In a remarkable first, the Hague District Court of the Netherlands ruled that the Dutch government was discriminating against its own citizens by inadequately protecting the health of certain people from climate change. The first and only court in the world to do so, it brought substantial consequences to environmental decisions long thought to be a problem “of the future.”
This motion, brought by the environmental activism organization Greenpeace, was formalized by eight members of the island municipality Bonaire. This South Caribbean island’s age distribution has been becoming more divided, with more than 20% of its total population over the age of 60, according to the United Nations Statistics Division. The precedent for this motion was set by members of KlimaSeniorinnen–the Senior Women for Climate Protection–who in 2016 petitioned the Swiss government for failing to protect them from the adverse effects of climate change. In their argument, climate change directly led to an uptake in heat waves that affected the health of their members. Now, in Bonaire, the debate is no longer focused on whether it is the Dutch government’s responsibility to protect the health of its citizens against climate change; they are arguing that the government is treating their island inhabitants differently from their European mainland counterparts.
According to Greenpeace, “The court agreed that Bonaire residents are already experiencing climate impacts, such as rising sea levels, extreme weather, and dying coral reefs. It noted that these impacts will intensify under current policies, providing even greater urgency for a coherent and integrated climate adaptation policy for Bonaire than for the European Netherlands.”
The current director of Greenpeace Netherlands, Marieke Vellekoop, added, “The State must also do its fair share with new climate targets to stay below 1.5 degrees of global warming. This means that Dutch greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced much faster.” For far too long, climate change was considered a consequence that inadequate preparation in the present could lead to. Now, however, the future has arrived, and the time to take responsibility for the effects of climate change has fallen to governments. It is no longer a problem of the future. It is here now.
It is expected that similar rulings will be announced around the globe in the coming decades. The effects of climate change are impacting people today, and they will turn to their government to understand why the abstract numbers and environmental treaties are not translating to their protection. While the court left the actual implementation of their improvements up for discussion, the Dutch government will be forced to make changes that align with their environmental decrees and add safeguards for their citizens’ well-being.