Vanuatu takes the stage — Part Two

A little manatee that roared has changed the prospect for climate action

To comply with this obligation of result, the policies so adopted and the measures so taken must be such that they are able to achieve the required goal. In other words, the adoption of a policy, and the taking of related measures, as a mere formality is not sufficient to discharge the obligation of result.

— International Court of Justice, Advisory Opinion on Climate Change.

In her concurring opinion, Judge Dire Tlasi wrote:

There is an idiom in my language, Setswana “go itshela moriti o o tsididi “ which literally means to pour cold shade over oneself, and which can be loosely translated to mean “to pretend not to know or see a problem”. Today, having come face to face with the incoherence in its jurisprudence, the Court has chosen to pour shade over itself, and to proceed as if all was well in the world, or to use another saying in a more famous African language, Hakuna Matata [“no worries”].