Sawt Falasteen - Vanuatu island chief 'very impressed' by global climate decision

Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which found countries have a duty to protect against the "urgent and existential" threat of a warming planet.

"I'm very impressed," George Bumseng, the highest chief of the Pacific archipelago's cyclone-prone island of Ambrym, told AFP in the capital Port Vila.

"We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for the past two decades," he said.

The chief recalled that his island was battered by three tropical cyclones in 2023, with twin cyclones Judy and Kevin striking in March of that year, followed by Lola in October.

The storms damaged "a lot of our root crops and forests and our traditional medicines", said Bumseng, who is chairman of the Ambrym council of chiefs.

Global warming "keeps on changing our environment", the chief said.

"We no longer have fig trees. There's coastal erosion continuously. Our tide is also changing," he said.

"Some of the traditional crops are no longer growing like before," he added.

"We're very happy that this International Court of Justice has ruled in favour on this issue."

O.Salim--SF-PST