Torres Strait Islanders are bringing the first climate change case against the Australian federal government over human rights.

Supported by the region’s land and sea council Gur A Baradharaw Kod (GBK) and represented by lawyers with leading environmental law non-profit ClientEarth, Torres Strait Islanders are taking a climate change complaint against Australia to the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations. This case is the first of its kind in the world.

The Islanders will ask the UN committee to find that international human rights law means that Australia must increase its emission reduction target to at least 65% below 2005 levels by 2030, going net zero by 2050, and phasing out coal.

The Torres Strait is a pristine wilderness region, containing the most northerly part the Great Barrier Reef. The area is home to one of the world’s oldest living cultures, as well as rare species such as endangered turtles and dugongs.

But climate change is putting life on the islands of the Torres Strait at risk. Advancing seas are already threatening homes, as well as damaging burial grounds and sacred cultural sites. Many Islanders are worried that their islands could quite literally disappear in their lifetimes without urgent action, with severe impacts on their ability to practice their law and culture.

Right now, the Australian government has insufficient policies to meet its low emissions reduction target of 26-28% by 2030. Scientists say this target needs to be increased to protect the world’s most climate vulnerable populations, and for there to be any chance of saving the islands and the Great Barrier Reef.

Despite these facts, the Australian federal government acts as a powerful advocate for the fossil fuel industry, ignoring the existential threats the people in the islands face.

Call on the Prime Minister to commit the Australian government to doing everything it can to support the people of the Torres Strait with the resources they need to protect their island homes from climate change, and to mobilise Australia to pass laws to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with its commitments to a 1.5 degree target under the Paris Agreement.

The Torres Strait Islands are a beautiful and important part of Australia’s culture, and it’s our government’s responsibility to protect that – not continue supporting policies that put first nation culture and way of life at risk.