Small Pacific country presses UN for global climate reparations. FEB 10, 2026

Vanuatu by Lilyana Zivkovic. Published on July 17, 2021. Free to use under the Unsplash License

Small Pacific country presses UN for global climate reparations

The government of Vanuatu, a Pacific archipelago extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels and increasingly intense cyclones, is preparing a new diplomatic offensive at the United Nations. The country intends to bring a draft resolution to the General Assembly to transform into concrete action the recent international court decision on the climate responsibility of States.

The initiative comes after a landmark opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), originally requested by Vanuatu and other island nations. The court was consulted to clarify the legal obligations of governments in protecting the climate and what legal consequences may exist when their policies contribute to global environmental damage.

In the court's understanding, a State's failure to act against greenhouse gas emissions may constitute an internationally wrongful act. Furthermore, governments also have a duty to oversee private companies under their jurisdiction and may be required to repair damages, including financial compensation, restitution, or other forms of reparation.

Now, Vanuatu wants the UN General Assembly to go a step further: to use this legal interpretation as a basis for concrete accountability mechanisms. The proposal, according to drafts released to the international press, aims to link the climate debate to the idea of ​​"reparation," arguing that historically more polluting countries should contribute directly to compensating for losses and damages suffered by vulnerable nations.

The pressure from the small country has a clear motive. Pacific nations are among the first threatened by global warming: more violent storms, coastal erosion, and the risk of submersion of inhabited areas are already a reality. Scientists associate these impacts with the accumulated increase in global emissions over decades.

The ICJ's decision politically strengthened these countries by recognizing that international law is not limited to the Paris Agreement. The duty to protect the environment also derives from human rights norms and other global treaties, broadening the legal scope for future disputes and lawsuits.

If the resolution moves forward, the climate debate could enter a new phase: not only emission reduction targets, but also formal discussion about international compensation. For Vanuatu and its allies, it is a matter of justice—for large economies, it could mean the opening of a complex legal and financial precedent in global climate negotiations.

The Green Amazon News – International

This text was compiled using public data, scientific reports, and information from meteorological institutions.

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