International climate case wraps up first week of testimony

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A closely-watched international climate case that could yield guidance for governments around the world wrapped up its first week of arguments before the top court of the United Nations in The Hague Friday.

The case, though not binding, is expected to spell out what countries are legally required to do to combat climate change and help vulnerable nations fight its devastating impact.

The push for the International Court of Justice to hear this case comes - like much of the call to address climate change - from island nations which are losing territory and fear they could disappear under rising seas. The UN General Assembly asked the court last year for an opinion on "the obligations of States in respect of climate change."

"The stakes could not be higher. The survival of my people and so many others is on the line," Arnold Kiel Loughman, attorney general of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, told The Hague-based court.

For years his country has spearheaded calls for reductions of the greenhouse gases that are causing sea ice to melt and oceans to expand, making the seas rise. Vanuatu led this push for international legal intervention as well.

Fifteen judges from around the world must now answer two questions: What are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions? And what are the legal consequences for governments when their acts, or lack of action, have significantly harmed the climate and environment?

With 99 participating countries, it is the largest case in the court's history.