SYDNEY: Pacific island nation Vanuatu has triggered a landmark court ruling that has set out the big polluters’ responsibilities when it comes to climate change.

Hindered by their isolation and lack of economic clout, Pacific island nations have nonetheless emerged as global leaders in the fight to tackle the climate crisis.

Here are five ways Pacific islands are addressing the environmental emergency.

Going digital

Few countries are as imperilled by rising tides as Pacific island nation Tuvalu — two of the archipelago’s nine coral atolls have already largely been swallowed by the seas. Tuvalu has started painstakingly building a 3D map of its remaining land, with the goal of becoming the world’s first “digital nation”.

If Tuvalu’s islands disappear underwater, officials hope to at least leave a detailed, interactive digital recreation of what once was.

Back-up plan

While Kiribati remains hopeful of staving off the worst impacts of climate change, it has also invested heavily in a back-up plan.

Then-Kiribati President Anote Tong in 2013 bought a substantial parcel of land in neighbouring Fiji, setting the estate aside as a future sanctuary for the nation’s 100,000 climate-threatened citizens.

“We would hope not to put everyone on one piece of land, but if it became absolutely necessary, yes, we could do it,” Tong said in 2014. In the meantime, the land has reportedly been turned into a farm.

Digging deep

Swathes of Pacific Ocean seabed are carpeted in potato-sized lumps of rock rich in rare earths and critical minerals such as cobalt, nickel and manganese. Pacific island nations such as Nauru and Cook Islands want to harvest these polymetallic nodules, which can lie five kilometres (three miles) or more beneath the surface. The idea is by no means popular — other Pacific nations such as Fiji and Palau want to see the fledgling deep-sea mining industry banned.

Proponents say it offers a crucial source of ingredients used to make rechargeable batteries and other “green” technologies needed to decarbonise the planet.

Migration pact

Tuvalu inked a groundbreaking pact with Australia in 2024 that gives a limited number of citizens the chance to migrate under special climate visas. About 280 Tuvaluans can each year apply to live in Australia under a deal lauded by Canberra as “the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world”.

More than 3,000 Tuvaluans had entered a ballot within four days of applications opening this year -- almost a full third of the nation’s population.

Legal landmark

Tired of pleading for countries to act on climate change, Vanuatu has asked the world’s highest court if polluting states were legally obliged to do something about it.

Activists welcomed the opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared states have a legal obligation to fight against climate change. The court’s opinion is not binding, but carries significant legal, moral and political weight.

ICJ opinions are often taken into account by national courts.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2025