A student-led climate movement and a human-rights lawyer who brought the issue of climate change before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have been awarded the Right Livelihood prize, often referred to as the “alternative Nobel.”
The award also recognized Sudan’s grassroots humanitarian aid network Emergency Response Rooms, a Burmese anti-corruption group, and a Taiwanese pioneer of digital democracy.
The Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), formed in 2019 by 27 law students at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu, launched a campaign to bring climate change before the world’s highest court. Their efforts culminated in July, when the ICJ issued an advisory opinion affirming that states have legal obligations to address climate change. While not legally binding, such opinions carry significant political and legal influence.
The jury praised the group “for carrying the call for climate justice to the world’s highest court, turning survival into a matter of rights and climate action into a legal responsibility.”
Island nations in the Pacific face some of the most immediate threats from rising seas and extreme weather. “It’s an existential problem for young people in countries like Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. They’re witnessing the effects of climate change every high tide,” said Vishal Prasad, director of PISFCC.
The students shared the award with Julian Aguon, a human-rights lawyer from Guam whose firm, Blue Ocean Law, developed the legal strategy behind the case.
Other honorees included Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, described as “the backbone of the country’s humanitarian response amid war, displacement and state collapse.” Justice For Myanmar, a covert activist group exposing companies that profit from the military junta, was also recognized.
Taiwanese programmer and digital minister Audrey Tang received the award for advancing the use of technology to strengthen democracy and bridge social divides.
The Right Livelihood award was founded in 1980 by Swedish German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, who sold part of his stamp collection to establish the prize after the Nobel Foundation declined to create new categories for environment and international development.
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