A two-week hearing before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (the “Tribunal”) in Hamburg, Germany, concluded on 25 September 2023. The hearing aimed to clarify the obligations of States under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”) in relation to the protection and preservation of marine environments from the effects of climate change. Over 50 States and international institutions, represented by several international arbitration specialists, presented their perspectives during the hearing.
This hearing followed a request for an advisory opinion on these obligations from the Commission of Small Island States (a group that includes Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu, Palau, Niue, Vanuatu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Bahamas), which had then alerted that climate change was “a threat to their survival”. Many believe that the Tribunal’s advisory opinion on this issue would enhance the ability of States to safeguard and preserve marine ecosystems, particularly when dealing with claims based on investment treaties and concerning their environmental legislation.
This initiative is part of a wider movement questioning European and international law, with the ultimate goal of implementing more concrete measures to address the climate crisis. For instance, the United Nations General Assembly entrusted a similar task to the International Court of Justice earlier this year. Further, a request for an advisory opinion regarding State obligations in the context of climate change has been submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, while a recent hearing took place before the European Court of Human Rights in a case involving 30 States accused of insufficient action to tackle the climate crisis and of non-compliance with the Paris Agreement.
