Printed June 5, 2025
By Joie Chowdhury, Senior Legal professional on the Heart for Worldwide Environmental Regulation, Aditi Shetye, World Strategic Litigation Lead on the World’s Youth for Local weather Justice and Researcher in Public Worldwide & Environmental Regulation on the British Institute of Worldwide and Comparative Regulation; and Theresa Amor-Juergenssen, Authorized Analysis and Capability-Constructing Lead at World’s Youth for Local weather Justice.
Because the 2025 UN Ocean Convention (UNOC) convenes from June 9 to 13 in Good, France, political leaders and choice makers face a pivotal second. The ocean, our planet’s life help system, is beneath siege from the escalating impacts of local weather change, rising sea ranges, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss. These modifications are devastating marine ecosystems, and in addition the livelihoods and cultures of coastal and island communities worldwide. For low-lying States, sea degree rise will not be a distant fear, it’s an existential disaster threatening their sovereignty, and the proper to self-determination.
The trigger is obvious: fossil fuels generate greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions, driving local weather change and its resultant harms. To safeguard our ocean, and according to worldwide authorized obligations, States should decide to a good, quick, full, and funded phaseout of fossil fuels. A fossil fuel-free future is now not non-compulsory— it’s important for the continued well being of our ocean and the soundness of life on earth.
The Ethical and Authorized Crucial for a Fossil-Free Ocean
On the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) local weather advisory opinion oral hearings in The Hague final December, counsel for Vanuatu and the Melanesian Spearhead Group delivered a profound reminder of what’s at stake within the local weather disaster, reflections echoed within the oral arguments of many island and coastal States:
“Vanuatu is a nation of islands and island peoples. Our peoples have constructed vibrant cultures and traditions over millennia which can be intimately intertwined with our ancestral lands and seas. But as we speak, we discover ourselves on the frontlines of a disaster we didn’t create ⎯ a disaster that threatens our very existence…Rising sea ranges are projected to submerge all the territory of sure small island States ⎯ probably inside many years. This may inhibit the sovereignty of those States and, thus, the proper of affected peoples to totally take pleasure in their self-determined political standing. It could additionally pressure the dispersal of peoples from their ancestral homelands, undermining their proper to exist as integral peoples inside their very own territory…For the peoples of Melanesia, whose very existence as peoples is fused with their ancestral territories, this is able to be tantamount to collective dying.”
For nations whose identities and futures are inextricably tied to the ocean, the specter of erasure attributable to sea degree rise and different fossil-fueled local weather impacts will not be a distant prospect; it’s an unfolding actuality. Within the face of what’s basically a struggle for survival, a business-as-usual method will not be solely insufficient, it’s unconscionable. But, throughout international fora main polluters proceed to prioritize slender self-interest, doing their utmost to keep away from and dilute their authorized duties, as States face the specter of disappearing altogether. This cycle of hurt and impunity should finish. A fossil-free ocean will not be a lofty aspiration; it’s an pressing ethical and authorized crucial. Current authorized developments have clarified that States have already got binding obligations beneath current legislation to deal with local weather change and shield the ocean. These obligations should now be met with the seriousness and solidarity this second calls for.
The Relevance of the Local weather Advisory Opinions
The Worldwide Tribunal for the Regulation of the Sea (ITLOS) Local weather Advisory Opinion (2024): The UNOC Political Declaration recollects the 2024 Advisory Opinion of ITLOS on the Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Fee of Small Island States on Local weather Change and Worldwide Regulation (COSIS). Advisory opinions are authoritative clarifications of legislation by a court docket. The pronouncements of ITLOS in its local weather advisory opinion floor ocean well being in authorized duties. ITLOS has affirmed that anthropogenic GHG emissions represent “air pollution of the marine setting” and that States are obligated to take all vital measures to forestall, cut back, and management such air pollution, guided by the very best out there science and a stringent and goal customary of due diligence. Whereas the opinion limits itself to clarifying State obligations to cut back greenhouse fuel emissions, the science is unequivocal: with out instantly confronting fossil gasoline manufacturing and use, such reductions will stay out of attain.
The Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) Local weather Advisory Opinion (Anticipated 2025): The ICJ is poised to make clear States’ obligations beneath worldwide legislation to deal with local weather change and the authorized penalties of failing to fulfill these obligations. The ICJ advisory opinion is one to look at for ocean-relevant authorized findings, as a number of States uplifted the impacts of local weather change on ocean and coastal communities of their arguments and emphasised 4 ocean-relevant arguments particularly, encompassing additionally arguments for a fossil gasoline section out:
Authorized obligations on local weather change stem not solely from climate-specific treaties but additionally from different sources of legislation, such because the UN Conference on the Regulation of the Sea, human rights treaties, and customary worldwide legislation.
The interlocking rules—territorial integrity, self-determination, and everlasting sovereignty over pure assets—should proceed to use even within the face of sea degree rise.
Below their preventive obligations, together with the obligation of due diligence and the precautionary precept, States should take measures to guard the setting, together with the ocean and the marine setting, from greenhouse fuel emissions
States, Peoples, and people whose rights have been violated are entitled to particular treatments for climate-related hurt, resembling compensation, technological help, the preservation of sovereignty regardless of territorial loss, safety for climate-displaced individuals, and the restoration of significant ecosystems like coral reefs and mangroves.
The Inter-American Court docket of Human Rights (IACtHR) Advisory Opinion (Anticipated 2025): Constructing on its 2017 advisory opinion on the setting and human rights and its 2024 Case of La Oroya Inhabitants v. Peru, in addition to the arguments offered to it in the middle of the local weather advisory opinion proceedings in 2024, the IACtHR is predicted to elaborate on States’ rights-based local weather obligations in relation to local weather change and the setting, together with the ocean and the marine setting.
To satisfy authorized obligations and shield our ocean, States should halt oil and fuel enlargement and guarantee a fast and equitable fossil gasoline section out – an obligation that can not be additional delayed with out placing our planet in peril and the rights of each current and future generations. The well being of our ocean is vital for our international survival.
The Path Ahead
As Astrid Puentes, the UN Particular Rapporteur on the Proper to a Wholesome Setting, has emphasised in her 2025 Report on the Ocean and Human Rights, “[I]mmediate motion is important to section out fossil gasoline reliance, shield weak habitats and align ocean actions with sustainable local weather and biodiversity targets.”
UNOC 2025 presents a possibility for the ocean governance neighborhood to reaffirm its dedication to ocean safety and local weather justice. By embracing a fossil-free future, States can adjust to their authorized obligations, stand with climate-vulnerable communities, and protect the well being of our ocean for generations to come back. The legislation is obvious: States have binding obligations to forestall local weather hurt and shield the ocean. The science is clearer nonetheless. That is now not a query of coverage desire. It’s a matter of fairness, of justice, of dignity, of survival; nonetheless, what stays in query is the political will to behave accordingly.
Word: This weblog publish relies on the joint Key Messages Briefing Word for the UN Ocean Convention, co-produced by the Heart for Worldwide Environmental Regulation, Pacific Island College students Combating Local weather Change, and the World’s Youth for Local weather Justice.
