Teina Rongo

Biography

Dr Teina Rongo is the Chairperson for environmental NGO, Kōrero o te `Ōrau, based on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Teina is a Cook Islands Māori, raised in a family where subsistence planting and fishing was a normal practice. This nurtured his love for the marine environment, motivating him to pursue a degree in Biology at the University of Guam. He later obtained his Ph.D. in Marine Biology from the Florida Institute of Technology, becoming the first Cook Islander to achieve this qualification in this field of study. Teina’s area of research has been around coral reef ecology, ciguatera poisoning, and climate change, and he has published in peer-reviewed journals. Teina has conducted coral reef research in Micronesia, the Caribbean, across the Central Pacific and throughout the Cook Islands. His field of study has cultivated his passion for improving the well-being of indigenous Cook Islanders and their natural environment. Over the last four years, Teina has been delivering environmental science and climate change programmes to young Cook Islanders in primary and secondary schools as well as in the Takamoa Theological College on Rarotonga. The focus has been on using traditional knowledge and practices merged with scientific knowledge in hopes of retaining cultural identity, reversing biodiversity loss, and strengthening the resilience of communities from the imminent threat of climate change and
the pressures of development.