The country is located east of the international date line and south of the equator, about halfway between Hawai‘i and New Zealand in the Polynesian region of the Pacific Ocean. The total land area is 2934 km², consisting of the two large islands of Upolu and Savai'i which account for 99% of the total land area, and eight small islets.
Fiu Mataese Elisara-La'ulu joined OLSSI as its Executive Director in February 2002. He came to the organization after spending over eight years (1993 - 2001) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Samoa. Fiu was given overall responsibilities for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and environmental programmes throughout much of his eight years with UNDP Samoa, and was closely involved with the South Pacific Regional Environment Programe (SPREP) and other environmental partners, including OLSSI, in the implementation of environment programmes around Samoa and the Pacific Island countries.
Before joinning UNDP, was one of the official government representatives in Samoa who followed the global process during the negotiations of the climate change and biodiversity conventions throughout the early 1990s. He also participated in the UNCED global conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a government official in 1992, as well as in the 1994 Barbados Small Islands States (SIDS) conference as a UNDP official.
As an indigenous Samoan and a Pacific Islander, Fiu has represented the indigenous peoples in many of the global conferences since the UNCED in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.