Tiny Vanuatu uses its 'unimportantness' to launch big climate ideas

He wants a top international court to rule on whether nations are legally bound to protect themselves from climate risks.< /p>
Nikenike Vurobaravu presides over a small country with a big hand in climate diplomacy.
Rising the level of the sea threatens the very existence of its Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and its population of just over 300,000 people. His best defense, he says, is to creatively raise his voice in international diplomatic talks.
From Vanuatu in 1991 came the idea that countries industrialized countries should pay for the irreversible climate-induced damage faced by developing countries like his. Last month, at the UN climate talks in Egypt, an agreement was reached - after 30 years of negotiations - to create a fund that would help poor countries deal with climate loss and damage.
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Earlier this year, Mr. Vurobaravu used the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to demand, for the first time, a "non-proliferation treaty" of fuels fossils.
Now it is Vanuatu's most provocative suggestion to date. "legal consequences" under existing international laws. In short, he's asking the court to say whether countries could be sued for climate inaction.
"We're getting off track beaten,” said Mr. Vurobaravu, a calm-voiced man whose downturned gray mustache makes him look like a sad face emoji, despite being anything but. a small historically insignificant country, as he said, Vanuatu has learned to innovate. "If you try to do it the way other people do things, I think we wouldn't have gotten very far," he said .
The draft resolution was co-sponsored by 17 other countries, including at least one industrialized country with a significant share of historical emissions – Germany. United States nor China have endorsed it.
Diplomacy may well be the only defense of Vanuatu. Vanuatu has no military and no valuable produce except tuna, which is moving further and further away from Vanuatu's territorial waters as the oceans warm.
ImagePresident Nikenike Vurobaravu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in September. the legal opinion of the International Court of Justice was discussed in mid-November during the General Assembly. Negotiations over every word and every comma are expected over the next few months, with a vote potentially in early 2023. To pass, the resolution needs a majority of the 193 member countries in the General Assembly. The votes of superpowers and small nations also count.
Understanding Vanuatu's unique superpower role requires understanding its unique history.
The islands, inhabited by its indigenous Melanesian people since the 6th century BC, were jointly ruled by Britain and France for nearly 100 years. Europeans were drawn to Vanuatu's sandalwood in the early 1800s and then to its land and labor. Settlers established plantations of cotton, then coffee, bananas and coconuts.
Vanuatu gained independence in 1980.

World Dec 8, 2022 0 106 Add to Reading List

Tiny Vanuatu uses its 'unimportantness' to launch big climate ideas

He wants a top international court to rule on whether nations are legally bound to protect themselves from climate risks.< /p>

Nikenike Vurobaravu presides over a small country with a big hand in climate diplomacy.

Rising the level of the sea threatens the very existence of its Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and its population of just over 300,000 people. His best defense, he says, is to creatively raise his voice in international diplomatic talks.

From Vanuatu in 1991 came the idea that countries industrialized countries should pay for the irreversible climate-induced damage faced by developing countries like his. Last month, at the UN climate talks in Egypt, an agreement was reached - after 30 years of negotiations - to create a fund that would help poor countries deal with climate loss and damage.

Earlier this year, Mr. Vurobaravu used the podium of the United Nations General Assembly to demand, for the first time, a "non-proliferation treaty" of fuels fossils.

Now it is Vanuatu's most provocative suggestion to date. "legal consequences" under existing international laws. In short, he's asking the court to say whether countries could be sued for climate inaction.

"We're getting off track beaten,” said Mr. Vurobaravu, a calm-voiced man whose downturned gray mustache makes him look like a sad face emoji, despite being anything but. a small historically insignificant country, as he said, Vanuatu has learned to innovate. "If you try to do it the way other people do things, I think we wouldn't have gotten very far," he said .

The draft resolution was co-sponsored by 17 other countries, including at least one industrialized country with a significant share of historical emissions – Germany. United States nor China have endorsed it.

Diplomacy may well be the only defense of Vanuatu. Vanuatu has no military and no valuable produce except tuna, which is moving further and further away from Vanuatu's territorial waters as the oceans warm.

ImagePresident Nikenike Vurobaravu addressed the United Nations General Assembly in September. the legal opinion of the International Court of Justice was discussed in mid-November during the General Assembly. Negotiations over every word and every comma are expected over the next few months, with a vote potentially in early 2023. To pass, the resolution needs a majority of the 193 member countries in the General Assembly. The votes of superpowers and small nations also count.

Understanding Vanuatu's unique superpower role requires understanding its unique history.

The islands, inhabited by its indigenous Melanesian people since the 6th century BC, were jointly ruled by Britain and France for nearly 100 years. Europeans were drawn to Vanuatu's sandalwood in the early 1800s and then to its land and labor. Settlers established plantations of cotton, then coffee, bananas and coconuts.

Vanuatu gained independence in 1980.