A person from Tuvalu grew up watching tides shape island shores; rising tides now erode lands, swallow homes, decimate livelihoods, and wash away community futures. Entire islands are sinking and one-third of Tuvalu's citizens are seeking climate refuge in Australia. Climate change has become an immediate daily reality. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion establishing a legal duty for states to prevent climate harm and potential accountability through compensation or restitution. Producing, licensing, or subsidizing fossil fuels could constitute an internationally wrongful act and trigger state liability. Nations have a duty to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and expanding fossil-fuel infrastructure despite clear scientific warnings can generate legal liability. Grassroots movements, Pacific youth initiatives and international diplomacy by small island nations propelled this legal breakthrough.
The salt spray of the Pacific Ocean is in my blood; I grew up watching the tides shape the shores of the islands of Tuvalu. But now, those tides are rising relentlessly, eroding lands, swallowing homes, decimating livelihoods and washing away the futures of communities. Entire islands are sinking. One-third of Tuvalu's citizens are seeking 'climate refuge' in Australia. Climate change is not a distant threat; it is our daily reality.
But there is hope. At the end of July, in The Hague, the Netherlands, I bore witness to a historic moment. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered the advisory opinion that states have a legal duty to prevent climate harm and, importantly, that they can be held accountable for the consequences of their actions, through financial compensation or other forms of restitution.
The ruling means that climate justice is no longer simply a moral obligation, but a matter of international law. This feels like a seismic shift. The relentless cries from front-line communities across the Pacific, who have long borne the brunt of a crisis we did not create, have been heard. The ICJ offered clarity on fossil fuels in particular: producing, licensing and subsidizing them could constitute an "internationally wrongful act" for which states can be held liable under international law.
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