurer, Minister for Social Services and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

During his more than 10 years in the Parliament, he has established a reputation as a passionate advocate for his local community as well as a proven fixer for difficult policy problems in three senior Cabinet portfolios.

Before entering politics, the Prime Minister held various positions in the tourism industry, including as Managing Director of Tourism Australia.

The Prime Minister lives in Sydney with his wife Jenny and their two young daughters. He was born in Sydney, and studied at Sydney Boys High School and the University of New South Wales

Justin Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. He also serves as Minister of Youth.

Justin’s vision of Canada is a country where everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. His experiences as a teacher, father, leader, and advocate for youth have shaped his dedication to Canadians – and his commitment to make Canada a place where everyone has the opportunities they need to thrive.

The oldest of three boys, Justin grew up with the profound influence of his father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and his mother, Margaret Trudeau. He was raised speaking both French and English and has family roots in both Eastern and Western Canada. This background helped spark his passion for public service and shaped his conviction that diversity is Canada’s strength.

Justin studied literature at McGill University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1994. He went on to complete the University of British Columbia’s education program, and spent several years teaching French, math, and other subjects in Vancouver. Teaching allowed him to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. He remains committed to hearing the voices of young Canadians, from the classroom to Parliament Hill.

In 2002, Justin returned home to Montréal, where he met Sophie Grégoire, a Quebec TV and radio host. They married in 2005 and are now the proud parents of Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien.

Before entering politics, Justin served as the Chair of Katimavik, on the board for the Canadian Avalanche Foundation, and as an advocate for young people and the environment. As a speaker at events and conferences around the country, he encouraged young people to engage with the issues important to them and participate as active citizens. These experiences made it increasingly clear to him that the issues young Canadians care about – education, the environment, their generation's economic prospects – needed a stronger voice.

Justin entered politics to make change that would better serve all Canadians. In 2007, he built a community-based, grassroots campaign to win the Liberal Party nomination in the Montréal riding of Papineau. He was elected in 2008, and re-elected in 2011 and 2015.

Justin was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in April 2013. His leadership campaign focused on building a new, truly national movement of progressive Canadians, bringing hundreds of thousands of Canadians into politics, most for the first time. He worked closely with his team to build a plan to create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen the middle class. With Justin’s leadership, the Liberal plan emphasized fair economic opportunity for everyone, respect for and promotion of freedom and diversity, and a more democratic government that truly represents Canadians.

On October 19, 2015, Justin led his party to victory, winning a majority government with seats in every province and territory across the country. He was sworn in on November 4, 2015.

As Prime Minister, Justin leads a government that works hard every day to build an economy that works for the middle class and people working hard to join it. His team is focused on creating new jobs, fostering strength out of Canada’s rich diversity, fighting climate change, and achieving reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. A proud feminist, Justin appointed Canada’s first gender balanced Cabinet.

Sebastián Piñera has been the President of Chile since March 2018, following his election in December 2017. He also served as President from 2010 to 2014.

He holds a degree in Business Administration with a major in Economics, conferred by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, as well as a Master and Doctor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Harvard, USA. His education was mainly Christian, pluralist, with great freedom but also characterized by a sense of duty and a strong call to public service.

Piñera served as advisor for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) between 1974 and 1976; advisor to the World Bank between 1975 and 1978; and worked at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). At this latter agency, he played an active role in a macro project entitled “Mapa de la pobreza en América Latina y políticas para superarla” (Latin America Poverty Map and Policies to Eradicate it) (1976).

Together with his fellow citizens, Piñera voted “NO” at the October 5, 1988 plebiscite in order to lay the foundations of free elections and democracy.

In 1989, with his wife Cecilia Morel, he organized Fundación Mujer Emprende (Entrepreneurial Women Foundation) aimed at promoting training and development for low-income young women.

In 1993, they established Fundación Futuro (Future Foundation), which helps bring education and culture closer to the Chilean people. In 2005, in the southern part of Isla de Chiloé, they inaugurated Parque Tantauco, with an area of 140,000 hectares, including 220 kilometers of trails and camping sites where visitors can trek, fish, bird watch and spot blue whales. At the park, endangered ecosystems and species are conserved and protected, research is conducted, and sustainable ecotourism programs are promoted.

Frank Bainimarama has been the Fijian Prime Minister since 2007. Under his leadership, Fiji has undergone a broad program of social, economic, electoral and constitutional reforms, leading up to the establishment of Fiji’s first genuine parliamentary democracy of equal votes of equal value in 2014.

The Prime Minister and COP23 President is one of the leading global voices calling on the international community to commit to more ambitious targets to curb the carbon emissions that are warming our planet. Joining his fellow leaders from the Pacific, he is committed to drawing global attention to the impact climate change is having on vulnerable communities, including Pacific Islanders and the residents of other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and low-lying areas of the world.

Under his leadership, Fiji was the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement. It has also offered to give permanent refuge to the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu should their countries become uninhabitable due to rising sea levels. As the President of COP23, the Prime Minister has issued a worldwide call for every level of government, every section of civil society, and all businesses great and small to join him in forging a “Grand Coalition” to defend the collective agenda and increase the momentum for change, with a particular focus on climate adaptation and building resilience.

The Prime Minister was born in Suva and educated at Marist Brothers High School in the capital. He enlisted in the Royal Fiji Military Forces Naval Division as an Ordinary Seaman in 1975 and was commissioned from the ranks as an Ensign in 1977. He assumed the appointment of Chief of Staff of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces in October 1997. Later, he was appointed Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and promoted Commodore on 01 March 1999.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo became President of Ghana in January 2017, defeating his opponent in the first round, the first time a candidate has won an outright majority in the first round of a Ghanaian presidential election.

He was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1996. As an MP for the then incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP), Akufo-Addo was made a Cabinet Minister from 2001 to 2007, first as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and then later as Foreign Minister. As Foreign Minister, he was fully involved in the successful ECOWAS peace efforts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau, and was chairman of the ECOWAS in 2003.

Akufo-Addo has been a guardian of democracy in Ghana and In 1992, he set up and financed The Statesman newspaper, which has become the unofficial mouthpiece of the NPP. Also in 1995, he led the “Kume Preko” demonstrations of the Alliance For Change (AFC) movement, a broad-based political pressure group. While serving as Attorney General, he worked to repeal the Criminal Libel Law and now as President of Ghana has successfully signed the Right to Information bill which was before the Ghanaian Parliament for two decades.

Akufo-Addo was raised in Accra, Ghana’s capital. He read Economics at the University of Ghana before studying Law in the UK, and was called to the English Bar in July 1971 and the Ghana Bar in 1975.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo is currently a member of the High Level Panel on the Oceans and co-Chairs the 17 member SDGs Eminent Advocates Group.

Joko Widodo, also known as Jokowi, is the seventh and current President of Indonesia. He was elected in July 2014 as the first Indonesian president who did not come from a military or elite political background.

A member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Jokowi was elected Mayor of Surakarta in 2005, and was re-elected in 2010 with more than 90% of the vote. In October 2012, Jokowi was elected Governor of Jakarta on an anti-corruption platform. In 2012, he was ranked as the third best mayor in the world by the international City Mayors Foundation.

As President, Jokowi has focused on a nine-point plan that emphasizes helping the poor by clamping down on corruption, improving public services, implementing land reforms, and developing more affordable housing. He has also focused on infrastructure, introducing or restarting long-delayed programmes to build highways, high-speed rail, airports and other facilities to improve connectivity in the Indonesian archipelago.

Jokowi was born and raised in Surakarta and his humble beginnings are well documented. He graduated from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta with a degree in forestry engineering, and worked in a pulp mill before establishing his own furniture factory and becoming a successful furniture exporter.

Andrew Michael Holness was elected Jamaica’s ninth Prime Minister in 2016. He previously served as Prime Minister from October 2011 to January 2012. He is Jamaica’s youngest Prime Minister to date, and the first to be born after National Independence.

Holness was first elected a Member of Parliament for the Jamaica Labour Party at the age of 25 and is in his fourth consecutive term. Previously, he served as Opposition Spokesperson on Land and Development, Housing, and Education, and as Minister of Education, where he focused on improving literacy in Jamaica and oversaw the introduction of the Career Advancement Programme –a post-secondary technical and vocational training programme for unattached youth. He has retained the Education Portfolio as Prime Minister.

Holness was born in Spanish Town, St Catherine. He gained a BSc in Management Studies and a MSc in Development Studies from the University of the West Indies. Before entering politics, he worked as Executive Director of the Voluntary Organisation for Uplifting Children.

Fumio Kishida was elected as President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the 100th Prime Minister of Japan in September and October of 2021, respectively.

Kishida was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 as a member of the LDP and has assumed various ministerial roles since. Prior to taking office as Prime Minister, Kishida served as Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Minister of Defense.

Kishida was born in Shibuya, Tokyo and graduated from Waseda University with a degree in law.

Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as the fourth President of Kenya on 9th April 2013, following the victory of the Jubilee alliance he led into the general election of March 2013.

Born on 26th October 1961, he is the son of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding father and first President. He is married to Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya’s First Lady. Together they have three children: Jomo, Ngina and Muhoho Kenyatta.

Uhuru was educated at St Mary’s school in Nairobi and Amherst in Massachusetts, USA, taking a degree in Political Science and Economics from the latter in 1985.

He went into politics in 1997, Between 1999 – 2012 he served in various capacities including as member of Parliament, Minister for Local Government, Leader of the Opposition, Minister for Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.

During his second term in office, President Kenyatta has prioritized four areas of development aimed at accelerating development in Kenya, namely, food security, affordable housing, manufacturing, and affordable healthcare. President Kenyatta’s administration has additionally focused on regional integration and led regional peace and security initiatives, with a special focus on the Horn of Africa.

Biography coming soon

Dr. Hage Gottfried Geingob is the third President of Namibia, in office since 21 March 2015. He is also the President of the ruling SWAPO Party of Namibia.

Geingob received his early education in Otavi before joining the Augustineum College, finishing his Teacher Training Course in 1961. He has a BA degree from Fordham University, an MA in Institute Relations from the University of New School for Social Research and a PhD from the University of Leeds.

In 1964, Geingob was appointed South West Africa People Organization (SWAPO) Representative at the United Nations and to the Americas. He remained at the UN until 1989, where he was founding director of the UN Institute for Namibia in Lusaka, Zambia. Subsequently, Dr. Geingob was elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly that was responsible for drafting the Namibian Constitution.

Geingob served as the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, when Namibia gained independence from South Africa. In 2007 and 2012 he was appointed vice-president of SWAPO. He also served as Minister of Trade and Industry. In 2012, he was re-elected as Prime Minister until his presidential victory in 2015.

Geingob is a proponent of partnership in government and advocates for enhanced transparency and accountability in the public service. He is also an ardent believer in the role that the Private Sector should play in economic development, a belief that is encapsulated in the Harambee Prosperity Plan, a Government initiative to accelerate economic development, of which he is the brainchild.

Jonas Gahr Støre was born on 25 August 1960. He is married to Marit Slagsvold and they have three children. Mr Støre underwent naval officer training at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in Bergen in 1979–1981. He then studied for a degree in political science, specialising in history and social economics, at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris in France from 1981 to 1985.

In 1989, Mr Støre was employed as Special Adviser at the Office of the Prime Minister, and in 1995, he was appointed Director General of its Department of International Affairs. From 1998 to 2000, he served as Chief of Staff under Gro Harlem Brundtland at the World Health Organization.

Jonas Gahr Støre was Minister of Foreign Affairs in Jens Stoltenberg’s second government from 2005 to 2012, and then Minister of Health and Care Services until the change of government in 2013. Before that, he was State Secretary and Chief of Staff at the Office of the Prime Minister in 2000–2001. He has also held a number of other senior positions in the civil service and humanitarian organisations, including serving as Secretary General of the Norwegian Red Cross from 2003 to 2005.

Mr Støre became Leader of the Labour Party in 2014 and has been a member of the Storting for Oslo since 2009. He has served on the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, and the Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Jonas Gahr Støre became Prime Minister on 14 October 2021.

Surangel Whipps, Jr. is the 10th President of the Republic of Palau. Inspired by his father’s childhood and humbling beginnings, Whipps is a two-term senator having served in the 8th and 9th Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK, Palau National Congress) from 2009 through 2016, when he first ran for the presidency. Whipps’ Senate report card maintains his reputable record in policy making to promote and protect the best interests of Palauans. He conducted more than 100 oversight hearings to promote transparency and accountability in delivery of government services. He is also best known for spearheading the first bill introduced in the 9th OEK that became law to increase the minimum wage since its enactment in 1997. Whipps brings to the leadership role over 30 years of experience managing one of the largest growing company in Palau. As CEO and president of the Surangel and Sons Company, he led its expansion from a one floor store with 50 employees to a diversified company employing over six-hundred people.

Whipps’ slogan – “A Kot a Rechad er Belau” (Palauan People First) actually originated from his father, who was active in the Save Palau movement to protect Palau’s marine resources, and who ran for congress many times before being elected. In response to unfair treatment in the workplace, lack of career opportunities for Palauans, challenges hindering young Palauan entrepreneurs, and the unchecked exploitation of Palau’s natural resources, the slogan represented conviction that Palauans must reap the opportunities Palau has to offer, and the commitment to push for the improved welfare of Palauans to be foremost in their country by their government. In 1997, Whipps’ father introduced the minimum wage law that was finally increased for the first time in 2013 by Whipps. The second presidential race by Whipps in 2020 became the fifth time he had gone around Palau visiting all the households in a national election. His firsthand observations continue to warrant need to prioritize Palauans and the work towards the realization of “A Kot a Rechad er Belau”.

Whipps’ platform envisions Palauans to have improved quality of life and have incentives and opportunities to pursue their happiness. As a result, they are the force that drives the progress of our island nation. One of Whipps’ primary policy priorities include a focus on developing and promoting our human resources and fostering our economy, while striking a balance in the protection of our environment with putting the Palauan people first. His broad knowledge and vision for our island nation are enriched by his past and current participation in various community and non- and semi-governmental organizations that include the Compact of Free Association (COFA) Transition Committee, COFA Trust Fund Board, 2nd Constitutional Convention, Post Con-Con Political Education Committee, Council of Chiefs, Palau Conservation Society, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), Workforce Investment Act, Palau Chamber of Commerce, the Palau SDA School Board, Executive Committee Guam Micronesia Mission, Guam SDA Clinic, Palau Shipping Company, and Honorary Counsel of the Republic of Korea to Palau. His experience is combined with his formal background earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in economics from Andrews University in Michigan and an MBA from Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a requirement for his MBA, Whipps was part of a team that conducted a field study in Palau in which the results are still applicable today and were shared with the executive and OEK at that time: Policy Recommendations-Foreign Investment, Foreign Labor, and Minimum Wages. His initiation into the national government was as Special Assistant on economic matters and foreign policy to the late President Ngiratkel Etpison.

Whipps was born in Baltimore, Maryland on August 9, 1968, while his Palauan father and American mother from Maryland, were working their way through college. At the age of four, when his parents finished their schooling, they moved to Palau and has been their home since. Whipps grew up with their family business that started with his parents improvising to sustain their living by opening a restaurant, fishing and selling their catch, taking tourists out to the rock islands and diving, and selling goods out of their house. While in elementary school he worked at the restaurant, fished at night with his father, and drove the boat with tourists. In high school, he spent every afternoon at the store, and while in college, he spent every vacation working in the family business. He is also proud of his first entrepreneurial work at age ten mowing lawns in his neighborhood. Whipps is the eldest of the four children of Rekemesik Surangel and Marilyn Whipps. A Seventh-day Adventist, he maintains his father’s tenets for happiness – a God centered home, always time for family, hard work ethic, and achieve highest education opportunity. Whipps married Valerie Esang Remengesau in 1999. They are proud parents of three daughters named after his endeared paternal aunts and grandmother -- Moded, Ultei, and Ngederong -- and a son, his name sake, Surangel Arthur, also named after his maternal American uncle. Having a big family has brought more joy to his favorite pastimes. Together with his wife and kids, they play basketball, go fishing and diving, including skiing and snowboarding during spring breaks.

António Costa has been the Prime Minister of Portugal since November 2015. He originally train as a lawyer before becoming a member of Lisbon City Council from 1982 until 1993. He was also the Deputy of the Assembly of Republic from 1991 until 2004. Costa served as Secretary of State of the Parliamentary Affairs of the XIII Government between 1995 and 1997, and Minister of the Parliament Affairs between November 1997 and October 1999.

From October 1999 to April 2002, Costa was Minister of Justice and from April 2002 to March 2004 he was President of Socialist Party's Parliament Group. He became Deputy to the European Parliament and Vice-President of the European Parliament in June 2004 and served until March 2005. Costa served as Minister of State and Internal Administration of the XVII Government from March 2005 to May 2007 before becoming Mayor of Lisbon City Hall from August 2007 until April 2015.

Costa has also served as General Secretary of the Socialist Party since November 2014.

Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States of America and is a member of the Democratic Party. He represented his home state of Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 until 2009, when he became the 47th Vice President.

He has held multiple roles in the government including serving as As Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 16 years as well as Chairman or Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 12 years.

He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania and later relocated to Claymont, Delaware where he eventually graduated from the University of Delaware as well as Syracuse Law School and served on the New Castle County Council.

Peter Thomson is a Fijian diplomat who is currently serving as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean – the first person to be appointed to this position. He held the office of President of the General Assembly of the United Nations from September 2016 until September 2017. He was Fiji's Permanent Representative to the UN from February 2010 to September 2016.

Thomson was elected President of the Assembly of the Institute Seabed Authority’s 2011 session and then as President of the Authority’s Council for its 2015 session. In 2013 he chaired the Group of 77 and China at the United Nations on Fiji’s behalf, and served as President of the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS from 2014 to 2015.

As a Government of Fiji civil servant, he devoted many years of his life to working in the fields of rural development and then foreign affairs. From 1988 to 2009, he was the Managing Director of the development consultancy company Thomson Pacific based in Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia.

Thomson was born in Fiji, graduating from Natabua High School. He gained a BA in Political Science from Auckland University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge, England.