Kinza Clodumar
President of Nauru and Climate Advocate · 1945–2021
Who is Kinza Clodumar?
Kinza Clodumar was born on 8 February 1945 in Boe, Nauru, and became one of the island's longest-serving parliamentarians, representing both the Aiwo and Boe constituencies across a career spanning more than three decades — reportedly the only Nauruan politician elected to parliament from two different constituencies. He held the finance portfolio in numerous cabinets between the late 1970s and the 2000s and briefly served as Speaker of Parliament in December 1986. Clodumar became President of Nauru in February 1997 and served until he was removed by a vote of no confidence in June 1998. During his presidency he represented Nauru at the Third Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto in December 1997, where he described the devastation of Nauru's phosphate-mined interior and warned that the willful destruction of small island nations by climate change would amount to a crime against humanity, becoming one of the earliest heads of government to frame climate change explicitly in those terms. He later founded and led the Centre Party and made two unsuccessful attempts to regain the presidency in 2003. He died on 29 November 2021 and was honored with a state funeral.
Sources: Kinza Clodumar, statement to COP-3 UNFCCC, Kyoto, Japan (8 December 1997), Earth Negotiations Bulletin (IISD) · Wikipedia: Kinza Clodumar (biographical summary, retrieved 2026)