Hamburg: The UN’s global court for maritime law stated on Tuesday that countries are legally bound to cut down on their greenhouse gas emissions, providing long-awaited comments from island nations most exposed to climate change.
The International Court of Justice for the Law of the Sea (ICJLOS) ruled that carbon emission was an ocean pollutant. It also held that nations must adopt measures to mitigate and adapt to its adverse impacts.
This is the first time in three cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change seeking advisory opinions.
According to experts, although this decision is not binding under international law, it may have significant implications for international and domestic law relating to climate change.
“This opinion clarifies international legal obligations,” said Joy Chowdhury, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).
The treaty that founded this chamber has 169 member states including Russia, China and India whereas United States being the largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases is excluded.
Judge Albert Hofmann told a crowded Hamburg court where the tribunal sits as he pronounced: “States parties to the Convention have a specific obligation to take all necessary measures to prevent, reduce and control marine pollution caused by anthropogenic (greenhouse gas) emissions.”
Small Island States Committee on Climate Change launches request for comments in 2022 international lawIt is an alliance of countries led by the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda and the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu.
The group requested ICJ clarification about: duties owed by signatories of maritime agreements concerning human- induced climate change; marine environment safeguarding from ocean warming and rising sea levels.
Some small island nations already suffer from advancing seas rising temperatures never known before and increasingly violent hurricanes across Australia – like last year’s suggestion that residents could move away from Tuvalu, one of these plaintiffs’ homes, to escape climate impacts suggests
However coastal countries will be more affected as ocean levels increase.
Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Alfonso Brown warned the court last year that “unless swift action is taken, my children and grandchildren will be unable to live in their ancestral land”.
Climate change has become an issue for a series of international tribunals. Last year, the same group of island nations also asked the ICJ to intervene.
In a hearing set for next year by the United Nations’ highest court, over 80 countries have expressed interest in participating.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is also litigating climate change cases. Chile and Colombia requested this body of regional judges to advise them on what duties Americas states owe regarding fighting greenhouse gas emissions.
This follows last week’s decision by the European Court of Human Rights which said that all 46 member states belonging to Council of Europe hada duty to protect their people against bad effects caused by global warming. It is worth mentioning that no treaty has ever addressed this subject before as it did not then exist.
