ISLAND nations won a victory “for climate justice” on Wednesday as the United Nations adopted an historic resolution calling for the International Court of Justice to strengthen countries’ obligations to curb global warming and protect communities. 

The general assembly resolution asks the court to pay particular attention to the harm endured by small island states.

Scientists say both extreme weather and sea levels have worsened because of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels placing island nations at particular risk. 

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he hoped the opinion, when issued, would encourage nations “to take the bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs.”

Like many Pacific Island nations Vanuatu is at risk of rising seas engulfing swathes of the islands.

Prime Minister of Vanuatu Ishmael Kalsakau called the resolution “a win for climate justice of epic proportions.”

He reeled off a string of recent disasters including back-to-back Category 4 cyclones in his own country and record-breaking Cyclone Freddy that refused to leave south-eastern Africa in recent weeks.

“Catastrophic and compound effects like this are growing in number,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq sought to soften the resolution, which was co-sponsored by some 132 countries, saying it would increase the workload of the international court.

Youth groups bolstered the effort, citing the need to protect the planet for current and future generations.

Cynthia Houniuhi of the Solomon Islands, who is president of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, a group involved in getting the resolution to the General Assembly, said: “I don’t want to show a picture to my child one day of my island. I want my child to be able to experience the same environment and the same culture that I grew up in.”

The opinion from the ICJ would be non-binding on nation states.