(CNN) The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Wednesday won a historic vote at the United Nations calling on the world’s highest court to set out for the first time countries’ commitments to address the climate crisis — and the consequences of failing to do so do.
Vanuatu has long faced the disproportionate effects of rising seas and intensifying storms. And in 2021, she asked the UN’s International Court of Justice to issue an “opinion” on governments’ legal responsibilities to address the climate crisis, arguing that climate change had become a human rights issue for Pacific Islanders.
While the advisory will not be binding, it will carry significant weight and authority and could influence climate negotiations and future climate litigation around the world. It could also strengthen the position of climate-vulnerable countries in international negotiations.
This year has already been tough for Vanuatu: it is currently in a six-month state of emergency after a rare pair of Category 4 cyclones battered the country within 48 hours in the first week of March. The residents of the islands are still picking their way through the debris from the storms.
Wednesday’s decision for an advisory opinion was adopted by a majority and supported by more than 130 countries. Two of the world’s biggest polluters, the US and China, expressed no support but raised no objection, meaning the measure passed by consensus.
This is the first time the highest international court has been called to deal with the climate crisis. The landmark decision is “essential,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his speech to the assembly. “Climate justice is both a moral imperative and a prerequisite for effective global climate protection.”
Expert opinions are “tremendously important and can have a long-term impact on the international legal order,” Guterres said.
Damage from Category 4 Cyclone Kevin in Port Vila, Vanuatu on March 4, 2023.
“Today we witnessed a victory for climate justice of epic proportions,” said Ishmael Kalsakau, Prime Minister of Vanuatu, shortly after the resolution was passed. “The mere fact that a small Pacific island nation like Vanuatu was able to successfully lead such a transformative outcome speaks to the incredible support from all corners of the world.”
Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s minister for climate change adaptation, told CNN he hoped the statement would be “very persuasive in terms of stepping up domestic action and identifying gaps in international and domestic law that need to be filled.”
“It’s quite historical,” he added.
From the classroom to the highest court
Pacific Islander activists gather in boats in front of the UN headquarters in New York City during UN Climate Week 2022.
An attempt to seek an advisory opinion from the world’s highest court began in 2019 at an environmental law course in Fiji.
Cynthia Houniuhi, president of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, said she and her colleagues looked for ways to address the climate crisis head-on through various international legal avenues before settling on the International Court of Justice.
“To be honest, I was very hesitant at first when this idea was discussed,” Houniuhi said. “My mind keeps telling me to back off. I mean, let’s face it, it was overly ambitious to say the least. How can a small group of students from the Pacific region persuade the majority of UN members to support this? unique initiative?”
But as Pacific island nations continue to suffer from higher temperatures and more droughts, rising sea levels, and increasingly violent hurricanes, Houniuhi realized they had to do this.
“What’s the use of learning all that knowledge if it’s not for people to tackle the single greatest threat to their security?” she said. “For me, the memories of my childhood growing up with my people in my village are slowly fading as the environment that supported us crumbles before our eyes.”
Vanuatu has long faced the disproportionate effects of rising seas and intensifying storms.
Tropical cyclones are not uncommon in Oceania, but Vanuatu, which has the world’s highest disaster risk, suffers disproportionately.
Scientists say these storms will intensify as the planet warms and will continue to take a huge economic toll. According to Regenvanu, the financial damage caused by the recent double cyclones is likely to account for more than half of Vanuatu’s GDP.
“It’s a tremendous impact,” he said. “All we have to do is try to recover, rebuild, while knowing we face the next climate hit.”
To gain support for their idea, the Pacific Island students submitted a petition, which collected signatures from teachers and students. And while campaigning for the initiative, they drafted a letter and proposal that they sent to the Pacific Island governments.
After positive feedback from Vanuatu, the student members met with the then Foreign Minister Regenvanu.
“I was able to empathize with them and share their beliefs and passions,” said Regenvanu. “I was very excited about this proposal and committed to moving it forward.”
Damage from Category 4 Cyclone Kevin in Port Vila, Vanuatu on March 4, 2023.
True to its word, the Vanuatu government approved the proposal and took it to the international stage.
“It was history in the making,” Houniuhi said. “I don’t want to show my kid a picture of my island one day. I want my child to experience the same environment in the same culture that I grew up in.”
Final spurt
During last year’s UN Climate Week in New York City, a group of Pacific Island climate activists ramped up pressure on UN leaders who were gathering for the annual UN General Assembly to discuss matters related to climate change.
Along the East River in front of the UN headquarters, students and climate activists sailed in a flotilla of boats raising the flags of more than a dozen Pacific island nations, urging leaders to vote “yes” to their request for an advisory opinion agree.
Pacific Islanders activists gather in boats outside the UN headquarters in New York during UN Climate Week 2022.
The momentum continued two months later at the United Nations COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where world leaders and negotiators agreed to set up a loss and damage fund, first proposed by Vanuatu in 1991.
The idea is that rich countries – which have contributed most to climate change with their environment-warming pollution – should pay poorer nations to recover from the resulting disasters.
“It is a great injustice to see oil companies making billions in profits when countries like ours seek and seek support for climate adaptation and mitigation in the Pacific,” said Lavetanalagi Seru, Fijian climate activist and regional policy coordinator at Pacific Islands Climate Action Network . “And now we are living through an era of loss and damage.”
While the expertise is separate from loss and damage, Regenvanu said both are rooted in climate justice. A supreme court opinion would create legal clarity about how a compensation fund would work.
“The ICJ Opinion will come at the right time to help us define what loss and harm means [and] how it’s going to work,” he said.
Pacific Islanders activists gather in boats outside the UN headquarters in New York during UN Climate Week 2022.
Regenvanu said Vanuatu’s request draws attention to the legal avenues small countries can take to stave off the worsening impact of the climate crisis.
“While the Paris Agreement is an essential part of the international legal framework for climate action, it is certainly not the only instrument…nor the most legally enforceable,” Regenvanu said.
It could still be around 18 months before an opinion is issued, with countries having their input to the process.
The climate change minister will now travel home to Vanuatu, where he said he would rejoin ongoing relief efforts following the recent storms.
“We’re basically constantly in a state of recovery in response to climate catastrophes,” Regenvanu said. “That’s why we’re so passionate about climate change, because this is our reality and we need to deal with it, and we need other countries to help us deal with it.”