Draft:Soseala Tinilau

Soseala Saosaoa Tinilau, is a Tuvaluan civil servant. From August 2017 he has been the Director of the Department of Environment, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Tourism, Environment and Labour.

In 2020 Tinilau described the challenges for the agrobiodiversity of Tuvalu, as being climate change with the higher sea level increasing risks of inundation of the islands, with coastal flooding, erosion and loss of coastal vegetation and saltwater intrusion into the fresh water aquifers below the atolls of Tuvalu. Tinilau also identified the problem of continuing Pulaka (Cyrtosperma merkusii) pit salinisation due to saltwater intrusionas being a significant risk to agriculture in Tuvalu as Pulaka is a staple crop.

Education
Tinilau was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.

From 2011 to 2013, he studied at the California State University, Northridge for a Master of Science] degree (M Sc) in the fields of Analytical Chemistry/Environmental Chemistry/Atmospheric Chemistry. His Masters of Science (M Sc) thesis was: "Laboratory studies of the changes in the scattering properties of aged sea-salt aerosol particles with changes in composition and their effect on climate".

Tinilau continued his postgraduate studies at the School of Geography, College of Health and Science of University of Lincoln (UK), where in 2021 he commenced a Ph D in the field of human geography. His study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of formal and non-formal environmental stewardship training and developing and testing an acceptable approach for examining educational interventions on environmental stewardship.

Department of Environment
In May 2014 he started working with the Department of Environment on Tuvalu's National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), including working as a Project Coordinator on project funded by UNDP, and managing the day-to-day functioning of the Project Management Unit.

As Project Coordinator, in 2016, he managed the implementation of a new early warning system, using US made Chatty Beetle technology, to send and receive short data messages to the internet over the Iridium satellite network. This early warning system is intended to help people of the islands of Tuvalu to better prepare for natural disasters. Tinilau said households in Tuvalu were given solar powered radios so they do not have to rely on electricity and batteries to listen to radio warnings.

As the Director of the Department of Environment, he participates in the meetings of the Project Board that is responsible for the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP),  which was launched in 2017 for the purpose on enhancing the resilience of the islands of Tuvalu to meet the challenges resulting from higher sea levels.

As the Director of the Department of Environment, on 12 February 2019, the department, in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), launched an environment data portal as part of the Inform Project, to enhance Tuvalu’s capacity to report in relation to Multi-lateral Environment Agreements (MEAs). Tinilau said “Modernised data is important for driving and bringing about informed decision-making. This is also the reason why the Department of Environment through the Ridge 2 Reef (R2R) project decided to establish an environmental database to manage and consolidate data for reporting purposes to all MEAs that Tuvalu has ratified and party to”.

Tuvalu Islands Football Association
In June 2016, he was appointed as the President of the Tuvalu Islands Football Association (TIFA). He has previous played football with Manu Laeva Football Club.

As the president of TIFA, he is involved in negotiating development programmes and technical assistance from the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), such as grants of equipment and funds for capacity building activities and national team development.

In 2020 the efforts of Tinilau and TIFA resulted in OFC restarting Tuvalu’s associate membership of OFC, which means TIFA can access OFC’s development programmes and will receive technical assistance and funding to develop football in Tuvalu, which includes airfares to attend OFC events.

Family
His brother is Okilani Tinilau, a Tuvaluan footballer and sprinter who represented Tuvalu at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a footballer, Okilani Tinilau played for F.C. Manu Laeva and also played on the Tuvalu national football team.

Publications

 * "A Portable High-Resolution Polar Nephelometer for Measurement of the Angular Scattering Properties of Atmospheric Aerosol: Design and Validation", McCrowey, C.; Tinilau, S.; Calderon, G.; Koo, J.-E.; Curtis, D.B. Aerosol Science and Technology (2013) 47, 592-605, DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2013.775400.