Frustrated by the glacial global efforts to tackle climate change that are wrecking their homelands, 27 law students at the University of the South Pacific decided to, in their words, "get the world's biggest problem before the world's highest court".
Vishal Prasad, director of the campaign (Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change), admits to a mix of feelings at the culmination of a youth-led journey that started in 2019 on the other side of the world.
"Emotional, scared, nervous, anxious," Prasad told AFP outside the gates of the iconic Peace Palace in The Hague, where Wednesday's landmark ICJ ruling will be handed down.
"It's just a mix of all of that at the moment," said the 29-year-old Fijian, the driving force behind the civil society movement pushing for the court opinion.
The ICJ will lay out what responsibilities countries have to prevent climate change and whether penalties should be imposed on nations that have failed to do so.
But getting the top UN court to issue a so-called advisory opinion is no easy task -- the ICJ has delivered only 29 since its founding in 1946.
Only the UN General Assembly can request an advisory opinion from the 15 judges, which aims to clarify a particular point of international law.
Prasad's first task was to persuade Pacific Island leaders to join forces and flex their joint diplomatic muscle at the United Nations.
Led by Vanuatu, the Pacific Island Forum agreed at a conference in Fiji to take the issue to the UN General Assembly.
That's when Prasad's campaign went from regional to global and he moved to New York.
- 'Historic moment' -
Months of shuttle diplomacy followed, culminating in 2023 when the General Assembly agreed to request the ICJ opinion -- shifting the focus to The Hague.
During two weeks of hearings at the Peace Palace in December 2024, representatives from many Pacific Islands, including Prasad himself, addressed the judges, often for the first time in their country's history.
The vaulted Great Hall of Justice, used to hosting dry legal arguments from robed lawyers in wigs, saw a succession of Pacific Islanders, many in colourful traditional dress, deliver impassioned pleas for survival.
"Huge, huge moment. Historic moment," said Prasad of the hearings.
Prasad has seen first-hand the "heartbreaking" impact of climate change on his native Fiji and described the issue as "existential" for many Pacific Islanders.
Whole communities relocated, hospitals flooded at high tide; he said the scene from many low-lying islands was "like a horror movie".
"Climate change is not just an academic exercise... It's something you live day-to-day," he told AFP.
"It's an existential problem for young people in countries like Kiribati, in Tuvalu, in Marshall Islands. They're witnessing the effects of climate change every high tide," he added.
He believes the campaign's power comes from the fact that it is led by younger generations, who stand to lose the most from the changing climate.
"Before we can talk about anything else, we need to address the problem of climate change," he said.
"We need to protect our homes. We need to protect our identity and culture, because nothing exists if we're not able to save that."
He is hoping for an ICJ judgement that clarifies states' obligations on climate change and serves as a guideline for future global negotiations.
Prasad said the Pacific Island culture celebrates the concept of "wayfinding" -- "you need to correct your course if you are going wrong".
"And the ICJ... has a role similar to that, to course correct the world into meeting our targets, meeting our goals, so that we're on a path to a better future for all of us," he added.
Vanuatu: ICJ ruling a 'game-changer' for climate justice
The Hague (AFP) July 23, 2025 -
The island nation of Vanuatu has been the driving force behind efforts to get the International Court of Justice to deliver its first-ever legal opinion on climate change.
On the eve of the pivotal ruling in The Hague, AFP spoke to the country's Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu, 54, who opened the ICJ's hearings in December.
- What does this case mean for Vanuatu, and the world? -
"The Pacific Island leaders have made it very clear that climate change is the single greatest threat to the future of the Pacific peoples.
"We're talking about climate change, the thing that's going to take away the future of our children.
"For many Pacific countries, it's existential, because they will disappear, the low-lying countries like Tuvalu, like Kiribati.
"If we cannot reduce the harm we're seeing, or try to slow it down, we're really facing the very worst consequences really soon."
- What are you hoping for from the ruling? -
"We're hoping that the ICJ will say that it is a legal obligation of states to address climate change. You have to respect other states and their right to self-determination.
"Colonialism is gone -- you know, supposedly gone -- but this is a hangover where your conduct as a state continues to suppress the future of the people of another country.
"And you don't have a legal right to do that under international law. And not only that, but if your actions have already caused this harm, there have to be reparations for that."
- What impact is climate change having on your country? -
"In Vanuatu, we're seeing large areas of land that were previously habitable, and people who have lived there for a long time can no longer live there."
"The other thing you're seeing is really frequent and more intense tropical cyclones, which are the most damaging natural weather event we get in Vanuatu.
"The cyclone season is getting longer, we're seeing more extreme rainfall events, which cause flooding, landslides, that kind of thing.
"And the effect on the economy as well for the government. We're seeing a large amount of damage that has to be addressed by the state.
"You're seeing a large proportion of our GDP just going to rebuilding, recovering, and then preparing.
"We need assistance to be able to build resilient public infrastructure, so we don't have to continue to spend money on rebuilding."
- How do you feel on the eve of the ruling? -
"I feel optimistic. I think we're going to get a good opinion...
"We are crossing fingers, but very hopeful that it'll be a good result.
"And I think it will also be a game-changer for the whole climate discourse we're going through.
"We've been going through this for 30 years, you know, so it'll shift. It'll shift the narrative, which is what we need to have."
- What consequences do you see from the ruling? -
"I think the advisory opinion will be very powerful within states to be used by people taking cases against their governments.
"For every court, this will be something they can use. Whether it's a municipal-level court or a state-level court, they will be able to use this new ruling to force, try to make governments be more accountable and do more.
"But also I think for countries like Vanuatu... we will be able to take this to help us make our arguments.
"Legal clarity will be provided for a lot of the stuff we're arguing about for so long."
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