Ambassador
Climate Change & Oceans
Carrying Tuvalu’s case on sea-level rise, ocean health and climate mobility to the world.
The Ambassador
H.E. Shiv Shankar Nair, GCEG, OV
Ambassador for Climate Change and Oceans. Special Envoy to the Commonwealth. Ambassador to UNESCO.
H.E. Shiv Shankar Nair, GCEG, OV, is Tuvalu’s Ambassador for Climate Change and Oceans. He is also Tuvalu’s Ambassador to UNESCO and Special Envoy to the Commonwealth in London.
He is unique among Tuvaluan diplomats as his appointment was based on a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, and he reports directly to the Prime Minister on issues relating to the Commonwealth and Oceans and to the Minister for Climate Change for issues relating to the Environment. On issues relating to UNESCO, he reports to the acting Minister for Culture.
His work centres on the questions that will decide Tuvalu’s future: rising seas, the health of the ocean, and the movement of people in a changing climate.
His career began in financial engineering and government advisory work. Over two decades, he helped put together major infrastructure projects in Africa and Latin America using multilateral credit, and built companies in economies in transition. Alongside that work, he became known as a mediator between sovereign states and between governments and international companies.
Diplomacy for small island States
His diplomatic work for the Pacific began with Vanuatu. In 2013 he was appointed Vanuatu’s Special Envoy for talks with Georgia, which led to Vanuatu recognising Georgia’s territorial integrity. In 2017 Vanuatu named him Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Commonwealth in London and Permanent Representative to the UN World Tourism Organization in Madrid.
As Vanuatu’s Envoy he worked with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the British Government to make Vanuatu a co-champion of the effort to end plastic waste in the ocean, opening the way for UK support as Vanuatu replaced single-use plastics with local materials. He has also worked to secure funding for Pacific organisations dealing with the effects of climate change on vulnerable islands, and has served as a Trustee of The Ocean Foundation.
In 2022 Tuvalu appointed him its Envoy to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the start of his work for Tuvalu. He was a co-architect of the 2024 Baku Communiqué on the climate challenges facing small island developing States, and in June 2026 he led Tuvalu’s delegation to the Berlin Climate Mobility Forum.
A message from the Ambassador
Welcome
Talofa, and welcome to the Office of the Ambassador of Tuvalu for Oceans, Climate Change, UNESCO and Special Envoy to the Commonwealth.
Tuvalu is one of the smallest nations on earth by land area, but our ocean is vast and our voice in the world matters. This Mission exists to make sure that our voice is heard where decisions are made. We represent Tuvalu at UNESCO, within the Commonwealth, and in international talks on climate change and the oceans.
Our work is practical. In partnership with Sea Shepherd Global, Tuvalu’s police now patrol our waters from a Sea Shepherd vessel. It was the organisation’s first partnership in the Pacific, and it has already led to the seizure of a longliner fishing in our waters without a permit. We helped shape the Baku Communiqué on the challenges facing small island developing States, and Tuvalu is a founding member of the Ocean Pioneers Coalition. At UNESCO, we are working to have Tuvalu’s atoll-island cultural landscape recognised as World Heritage before rising seas put it at greater risk.
Multilaterally, we assisted Nigeria in winning a seat on the IMO Council and lobbied with SIDS on behalf of Portugal to help it win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
We also work with Commonwealth partners on women’s empowerment, gender equality and trade, and we push for a common position among island States on seabed mining.
Whether you are Tuvaluan, a longstanding friend of our islands or discovering Tuvalu for the first time, I am glad you are here. I invite you to learn more about our work and to get in touch with the Mission.
If you would like to work with us, please write to office@tuvalumission.tv.
Fakafetai lasi
H.E. Shiv Shankar Nair, GCEG, OV
His three roles
Follow any of the links below to see the work behind each role.
Special Envoy
The Commonwealth
Coordinating assistance with the Commonwealth Secretariat and member countries, including on gender equality and trade.
Ambassador
UNESCO
Safeguarding Tuvalu’s language and traditions, supporting ocean science and promoting education for a changing world.
Portfolio
What the Ambassador works on
The Ambassador’s brief covers five areas.
Illegal fishing
Fighting illegal fishing in Tuvalu’s maritime zone, some 750,000 square kilometres of ocean whose fish are one of the country’s main sources of income.
Ambassador Nair brought the international NGO Sea Shepherd to Tuvalu. In a groundbreaking agreement between the government and Sea Shepherd, the NGO patrols the Tuvaluan Maritime Zone with Royal Tuvaluan Police on board, detecting and intercepting fishing vessels involved in illegal fishing, bottom trawling and the use of gill-nets. Sea Shepherd also provides emergency medical aid to remote islands and trains Tuvaluan law enforcement officials.
Climate change
Advocating Tuvalu’s position on climate change: deep emission cuts, finance that small islands can reach, and recognition that Tuvalu’s statehood and maritime boundaries are permanent.
Ghost ships
Confronting the menace of ghost ships: vessels operating in and around Tuvalu’s waters outside the rules that keep the ocean safe and lawful.
The Commonwealth
Coordinating assistance with the Commonwealth Secretariat and fellow Commonwealth members, especially on women’s empowerment, gender equality and global trade negotiations.
Seabed mining
Coordinating discussions among island States on a common position on mining of the seabed, so that the countries with most at stake speak together.
“Advocating for oceans and climate action on behalf of Tuvalu means speaking, again and again, about realities the world would often rather not confront.”
On record
Honours, fellowships and writing
Honours
- 2023Medal of Merit, Order of VanuatuFor contributions to Vanuatu’s climate campaign at the International Court of Justice and the first UK–Vanuatu agreement on ocean plastics.
- 2022Freedom of the City of LondonConferred by the City of London Corporation.
- 2018Freeman, Worshipful Company of Fuellers
- —Knight Grand Cross, Order of the Red Eagle of GeorgiaThe “GCEG” post-nominal, recognising his contribution to the political and economic welfare of Georgia.
Fellowships
- 2019Fellow, Royal Society of Arts
- 2018Fellow, Royal African Society
- 2017Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society
- —Member, Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House)
Selected writing
- 2020“China’s Belt and Road Initiative in a Post-COVID World”British Herald
- 2019“Vanuatu widens the ban on plastics”
- 2019“Bougainville: a background to the June Independence Referendum”
- 2018“China’s One Belt One Road: threat or opportunity?”
- 1990“The Strategy of Japanese Banks in Europe”