Dutch government discriminated against Bonaire islanders over climate adaptation, court rules | Climate crisis

The Dutch government discriminated against residents of one of its most vulnerable territories by failing to help them adapt to climate change, a court has ruled.

The ruling, announced Wednesday in The Hague, criticizes the Netherlands for treating residents of the Caribbean island of Bonaire differently from residents of the European part of the country and for not doing its fair share to reduce domestic emissions.

To address this issue, the court ordered the state to develop an appropriate adaptation plan for Bonaire and implement stricter greenhouse gas targets.

The lawsuit was initially filed by a group of people from Bonaire, along with Greenpeace Nederland, in early 2024. Although the court rejected the individual complaints, it nonetheless admitted Greenpeace’s claim as an organization.

“They really listened to us,” said Jackie Bernabela, one of the original plaintiffs, who spoke at the court hearing in October about how climate change was already affecting her life. “Not only us, but every other Caribbean island in the world – if we come together as one unit, we can make a difference. »

The court found that the government was violating Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protect the right to respect for private and family life and prohibit discrimination.

Bonaire, a special Dutch municipality since 2010 – although the Netherlands has had a presence on the island for around 400 years – is particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, extreme heat and other climate-related impacts, and its local authorities do not have enough people, resources or specialist knowledge to fully address them. These risks had been evident for decades, the court ruled, but there was still no coherent plan to address them.

Furthermore, the court ruled that the Netherlands was not doing its fair share to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions.

The Dutch government has been ordered to put in place a concrete adaptation plan. And it was given six months to establish a national carbon budget that would express a fair share of the remaining global carbon budget, in line with a threshold of 1.5°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels, which must be done transparently. It must also set legally binding interim targets to reduce emissions, the court said.

The Netherlands has recognized that Bonaire is threatened by climate change. But in court, the government’s legal team said the country was already doing more to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions than many other countries. The court disagreed, pointing out that under international climate agreements, countries are supposed to contribute based on their ability to pay and taking into account their historical emissions.

“This is an incredible victory for the people of Bonaire,” said Eefje de Kroon, climate justice expert at Greenpeace Nederlands. “Not only did the court establish that Bonaire residents are being discriminated against due to the climate crisis, but the Dutch government must also do much more to protect them. »

Bernabela was particularly moved by the court’s declaration that citizens of Bonaire were being discriminated against. “The Netherlands are the best engineers in the world, especially in the field of water management – ​​but they have no plan for us,” she said. “So we already have the feeling – and not just with climate change – that we are second-class citizens. »

Just over a decade ago, the same court in The Hague made history by ordering the Dutch government to reduce its emissions by at least 25% within five years – a landmark decision that was upheld by the country’s top judges in 2019. The ruling inspired a wave of climate litigation across the world.

In addition to previous national decisions, Greenpeace’s legal team relied on recent advisory opinions on climate change from the International Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, both of which affirm that states have clear legal obligations to combat climate change and help communities adapt.

In a statement, Sophie Hermans, the Dutch minister for climate policy and green growth, said the court had issued an “important decision for the people of Bonaire and the European Netherlands.” She said she and her colleagues at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management as well as the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations would now look at it carefully.

The decision can be appealed.