As the South Pacific Ocean laps at the 83 islands that make up the nation of Vanuatu, it takes with it little pieces of Willy Missack’s homeland. Coastal erosion is just one of the challenges the low-lying country faces. There’s the annual cyclone season that destroys roads and houses, the rising sea levels driving communities to move, and the drought that dries up the limited agriculture that already exists.
Against the backdrop of climate challenges, Missack, one of the architects behind Vanuatu’s request for the International Court of Justice’s opinion on the obligations of States on climate change, continues his work as a national climate consultant. He drives policy change and represents Vanuatu at global dialogues. Living and working in the context of a small island developing state, especially one “located in the ring of fire and a cyclone belt,” is different from working on climate action from elsewhere, he said.
Small Island Developing States, or SIDS — of which there are 39 scattered in remote locations across the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea — are considered the most vulnerable to climate change despite being the lowest contributors to the problem. The United Nations estimates that SIDS have produced less than 1% of greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. As climate change and biodiversity loss increasingly lay claim to their shores, those living there become the first witnesses to its true impacts.