Climate change advocates in The Netherlands recently registered a major victory in the global campaign against global warming.
Last month, a court in The Hague did what other judicial branches around the world have not done before: It ordered its own government to immediately fulfill its duty to protect the citizens of The Netherlands against the effects of climate change.
Supporters of the landmark ruling, which holds the Dutch government directly accountable for greenhouse gas emissions within its own territory, believe that the court decision should serve as a role model for governments around the world in mankind's common struggle to curb global warming.
"Our case lets politicians know that they can't let climate change happen. They have a duty to act, be it legally or morally," said lawyer Dennis van Berkel, who defended Urgenda Foundation and some 900 other co-plaintiffs that initiated the case.
Van Berkel also explained that the landmark ruling of the Dutch court should reverberate around the world, especially among countries that are vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
"The rights of our co-plaintiffs are central, but people outside of the Netherlands will be even harder hit by climate change. The ruling will encourage others to appeal to human rights when it comes to climate change threats," he said.
Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University Law School, said the ruling in The Netherlands should encourage courts in other countries to actively act on environmental petitions, and do their share in the fight against global warming.
"Whose job is it to set climate policy? Basically, all judges have said, not me. Before the Urgenda case, no court had really taken on this role," Gerrard said.
