google-site-verification=jrFRO6oYNLK1iKh3HkH_yKgws4mFcOFcPvOCyqbqAnk
Pakistan's Premier Multilingual News Agency

UN approves Resolution to Combat Climate Change

In a decision lauded as a historic win for climate protection, the UN passed a motion that should make it simpler to hold polluting nations legally responsible for failing to address the climate emergency.

New York, 30 March 2023 (GNP): Resolution to combat climate change, that the highest international court specify legal duties relating to climate change, was approved by the UN General Assembly on Wednesday by majority consent.

Vanuatu, a small Pacific island nation susceptible to extreme climate effects, and youth activists strongly supported the resolution to obtain a legal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) specifying states’ obligations to deal with climate change and defining any implications countries might suffer for carelessness.

Ishmael Kalsakau, the prime minister of Vanuatu, remarked that “Today we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions”.

“Today’s historic resolution is the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate cooperation, one that is more fully focused on upholding the rule of international law and an era that places human rights and intergenerational equity at the forefront of climate decision-making”, he told the assembly.

“Its adoption sends a loud and clear message not only around the world but far into the future”, he added.

Cynthia Houniuhi, the president of Pacific Island students fighting climate change (PISFCC), said they are really happy that the world has listened to the youth of the Pacific.

She stated in a statement: “Through no fault of our own, we are living with devastating tropical cyclones, flooding, biodiversity loss, and sea level rise. We have contributed the least to the global emissions that are drowning our land”.

“As young people, the world’s failure to stop planet-killing emissions is not a theoretical problem. It is our present and it is our future that is being sold out”, Cynthia continued.

More than 120 nations, including the UK but excluding the US, co-sponsored this resolution. 

It will assist in creating a type of legal primary criterion in the international movement for climate justice, which intends to hold nations answerable for climate breaches in the courts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “Together, you are making history” adding that even if it is not legally binding, a judgment from the International Court of Justice “would assist the General Assembly, the UN, and member states to take the bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs”.

The resolution was passed just days after the self-described “climate president” approved a vast, multi-decade oil and gas drilling project in Alaska that would result in one of the biggest “carbon bombs” on US territory.

The project will drill 73 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas.

Also Read: Rising deadly fungal infection grips US

Establishing international legal norms can have an impact on judges and governments even though their judgment will not be enforceable in domestic courts.

Additionally, it represents the first attempt to legitimize obligations for countries to take action on climate change under international law, which adherents hope will strengthen climate-related lawsuits by assisting vulnerable states.

 

Global average temperatures might rise by 1.5C over pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030–2035, according to a warning issued by the UN’s panel of climate experts (IPCC) a week ago, underscoring the need of taking immediate action in this decade.

“The UN resolution to take the issue of climate change to the world’s highest court is a historic moment in the fight for climate justice, human rights, and intergenerational equity”, said Harjeet Singh, head of the global political strategy at Climate Action Network International.

“The advisory opinion must serve as an important accountability tool towards state’s obligations in protecting the environment and future generations from climate impacts”, he added while taking about resolution to combat climate change.

google-site-verification=jrFRO6oYNLK1iKh3HkH_yKgws4mFcOFcPvOCyqbqAnk