CARIBBEAN-Antigua PM welcomes global court ruling on marine pollution.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Wednesday, described as “a historic opinion” a ruling by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea that carbon dioxide is an ocean pollutant.

The court said emissions from fossil fuels and other planet-warming gases absorbed by the oceans count as marine pollution and that countries have an obligation to mitigate their effects on oceans.

Antigua and Barbuda was among nine countries, including Vanuatu and Tuvalu, that brought the court action last September claiming that they were disproportionately affected by climate change. Over two days of hearings, the leaders of the nine countries said the effects of climate change were threatening their nations’ very existence.

The countries had asked the Hamburg-based court to issue an opinion on whether carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by the oceans could be considered pollution, and if so, what obligations countries had to address the problem.

The court ruled in an expert opinion that “anthropogenic GHG emissions into the atmosphere constitute pollution of the marine environment” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“It is certainly a historic opinion, one that will inform future action by SIDS (small island developing states) and other countries that are concerned about climate change and the impact of climate change,” Prime Minister Browne told the 

Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). Listen to audio

“I am thrilled that Antigua and Barbuda took the lead in establishing COSIS, the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law. This Commission stood by Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu on the margins of COP 21 in Glasgow, where it was felt it was unlikely that we would have gotten a favorable legal opinion.

‘We had no doubt that these large polluters contravene the UNCLOS conventions, and therefore, we would have been successful in getting a favorable opinion,” Browne told CMC.

He said that in the future, Antigua and Barbuda and the other countries affected by the ruling could use this opinion, though not legally binding, to negotiate with those large polluters “more significant resources to adapt and mitigate against the effect of climate change and also to get more resources for loss and damage.

“You see what was happening in the past. We were almost dependent on these large polluters on their goodwill and their benevolence and maybe not consider they are polluting our seas and our environment…

“Now that UNCLOS has ruled that they are…polluting our marine space…and are committing a taught against all of humanity and where taught is committed, the issue of compensation arises. So if we are pushed to the extent that these countries do not increase ambitions and accelerate the transition into renewables to ensure that we do not exceed the 1.5-degree threshold, then we have a legal basis for pursuing these large polluters in the courts”.

Prime Minister Browne told CMC he believes the court ruling “is an important decision, and it will certainly set the stage for similar opinions,” noting that Vanuatu still has an outstanding similar matter before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“I believe this will set the great precedent of future success to hold all of those large polluters accountable and at the same time to make sure that at the climate negotiations to take place in the future, the large polluters believe that they have any option but to compensate ..and certainly to become more responsible for ensuring that they do not continue to damage the terrestrial and marine environments and thereby putting all of human civilization at risk.”

The nine countries’ case had attracted the attention of several regional and international organizations, and the senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Joie Chowdhury, said in a statement following the ruling that the court had made its position clear.

“For the first time, an international court has recognized that the fates of two global commons — the oceans and the atmosphere —are intertwined and imperiled by the climate crisis,” she said.

The ruling “unequivocally affirms that states have clear and specific obligations under international law to act urgently, ambitiously, and equitably to protect our precious oceans from climate change drivers and impacts.”

Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities. However, increasing emissions can warm and acidify sea waters, harming marine life and ecosystems.

Prime Minister Browne told CMC that the ruling could not have come at a more opportune time, given that his country is hosting the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) from May 27 to 30.

“The SIDS starts following Monday, and as you know, we are virtually focusing on SIDS achieving the SDGs (UN Sustainable Development Goals), and one of the major impediments to achieving the SDGs is the issue of climate disasters that would have impaired growth. Listen to audio

‘We now have this opinion in which the legal obligations of large polluters has been established …as we focus on mitigating the issues that are undermining the development of SIDS.”

Browne told CMC that the “whole idea of this conference is to accelerate the achievements of the SDGs, and as I said before, the issue of climate change has been a major impediment, so this will now help us to address the climate challenges more effectively.”

Download audio – Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda Gaston Browne – clip 1

Download audio – Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda Gaston Browne – clip 2