In the document, an annexe to a submission from the Melanesian Spearhead Group, a regional subgroup that includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, Kouwo describes seeing the seas rise over his lifetime, destroying precious coconut forests, traditional burial grounds and homes. Villagers from Veraibari have already been forced to move four times.
The ICJ is very strict about who it will hear from in developing its advisory opinion. Unlike the inter-American court of human rights, which is similarly producing an advisory opinion, it limits formal submissions to states and a handful of permitted organisations.
Julian Aguon, a lawyer who represents the Melanesian Spearhead Group, said of Kouwo's plight: There is no crisis more existential than that. As an Indigenous-led law firm, we conceived of this as a sacred duty to bring this story of real-life, real-time climate harm to the court.
If this relocation fails, we have nowhere else we can go. The seas are coming into our houses, which are already built on tall wooden post foundations.
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