The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will have to give its opinion on “the obligations incumbent on states” in the protection of the climate system “for present and future generations.”
“Together, they are writing history,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told delegates, noting that while not binding, the opinion of the organization’s judicial body could help world leaders adopt climate action. “brave and strong”.
“Today we have witnessed an epic victory for climate justice,” said Ishmael Kalsakau, prime minister of Vanuatu, an archipelago in the Pacific that was hit by two powerful cyclones in the space of a few days.
It is also a “victory for the peoples and communities around the world who are on the front lines of the climate crisis,” said Lavetanalagi Seru, Pacific coordinator of the NGO Climate Action Network.
Legal and moral weight
The Vanuatu government launched this initiative in 2021, after two years earlier a group of Fijian university students launched a campaign to save their islands, which may disappear due to rising sea levels.
A week ago, UN climate experts (Giec) warned that warming will increase +1.5º already in 2030-2035, compared to the industrial era, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement. A reminder of the extreme urgency to act during this decade to guarantee a “livable future” for humanity.
