Penehuro Fatu Lefale is an internationally acclaimed climate and policy analyst. Lefale has a long history of work in international climate science and policy implementation – most noticeable of his achievements in climate policy include; his outstanding work at the Second World Climate Conference (SWCC) in 1990, where, together with a small team from Small Island Developing States (SIDS), established the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS); he was one of the first Pacific people involved in the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between 1991 to 1992, the Berlin Mandate (1993-1995), and the Kyoto Protocol (1995-1997). He re-joined the UNFCCC/COP negotiations and related meetings in 2015 (COP21 to COP24).

In climate science, he was a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Nobel Peace Prize Contributor in 2007, in his role as Lead Author for the Small Islands chapter of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4); awarded the United States Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (US NOAA NWS) Special Award in 2000 “In recognition and appreciation of significant services rendered for the National Weather Service”; awarded the United States Department of Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (US DOE) plaque for outstanding contributions to the ARM program in the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP), jointly with SPREP in 1999; awarded the MetService (NZ) Chairman of the Board’s award for contribution to the IPCC, 2007. Lefale was awarded the British Council of New Zealand (BCNZ), Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ, Fulbright and Montana Wines’ Masters Scholarship Study tour of the UK in 2002; New Zealand Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs (MPIA) Louise Crawley Masters’ postgraduate scholarship in public policy in 2002.

He served as Alternate Permanent Representative of New Zealand with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) from 2012 to 2014, Manager, International Cooperation & Development (MICAD), MetService NZ, 2006to 2012, Chair, of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Scientific and Technological Activities Committee (STAC) on Meteorology and Oceanography in the Southern Hemisphere (AMS STAC MOSH), 2011- January 2017. Chair, AMS STAC MOSH 10th & 11th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography (10ICSHMO, 11ICSHMO), 2012, 2014. He served on the Wellington Conservation Board, Department of Conservation (DoC), New Zealand Government, from 2011-2016 and is currently serving as Trustee on the Pacific Development and Conservation Trust (PDCT) Board.

He is full Professional Member of the American Meteorological Society, Royal Society of NZ and Friends of Te Papa. He has authored a number of papers on climate science and climate policy from a Small Islands perspective. His Doctorate in Philosophy: Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management. Thesis: Managing extreme weather and climate events in Small Island Developing States of the Pacific; A vital first step towards building local adaptive capacity to anthropogenic climate change, Waikato University, Hamilton, New Zealand (on hold).