'Alternative Nobel Prize' goes to Pacific climate activists DW 10/01/2025

"A group of law students studying in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu and a human rights lawyer were awarded the Right Livelihood Award on Wednesday for their efforts to make climate protection a legal obligation for all states. The group, called Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), succeeded in taking the issue of climate justice to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ended up delivering an advisory opinion in July that countries are legally bound to address climate change."

"The PISFCC was founded by 27 law students at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu one of the nations most at risk from the negative impact of climate change. Its declared aim was to "get the world's biggest problem before the world's highest court." The group was aided in its campaigning by Julian Aguon, a human rights lawyer from Guam who also received the award on Wednesday."

"Aguon's law firm, Blue Ocean Law, developed the ultimately successful legal strategy behind the campaign. The prize jury praised the group "for carrying the call for climate justice to the world's highest court, turning survival into a matter of rights and climate action into a legal responsibility." The ICJ's advisory opinion, while legally nonbinding, does carry some political and legal weight."

Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), founded by 27 law students at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu, and human rights lawyer Julian Aguon were awarded the Right Livelihood Award for advancing legal accountability on climate change. PISFCC successfully brought climate justice to the International Court of Justice, resulting in an advisory opinion that countries are legally bound to address climate change. Blue Ocean Law provided the legal strategy. The prize jury praised the campaign for framing survival as a rights issue and climate action as a legal responsibility. The ICJ opinion is nonbinding but carries political and legal weight. Other awardees included humanitarian and anti-corruption groups.

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