UNOC Virtual Side: “Intergenerational Equity in Ocean Governance: Securing the Rights of Future Generations” Event Blog

The recording of the event can be found here.

On the 6th of June, World’s Youth for Climate Justice (WYCJ)  held a webinar in collaboration with African Young Leaders Foundation (AYLF) titled “Intergenerational Equity in Ocean Governance: Securing the Rights of Future Generations”. The webinar was organized as an official virtual side event as part of the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) hosted by France and Costa Rica, which called for an immediate phase of fossil fuels in order to safeguard the rights of marine life for present and future generations.

In the light of the recent advisory proceedings by the International Court of Justice, the legal framework and duties of states need to be affirmed to protect the planet and its oceans. WYCJ campaigner Meto Seldon co-moderated the discussion, along with AYLF’s Patrick Kofi Benyin,  and shared dire statistics insinuating the importance of urgent action in ocean governance. Oceans are important in absorbing 90% of heat from greenhouse gases, but due to incessant impacts of climate crisis and environmental degradation, the oceans are vulnerable to acidification, pollution, and warming. The webinar hosted a diverse panel of six speakers from multitudinous communities and backgrounds. These panelists include community leaders, grassroots activists, and policy experts.

The first speaker in the webinar was Mr. Justin Sobion, an international environmental lawyer and Co-Counsel for Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the International Court of Justice. When asked about the strengthening of legal frameworks to ensure explicit integration of intergenerational equity in ocean governance, Mr. Justin retorted with a detail answer about the principle of intergenerational equity and its place in the advisory proceedings in International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and ICJ. Zeroing in on the section 192 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Justin commented that it was one aspect of the ITLOS case that formally brushed upon the rights of future generations in a legal framework. Furthermore, he also clarified the definition of “future generations” and the need for “passing on a planet that is, at minimum, just as good as the previous generations had.” He emphasized on the “attitude of gratitude”, in which younger generations aspire to help future generations the same way their older generations strived in providing a clean environment to them. Lastly, he said that this rather altruistic approach is most closely approximated by present youth voices, such as those of Pacific Islands Students and WYCJ, in ensuring that the generations to come get access to a better planet, climate, and oceans.

The second speaker was Miss Stephanie Eyram Akrumah, an expert in sustainability and environmental law. In response to the question about the role of youth voices in implementing the principle of intergenerational equity in ocean law and policy in Africa, Ms. Stephanie highlighted the importance of personal initiatives in advocacy and leadership. While the state actors and international advisory proceedings are the established legal instruments for change, the true power resides in the voices of young stubborn optimists challenging the norms and bringing about change in the most original and brave way possible.

The third speaker for the session was Ms. Johanna Gusman. Ms. Gusman has over a decade of experience in human rights and international law, and serves as senior attorney at Center for International Environmental Law. When posed with the similar question of youth voices in ocean governance, she reflected back on her work in ICJ proceedings and underscored the great effort put forward by Pacific governments including students and young people throughout the whole procedure. Furthermore, Ms. Gusman remarked that along the same axes, ocean governance can be treated the same way; wherein the voices of the youth and the most vulnerable can be included right from the start so that the outcomes are impactful and transformative.

The fourth speaker for the online webinar was Ms. Aditi Shetye, a researcher at the British Institute for International and Comparative Law, and litigation lead at WYCJ. She was asked the question, “With the advisory opinions bringing renewed attention to states’ obligations toward future generations, how can legal strategies in ocean governance address both historical injustices and current inequities?”, to which she explained how the ITLOS has set a positive standard for the upcoming legal proceedings such as ICJ, Inter-American court, and the African Court. Additionally, she also pointed out three important outcomes for these legal proceedings. Firstly, these can serve as mouthpieces for setting legal standards in international law. Secondly, she clarified how these proceedings could solidify principles like intergenerational equity in legal frameworks through either policy making or litigation. Lastly, she resonated with the points made by Ms. Johanna about the importance of diverse voices and agency of local communities in such international law making processes.

The fifth speaker for the session was Lea Weimann, a PhD researcher at the university of Cambridge. She is also the co-lead of Youth for Ecocide law, and has amplified voices of the youth at major climate conferences. As her research at Cambridge focuses on ecocentric legal frameworks, Ms. Lea was asked the question of criminalization of ecocide and its contribution to intergenerational equity in ocean governance. Ms. Lea listed all the ways in which our oceans and vital ecosystems are being violated, and how criminalization of ecocide places the act on the same level as other crimes against peace and humanity. Similarly, in order to avoid the rights of future generations to be purely symbolic, approaches like ecocide criminalization ensure that they are treated as legal and practical. Ms. Lea also made a point about how this approach can also well integrate itself within other frameworks of rights and climate justice.

The last speaker, Ms. Anita Soina is the East Africa Regional Director at Climate Story Lab Africa. She provided valuable insights about how her community has shared spaces with nature and animals for centuries now. She shared how the principle of intergenerational equity is deeply embedded within the community of African people, and how knowledge is transferred verbally from one generation to another. She further commented on how intergenerational dialogues at SWA Foundation were organized between four generations; encouraging discourse around ideas of resilience, education, and climate action. 

All in all, this webinar was successful in covering the broad themes of accelerating action and rallying state and non-state actors to sustainably use oceans and marine resources. The webinar left attendees with a fresh perspective on utilising existing instruments to identify means of SDGs implementation, and an effective management of current resources to contribute to conservation of our beautiful, blue oceans.