The tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, an archipelago of eight atoll islands halfway between Hawaii and Australia, may seem very different from Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts. But attorney Duncan Pickard, A10, who grew up on the Vineyard, sees parallels in their vulnerability to climate change that guide his work. 

As part of a legal team providing pro bono counsel, Pickard helps small island states like Tuvalu, whose very existence and habitability are under threat due to climate change and rising sea levels. Tuvalu is uniquely vulnerable, as it is currently projected to be entirely submerged by the end of this century. 

These nations “are experiencing climate change consequences ‘worst and first,’” said Pickard, an associate in the public international law group of the New York firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. “They are really canaries in the coal mine of what is going to happen worldwide.”

Pickard brings a passion for international environmental law to bear on those critical issues as part of an eight-member legal team from his firm. The team, intensely focused on supporting small island nations for the past two years, scored a historic legal victory for those nations in May. 

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), an international court based in Hamburg, made an “unprecedented ruling in our favor on every point,” Pickard said. The opinion says that the 164 states party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which created ITLOS, must mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions that endanger the existence of the small islands that initiated the effort before the tribunal. 

The opinion underscores that countries must “take all measures necessary to prevent pollution of the marine environment,” he said. “In this context, the tribunal found that countries must work individually and jointly to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” But with warming approaching if not having already surpassed that threshold, international law also requires developed countries—which caused the climate crisis—to compensate vulnerable states and help them adapt to its effects, Pickard said.

Education for Change

At Tufts, Pickard found himself drawn to public service; he was president of the Tufts Community Union and a Tisch Scholar of Citizenship and Public Service. He recalls a pivotal internship before his senior year at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, where he worked with the human rights officer, a “defining experience that deepened a sense of living in a global community,” he said.   

After graduating magna cum laude in history, he earned a master’s degree at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government before going on to Stanford Law School.

In his current role, he and his firm’s team provide free legal support to the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, or COSIS. The Commission comprises nine island nations and is the first international organization of its kind among the 39 Small Island Developing States, whose future is precarious in light of climate change.  

As part of his work, Pickard visited Tuvalu in March, when he saw for himself the severity of the problems, and parallels with Martha’s Vineyard. For example, he learned that sea level rise had claimed about 20 meters of the northern tip of the principal island, an issue he’s also witnessed back home. Another shared concern is sea water intrusion into freshwater aquifers, which spoils drinking water. Fast-onset events like tropical cyclones also can flood water sources and arable lands, rendering them permanently unusable. 

Focusing on Accountability

The island nations that make up COSIS are among the most vulnerable to rising sea levels, yet they collectively contribute a vanishingly little—a fraction of 1%—to global greenhouse gas emissions. Small island states aim to hold accountable those countries that are responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions and continue to fall short of their commitments to protect and preserve the marine environment. 

When ITLOS held its hearing on COSIS’s request in Hamburg in September 2023, “extremely emotional” testimonials were offered by client representatives that included the prime ministers of Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu and the attorney general of Vanuatu, Pickard recalled. 

“Our clients are really in a desperate situation,” he said. “We submitted video evidence from several islanders who’ve been affected and all of them are crying. They’re losing their homes; they’re losing their livelihoods.”

The Ocean, Front and Center 

The legal strategy in the case began with UNCLOS’s science-driven provisions on protection and preservation of the ocean environment given that climate change is “primarily a marine phenomenon,” said Pickard. That’s because the ocean is by far the world’s largest heat and carbon sink; today it has absorbed more than 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases—equivalent to seven Hiroshima bombs exploding every second—and 25% of anthropogenic carbon emissions.

“We saw this as an opportunity to put the ocean at the heart of the policy conversation and to emphasize that, as a legal matter, the impact of climate change falls within the scope of the international law of the sea,” Pickard said. “Any conversation about climate change that doesn’t put the ocean at the front and center is really missing an essential piece.”

Leveraging the Law

Pickard hopes that ITLOS’s opinion will advance another case he’s working on. The legal team is now representing COSIS and Tuvalu in separate but related advisory proceedings on climate change before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). There will be a hearing in December, and an advisory opinion is expected sometime next year. 

Pickard hopes that the ICJ will consider ITLOS’s approach and findings in its opinion. In turn, he believes that the advisory opinions can catalyze change by clarifying obligations under international law. 

“We expect that climate-vulnerable countries, including small island states, will use the opinions in diplomatic negotiations and other efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as to promote accountability for the large emitters, including through payment of losses and damages for past and ongoing harm,” he said. “It’s yet another avenue for making the case for seeing our interconnectedness as a global community based in the rule of law. It’s why I find international law meaningful, and why I hold out hope that it can bring hope to those who need it most.”