Mongabay Newscast9 Sep 2025

Top court delivers a 'huge' climate win for island nations

The recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on states' obligations regarding climate change was celebrated globally for providing clarity on countries' legal obligation to prevent climate harm, but was also appreciated by island nations for its additional certainty on their maritime boundaries remaining intact regardless of sea level rise.

This week on Mongabay's podcast, environmental lawyer Angelique Pouponneau, a Seychelles native and lead negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), explains these victories, their legal implications, and how they matter for small island nations.

She says Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face a multitude of, "one of which [was] this idea of the shrinking exclusive economic zones."

Exclusive economic zones are the waters that lie within the jurisdiction of a nation, usually 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from its shore. With the ICJ advisory opinion, there's now legal certainty that this zone will remain within the jurisdiction of a state, even if its shoreline shrinks as a result of rising seas due to climate change.

"What island nations were trying to guard against through state practice was essentially if there were ever to be loss of territory, it would not mean loss of exclusive economic zone," Pouponneau says.

Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and you can also listen to all episodes here on the Mongabay website.

Mike DiGirolamo is a host & associate producer for Mongabay based in Sydney. He co-hosts and edits the Mongabay Newscast. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

Image Credit: Island in the South Pacific, Fiji. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

----

Timecodes

(00:00) The importance of the SIDS alliance

(10:09) 'Wins' in the ICJ advisory opinion

(17:38) What about enforcement?

(21:29) Maritime boundaries will remain
(27:38) What are sustainable 'blue economies?'

(32:32) Concerns about development & 'debt for nature'

(42:12) Frustrations with Global Plastic Treaty negotiations

(45:50) Looking to the BBNJ treaty

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(378)

The exotic pet trade fuels biodiversity and disease risks. Here's how to curb it

The global pet trade, particularly in exotic reptiles and amphibians, poses significant biodiversity and potential human health risks, scientists say; yet compared to other pressing crises like climat...

13 Okt 35min

Kynan Tegar wants 'a future that exists' for Indonesia's Indigenous communities

Indigenous activist and filmmaker Kynan Tegar joins the Mongabay Newscast this week to discuss the impacts of the fires devastating Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. Some 48,...

6 Okt 39min

Iwi and communities bring kiwi back to Wellington after 150 years

For the first time in 150 years, kiwi once again live in the hills surrounding Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. More than 250 manu ("birds" in the Māori language) were successfully translocated back ...

29 Sep 57min

Home Planet Fund succeeds in conservation by investing in local knowledge

This week on the Newscast, we're joined by Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, the founder of the Home Planet Fund, an independent, Indigenous-led nonprofit that provides funding for local and Indigenous communiti...

22 Sep 51min

'Big Cats' highlights the remarkable power of photojournalism

Jeff Sikich, the biologist for the National Park Service in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, thought that Steve Winter "was crazy" for wanting to capture a photograph of a mountain lion in front of the Hol...

15 Sep 47min

A health crisis for Peru's recently contacted people brings planetary health to the fore

Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially ...

8 Sep 38min

Christiana Figueres and Garik Israelian on Jane Goodall's legacy and the search for truth

A new award has been created in honor of late conservation icon Jane Goodall by the board of the Starmus Festival, an international gathering of scientists and artists to be held from Oct. 17-22 in Te...

1 Sep 51min

In Bhutan, the pursuit of happiness extends to the food system

Bhutan is a Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between China and India. Forty percent of its 800,000 citizens work in the agriculture sector. The mountainous country is famous for its breathtaking landscape...

25 Aug 33min