United Nations adopts landmark resolution on climate justice https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/29/united-nations-resolution-climate-emergency-vanuatu
Resolution hailed as ‘win for climate justice of epic proportions’ should make it easier to hold countries accountable for failures
The resolution, which was co-sponsored by more than 120 countries including the UK, but not the US, will help establish a legal litmus test of sorts for the global climate justice movement seeking to hold countries to account for climate failures in the courts.
It comes on the day the Biden administration opened an auction to drill 73m acres of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas – and just days after the self-acclaimed “climate president” approved a massive, multi-decade-long oil and gas drilling project in Alaska, which will create one of the largest “carbon bombs” on US soil.
The resolution emerged out of mounting frustration at the mismatch between the global community’s rhetoric and action on climate change, amid escalating losses for countries such as Vanuatu, which face an existential threat due to sea-level rise. The frustration spurned a social movement led by Vanuatu law students turned youth activists, and work on the resolution was led by Indigenous lawyers in the Pacific.