Tiny Pacific nation turns to ICJ as climate disasters mount

When John Warmington first began diving the reefs outside his home in Vanuatu's Havannah Harbour a decade ago, the coral rose like a sunken forest — tall stands of staghorns branched into yellow antlers, plate corals layered like canopies, and clouds of darting fish wove through the labyrinth.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

“We used to know every inch of that reef,” he said. “It was like a friend.”

Now, it's unrecognisable. After Cyclone Pam battered the reef in 2015, sediment from inland rivers smothered the coral beds. Crown-of-thorns starfish swept in and devoured the recovering polyps. Back-to-back cyclones in 2023 crushed what was left. Then, in December 2024, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake shook the seabed.

What remains is a coral graveyard — bleached rubble scattered across the seafloor, habitats collapsed, life vanished. “We've come out of the water in tears,” said Warmington, who has logged thousands of dives on this single reef. “We just see heartbreak.”