Tokelau (NZ)

Sarah Nilsson, PhD, JD

46 Tokelau (NZ)

A yellow stylized Tokelauan canoe on a dark blue field sails toward the manu – the Southern Cross constellation of four, white, five-pointed stars at the hoist side. The Southern Cross represents the role of Christianity in Tokelauan culture and, in conjunction with the canoe, symbolizes the country navigating into the future. The color yellow indicates happiness and peace, and the blue field represents the ocean on which the community relies.

Flag courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Map courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Google Earth

Nukunonu is the largest of the three islands that comprise Tokelau. It is composed of a roughly tear-drop shaped atoll that includes 5.5 sq km of land and whose central lagoon encompasses an area of about 90 sq km.

Photo courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Fakaofo is one of the three islands that make up Tokelau. Its land area is only 3 sq km; the lagoon covers an area of about 45 sq km.

Photo courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

At roughly 8 km (5 mi) wide, Atafu Atoll is the smallest of three atolls comprising Tokelau. Land area is only about 2.5 sq km and the lagoon’s area is about 15 sq km. The primary settlement on Atafu is a village located at the northwestern corner of the atoll – indicated by an area of light gray dots in the left part of this photograph. The typical ring shape of the atoll is the result of coral reefs building up around a former volcanic island. Over geologic time, the central volcano subsided beneath the water surface, leaving the fringing reefs and a central lagoon that contains submerged coral reefs.

Photo courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Last updated on December 5, 2024

Government

According to Britannica, Tokelau is administered as part of New Zealand under the Tokelau Islands Act of 1948, which has been amended several times; Tokelauans have New Zealand citizenship. An administrator is appointed to a three-year term by New Zealand’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, but most authority is delegated to the Tokelau Council for Ongoing Government (or Tokelau Council), comprising elected leaders from each of the atolls, from which the head of government (Ulu-o-Tokelau) is selected annually. The meeting place of the Tokelau Council is rotated yearly among the three atolls. Legislative power rests with the General Fono (assembly), whose members are elected every three years by universal adult suffrage and represent the entire territory. The General Fono holds several annual sessions that can take place on any one of the atolls. It handles budgets, exercises a limited rule-making power, and makes recommendations to the New Zealand Parliament. The Tokelau Council takes over these duties when the General Fono is not in session.

Local government on each atoll is in the hands of the Taupulega (Council of Elders), whose members are the heads of family groups along with two elected members known as the faipule (village leader) and the pulenuku (village mayor). The three faipule and the three pulenuku form the Tokelau Council.

Civil / National Aviation Authority (CAA/NAA)

None found by the author.