From Vanuatu law school to the Hague: the fight to recognise climate harm in international law

The small Pacific nation of Vanuatu, which leads the campaign for an advisory opinion, is considered one of the countries most immediately at-risk from climate change and regularly experiences devastating cyclones. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

During their final year at law school, Solomon Yeo and his classmates set their minds to saving the world.

The legal students, who were studying at the University of South Pacific in Vanuatu, all hailed from Pacific island countries that are among the most vulnerable in the world to the climate crisis.