Workshop on Climate Change and Its Impact on Vulnerable Groups: Voices of the Child - Advancing Climate Justice in the Pacific

ADB's Law and Policy Reform Team organized a capacity-building workshop for judges and climate activists during the 84th Extraordinary Session of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Samoa on 6 March 2020. Challenges and opportunities in climate litigation involving vulnerable groups, like women and children were discussed.

In this era of climate change, our children and youth may “inherit nothing but parched earth incapable of sustaining [human] life.” Climate change robs children of their health, culture, homes, and education. Knowing that this is a fight for their future, impassioned children and youths around the globe have sued their governments, demanding climate action. These cases generally focus on rights—constitutional or human rights. Except for the vanguard 1993 Philippine case Oposa v. Factoran, most climate litigation involving children is recent. Climate change jurisprudence is evolving. Litigants and courts are looking to share ideas in the pursuit of promoting sustainable development and serving climate justice.

In this session, experts on climate change litigation took part in a dialogue with child and youth climate activists, and judges. The discussion focused on climate actions so far taken by child and youth activists around the world and how such actions were received by the judiciaries. With this session, ADB aimed to enable children, judges, development partners, and community members to sit together to hear about the challenges and opportunities of climate litigation involving children. If we sit and listen, we can share ideas on how to build a more just future.