Teleke Lauti

Teleke Peleti Lauti is a Tuvaluan pastor and politician who served as a member of the Parliament of Tuvalu from 1998 to 2002. The nephew of the country's first Prime Minister, Toaripi Lauti, he represented Funafuti in the parliament and served as reverend of the Church of Tuvalu. As an MP, he was Tuvalu's Minister for the Environment and was active in the climate movement, serving as a representative at a United Nations Climate Change Conference. Biography Lauti is from Funafuti and is the nephew of Toaripi Lauti, the first Prime Minister of Tuvalu. He comes from the Malugata and Vaitafe family clans.

In July 1982, Lauti was appointed by the Governor-General as a clerk for the Tuvalu Public Service Commission. He later served as a Conservation Area Support Officer (CASO). Lauti became active in the climate movement, advocating for reforms to help stop the effects of climate change in Tuvalu. His victory over Latasi was attributed to the Lauti family's prominence in Funafuti, his uncle's good campaign management, and the presence of a third candidate, Elia Taufita, drawing votes from Latasi. In 2000, the same year Tuvalu was admitted to the United Nations, Lauti was a Tuvaluan representative at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in The Hague, the Netherlands. In a statement at the conference, he said:

Following his four-year term as an MP, Lauti was unseated in the 2002 Tuvaluan general election, finishing with 149 votes, while Kamuta Latasi won 373 and future Prime Minister Kausea Natano 364. Afterwards, he served as a pastor on the island of Nanumaga. He was interviewed by Australia's ABC News on the effects of climate change in 2011. As of 2021, he was serving on the Kaupule of Funafuti, the executive branch of the island's assembly of elders.