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Cave Hill at the Vanguard of Climate Justice Arguments

01 November 2024

The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus is once again at the forefront of Caribbean efforts to address the impact of climate change, as the region prepares to take its case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

From October 30 to November 1, the campus’s Faculty of Law and its Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade, Law, Policy and Services (SRC) partnered to host the Caribbean ICJ Advocacy Clinic on Climate Change, in preparation for a hearing before the ICJ on climate change in December.

Director of the SRC, Dr Jan Yves Remy, said the three-day conference was part of a broader ongoing effort to ensure that the voices of small island developing states, especially those in the Caribbean, are heard in the international fight for climate justice.

“The decisions and strategies we formulate here will have far reaching implications as we prepare for the upcoming International Court of Justice hearings on climate change, a historic and hugely impactful moment for our region,” she told the opening ceremony.
“Together we aim to ensure that the Caribbean’s perspective is not only represented but influential in the global dialogue on climate change.”

Cave Hill’s deputy principal, Professor Winston Moore, told the gathering of legal and trade representatives from the Caribbean and Pacific that countries should not underestimate the importance of the underlying legal framework by which activities impacting climate change should be addressed.

“This clinic … is designed to play a key role in ensuring that we are thoroughly prepared and equipped as we work with the International Court of Justice to address fundamental questions such as: ‘what are the obligations of States under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from harmful emissions for States and for present and future generations?’ and ‘what are the legal consequences under these obligations for States where they, by their acts and omissions, have caused significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment?’

Moore also pointed to the economic impact of climate change on the region, stating that the Caribbean could see a steady decline in economic growth over the next 50 years, due to climate change.

“Much of my previous research has suggested that over the next 50 years Caribbean economies are going to lose around two to three percent in terms of growth per year.

“Now that doesn’t seem like a large number but if you look at the last 20 years, Caribbean economies have grown by less than one percent, so if you’re talking about losing two to three percent that means that you’re pushing these economies into recession,” he said, adding that there will be implications for the job market.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, echoed similar sentiments.

“… It is our calculation that if we continue at the rate we are going then we will be seeing negative growth in the Caribbean in very short order. And, in fact, for too long I think that the people of the Caribbean have been a little bit too numb to the reality that is confronting us and the catastrophic consequences which await us if we do not see substantial improvements of the circumstances that we're facing.

“Between 2008 and 2020 the quantum of loss and damage being paid out by regional governments or regional entities as a result of natural catastrophes would have been US $28 billion… and if you add more recent events since 2020 you will realize that we are now well in excess of 30 billion (dollars). And that is a set of circumstances which is exceptionally daunting when you take into consideration the fact that we are talking about micro economies,” Symmonds stated.

Co-coordinator of the ICJ Advocacy Clinic and former dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor David Berry, said the Caribbean has appeared before several advisory opinion hearings, and is now at the final stages of preparation for the hearing before the ICJ.

“We have been making legal arguments at these advisory hearings; the ICJ one is different and I think is likely to produce the most important decisions of any advisory hearings because it’s talking about consequences. So not just breaches of a whole range of legal areas but the consequences of those breaches and I think we have to reflect upon what those consequences should be, to best suit our region and the (needs of the people) of our region.   

“Climate change is a very serious thing and we have to reflect upon how we can use one type of argument, a legal argument, to perhaps change the system for the future,” Berry said.
 

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