Small island states win key climate case

The UN maritime court yesterday ruled in favour of nine small island states who brought a case to seek increased protection of world's oceans from catastrophic climate change.

Finding that carbon emissions can be considered a sea pollutant, the court said countries have an obligation to take measures to mitigate their effects on oceans.

"Anthropogenic GHG emissions into the atmosphere constitute pollution of the marine environment" under the international treaty UNCLOS, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) ruled in an expert opinion.

The case was brought in September by nine small countries disproportionately affected by climate change, including Antigua and Barbuda and Vanuatu.