Pacific Islands' climate change SOS needs earnest responses

The US must strengthen its commitment to helping solve this crisis

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Earlier this year, Vanuatu, one of the countries most vulnerable to global warming, decided that enough was enough. Leading a global group of other nations, it got approval for a United Nations resolution to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify the obligations and legal consequences that countries have when it comes to climate change. The case is still pending in the ICJ.

That Vanuatu thought to take its dilemma to the highest court in the world demonstrates the severity of the issue. The chain of islands in the South Pacific has been consistently ranked as the country with the highest disaster risk. By the end of the century, it’s thought that it and other islands like Tuvalu will be completely submerged, making them uninhabitable. In March, it was hit by an earthquake and twin cyclones in just 48 hours, underlining the [climate-related perils it faces]. Island states have always talked about these challenges at global forums, highlighting the dangers their people are living through.