In a groundbreaking legal victory that could reshape global climate policy, human rights lawyer Julian Aguon has successfully championed a case establishing nations' legal obligations to prevent climate harm through the International Court of Justice.
From Pacific Call to Global Courtroom
The journey began six years ago when Julian Aguon, a Chamorro lawyer based in Guam, received an unexpected call from Vanuatu's foreign affairs minister Ralph Regenvanu. The minister presented an ambitious request: help develop a legal case for dozens of law students seeking climate justice from the world's highest court.
Aguon, founder of Blue Ocean Law, immediately recognised the potential to address legal ambiguities that had 'long hobbled the ability of the international community to respond effectively to the climate crisis'. His firm, established in 2014 with a core belief that Indigenous people hold solutions to global problems, took on the challenge representing Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC).
Building a Case Through Sacred Testimonies
Over several years, Aguon and his team gathered powerful testimonies across the Pacific region, documenting climate-induced losses in communities from Vanuatu to Papua New Guinea. In an extraordinary break with cultural protocol, community members shared sacred knowledge about their environment and culture, hoping their stories might secure a better future.
In 2025, Aguon presented the case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Months later, the court issued its landmark ruling, determining that nations have a legal obligation to prevent climate harm - a decision Aguon describes as marking a new era of climate accountability.
Recognition and Future Frontiers
On 2 December, Aguon and PISFCC will receive the prestigious Right Livelihood award, often called the 'alternative Nobel', for their transformative work. They join other honourees including a Myanmar activist group, a Sudanese grassroots aid response group, and Taiwanese technologist Audrey Tang.
Vishal Prasad, director of PISFCC, says the award recognises the determination of unified Pacific Islanders working to save their homeland, belonging to 'everyone in the region'.
Looking ahead, the 43-year-old lawyer believes the ICJ ruling will fuel a wave of rights-based climate litigation, leading to reparations claims and compensation for ecosystem restoration. His firm is already developing legal challenges to deep sea mining in the Pacific based on Indigenous guardianship principles, seeking to defend the ocean as 'kin rather than commodity'.
Additional work focuses on combating land and water contamination to protect access to medicinal plants needed for cultural practices. Aguon emphasises that his work protects Indigenous rights in exceedingly practical, concrete ways, adding that 'it behooves us to try to find every possible way to protect them and their ability to thrive in their ancestral spaces'.
