By Tony O'Riley-
A group of indigenous on Monday have lodged an unprecedented legal complaint against the country’s government, accusing it of insufficient action on climate change.
The eight Torres Strait Islanders filed the complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee,(pictured) They allege that rising sea levels are devastating their communities.
The litigants say their homes, burial grounds and cultural sites run the risk of disappearing underwater during their lifetimes.
They claim that Australia’s failure to adequately address the problem amounts to a breach of its human rights obligations to the islanders, they allege. They say advancing seas are already threatening homes, as well as damaging burial grounds and sacred cultural sites. Many islanders are worried that their islands could quite literally disappear in their lifetimes without urgent action, with severe impacts on their ability to practice their law and culture.
Eight islanders from four different Torres Strait islands are making the complaint, including: Yessie Mosby and Nazareth Warria of Masig (Yorke Island); Keith Pabai and Stanley Marama of Boigu; Nazareth Fauid of Poruma (Coconut Island); Ted Billy, Daniel Billy and Kabay Tamu of Warraber (Sue Island).
“We’re currently seeing the effects of climate change on our islands daily, with rising seas, tidal surges, coastal erosion and inundation of our communities,” said one of the complaint’s authors, Kabay Tamu, in a statement.
This was also having an impact on “the social and emotional well being of our communities who practice culture and traditions,” he added. Lawyers from environmental campaign group say the complaint is the first legal action worldwide brought by low-lying islands against a nation state.
“Climate change is fundamentally a human rights issue. They predicted impacts of climate change in the Torres Strait, including the inundation of ancestral homelands, would be catastrophic for its people,” said Sophie Marjanac, attorney with the nonprofit environmental law firm ClientEarth, which is representing the islander
ClientEarth, which is representing the group is also the first climate ligation against Australia on the basis of human rights.
“Climate change is fundamentally a human rights issue. The predicted impacts of climate change in the Torres Strait, including the inundation of ancestral homelands, would be catastrophic for its people,” said Sophie Marjanac, attorney with the nonprofit environmental law firm ClientEarth, which is representing the islander
The group is demanding the UN committee to rule that Australia should increase its emission reduction target to at least 65% below 2005 levels by 2030, going net zero by 2050. It has also called for the phasing out of thermal coal, in domestic electricity generation and export markets. The committee’s rulings are not legally binding, though states are obliged to consider them.
In 2016 Australia became one of 185 countries around the world to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030. But the target has been branded “insufficient” by research bodies.
Australia relies heavily on coal-fired power plants, and the country’s own Climate Change Authority has recommended more ambitious emissions targets.
The Torres Strait region’s land and sea council, known as GBK, is supporting the claim and has launched a national petition calling on the Australian government to increase climate adaptation and mitigation. It has called on the government to commit $20 million to emergency resiliency projects like sea walls, invest long-term in adaptation measures, reduce emissions by at least 65 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. It calls for achieving net zero emissions before 2050, and phasing out coal for domestic electricity and export.
A successful outcome would make it the first decision from an international body finding that nation states have a duty to reduce their emissions under human rights law. It could selt a sdtrong precedent for other countries to follow.