Pacific Islands Want a Climate Solution. The US Isn't Listening - Bloomberg

Pacific Islands Want a Climate Solution. The US Isn’t Listening - Bloomberg

Pacific Islands Want a Climate Solution. The US Isn’t Listening

Washington has the chance to support climate goals, but it is focused on China. Island nations are understandably fed up.
Global warming challenges in Vanuatu.Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Earlier this year, Vanuatu, one of the countries most vulnerable to global warming, decided that enough was enough. Leading a global group of other nations, it got approval for a United Nations resolution to ask the International Court of Justice to clarify the obligations and legal consequences that countries have when it comes to climate change. The case is still pending in the ICJ.

That Vanuatu thought to take its dilemma to the highest court in the world demonstrates the severity of the issue. The chain of islands in the South Pacific has been consistently ranked as the country with the highest disaster risk worldwide. By the end of the century, it’s thought that it and other islands like Tuvalu will be completely submerged, rendering them uninhabitable. In March, it was hit by an earthquake and twin cyclones in just 48 hours, underlining the perils it faces from climate risks. Island states have consistently talked about these challenges at global forums, highlighting the dangers their people are living through.