Sea-level rise will render their islands uninhabitable this century, low-lying atoll nations told the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as they called for a definitive opinion that lack of action to reduce carbon emissions is a breach of international law.
Starkly different dueling narratives have defined the two weeks of hearings, which were to wrap up on Friday in The Hague, Netherlands. One from countries – predominantly rich and industrialised – that have sought to deny or minimise blame for a rising average temperature and higher seas. The other, articulated by poor and vulnerable nations, seeks to apportion responsibility and bring about accountability.
“With the rise in sea level, Tuvalu will likely become uninhabitable long before complete inundation,” said Eselealofa Apinelu, a diplomat from the coral atoll nation of 10,000 people situated halfway between Australia and Hawaii.
“King tides are increasingly causing year-round inundation as marine water percolates through the porous limestone of our coral atolls,” she told the ICJ on Thursday.
The UN General Assembly, after lobbying by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, voted last year to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ to clarify the legal obligations of states to combat climate change and the consequences of failing to act.
The opinion, expected next year, would be non-binding but could influence other courts as they consider climate change cases. If the ICJ agrees that international law as a whole applies, it could strengthen the negotiating hand of developing nations at the United Nations annual climate talks and for rich nations to cut emissions more rapidly and to provide more financial assistance.
Top polluters such as the United States and China told the court that their obligations were already fulfilled by participation in treaties designed to address human-driven climate change, including the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
They argued that emissions of carbon dioxide, which trap heat in the atmosphere and raise the global temperature, cannot be likened to transboundary pollution such as a contamination of a river that passes through several countries.
Developing nations including Pacific and Caribbean island states say a range of human rights are being violated and international law as a whole applies. Bangladesh warned of the possibility of having to relocate millions of people this century from its low-lying delta.
Tuvalu’s testimony included videos played to the court of 3D simulations of how different extents of sea-level rise would completely engulf its filaments of land during storms or extreme tides.
The Marshall Islands also deployed computer-modelled simulations in its testimony to demonstrate the possibility of complete inundation of its crucial fresh-water wells by storm surges or high tides.
Though simplifications, the visualizations powerfully drove home the larger point of the risks the atoll nations face.
“It is not too late to prevent these doom scenarios,” Marshall Islands climate envoy Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner told the court.
Both Marshall Islands and Tuvalu have turned to land reclamation but rely on donors to fully realise the plans.
The Marshall Islands said it needed about US$9 billion to fortify two of its atolls that have most of its population.
“We need time and finance. We need temperatures to stop rising so we have more time. And we urgently need finance because we just cannot afford the adaptation that is necessary,” Jetnil-Kijiner said.
Donor-funded land reclamation has added about 5 percent to the area of Tuvalu’s most populated island, Fogafale. The country has said it wants US$1 billion to double Fogafale’s area and raise its elevation by reclaiming 3.6 square kilometers (1.4 square miles) from the lagoon.
Apinelu also linked warmer seas and declining fish populations to the burden of health problems in Tuvalu. Half of Tuvaluans’ calories now come from rice and sugar, she said.
“As things stand, Tuvalu cannot survive the catastrophic impacts of climate change,” Apinelu said.
“Tuvalu asks that you be a part of the solution,” she told the ICJ.
