A group of law students at the University of the South Pacific (USP) has turned rising tides and failing climate treaties into a legal battle that is now reverberating across the globe. These young advocates, hailing from Pacific Island nations most threatened by climate change, refused to watch their homes vanish under rising seas.
Instead, they mobilized around international law, ultimately pushing for a ruling at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that confirmed: nations have a legal obligation to curb greenhouse gas pollution.
"It's a pretty grim thing to have to do, year after year — to tell young Pacific Islanders that the best available science says they won't have habitable sovereign territory within their lifetimes," Justin Rose, the students' professor and expert in Pacific Island law, told the New York Times.
The learnings in Professor Rose's class really hit home for Tolu Muliaina, who was also a lecturer in the geography department at USP's campus in Fiji. "What I was pouring into my assignments was my own worries about the implications of climate change on me as a person, but particularly my children," he said. Muliaina was worried about his young son's grave being washed away during the next king tide or cyclone.
As part of an optional extracurricular activity in Professor Rose's class, the students came up with a project that would bring the issue of climate change to the forefront of one of the highest courts. Throughout this process, they scrutinized the gap between what international law promises and what it actually delivers for vulnerable communities.
"Climate change is the most prevalent threat and issue facing us right now," said Sulia Makasini, a student from Tonga. She was most curious about what international law had to say about the responsibilities of other countries that have the greatest impact on the planet's warming.
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From grassroots organizing and scholarly research to diplomatic engagement, they built a campaign rooted in local identity: their stories, their islands, their futures that are at stake.
"For us, it was quite clear that climate change does impact our basic human rights," Madeleine Lavemai, a student from Tonga, said.
What sets this group apart is how they married law and justice with community engagement. Their activism didn't stop at wishful thinking. Their case at the ICJ has become a landmark: a legal affirmation that climate responsibility is not optional, and that international law can and should protect those most vulnerable.
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