Julian Medina comes from a long line of fishers in the north of Colombia’s Gulf of Morrosquillo who use small-scale and often traditional methods to catch species such as mackerel, tuna and cojinúa.

Medina went into business as a young man but was drawn back to his roots, and ended up leading a fishing organisation. For years he has campaigned against the encroachment of fossil fuel companies, pollution and overfishing, which are destroying the gulf’s delicate ecosystem and people’s livelihoods.

He says there have been huge declines in the amount of fish he and others can catch – 70% in the past decade – leading to widespread hunger in an already poor region. “We are now getting fish below the minimum size, which are the ones that could have provided us with security in the future.”

Medina is angry at the fossil fuel companies that are taking over part of the coast and have caused oil spills, and angry at the authorities that license them and undermine community attempts to restore mangrove forests. He is also deeply concerned about how warming water is bleaching the coral reefs through which his prey swims.

“We see how industrial activity is affecting our entire ecosystem,” he says. “But we also know that climate change is affecting our environment. It is a struggle and we are trying to make it visible in order to be heard.”

Medina will be telling his story this week to a panel of judges in Barbados during the first part of a historic hearing on climate change by the inter-American court of human rights.

The inquiry was instigated by Colombia and Chile, which together asked the court to set out what legal responsibilities states have to tackle climate change and to stop it breaching people’s human rights.

The detailed request seeks clarity on many issues, including children’s and women’s rights, environmental defenders, and common but differentiated responsibilities – the idea that all countries have a role to play in tackling climate change but some should bear a bigger burden. As well as mitigating and adapting to climate change, it asks how states should tackle the inevitable loss and damage.

Although climate change affects the whole world, the two countries told the court that its effects are not experienced uniformly or fairly. Their request letter warns that people in Chile and Colombia already deal with the daily consequences of the climate emergency, including droughts, floods, landslides and fires.

“These phenomena highlight the need to respond urgently and based on the principles of equity, justice, cooperation and sustainability, with a focus on human rights,” they said.

Courts around the world are increasingly making the link between climate justice and human rights. This month, the European court of human rights ruled for the first time that weak government climate policies violated fundamental human rights.

But the global south is leading the way. The Costa Rica-based court was set up in 1979 to interpret and apply the US convention on human rights, a treaty ratified by members of the Organization of American States. Twenty states have accepted its jurisdiction, including most Latin American countries and several Caribbean islands. Neither the US nor Canada have done so.

It is the third international court tasked with providing an advisory opinion on climate change, alongside the international court of justice and the international tribunal for the law of the aea. Such opinions are highly influential and set the framework for future legal action.

However, the inter-American court is the only one focusing on human rights. In a previous opinion it recognised the right to a healthy environment and affirmed that states must protect human rights affected by environmental harm, even if it happens outside their borders.

That recognition was enforced in March, when it ruled that Peru had violated the right to a healthy environment of people living in the country’s “most contaminated town”.

“The inter-American court is generally known and sees itself as a court that is much more willing to innovate with the law and to draw on sources from around the world,” said Sophie Marjanac, the accountable corporations lead at environmental law charity ClientEarth who will be speaking at the Barbados hearing.

Unlike the other courts, the inter-American court accepts written submissions from organisations and individuals, and has invited many of these to its oral hearings.

The hearing will begin with statements from the governments of Chile, Colombia and Barbados, followed by Mexico and Vanuatu. The court will then hear from UN bodies, legal experts from the Americas and further afield, local and national campaign groups, trade unions and refugee organisations. The eclectic mix of speakers includes Grupo Energía Bogotá, a large regional gas company.

One key part of the opinion tackles intergenerational equity, and the court will hear directly from youth people.

Jovana Hoschitalek, 18, a teacher and Grenadian climate campaigner, has seen significant changes in her home island.

“The sea is rising, quite a few of our plants are dying and water is becoming more scarce,” she said. “Sooner or later the things that I have grown up with, my younger sisters aren’t going to be able to experience.”

Hoschitalek is preparing to tell the court about her experiences. “I want to try to tell them how important it is that the future generations can be seen because … children won’t be able to survive the harsh climate that will come if things don’t take a drastic change.”

Trina Chiemi, the founder of youth network Fast Action on Climate to Ensure Intergenerational Justice, hopes the hearing will be an empowering process. “With the inter-American court we’re able to share our voices directly, and they’re able to look and see the faces of the people that are affected.”

The court’s subsequent hearings in the Brazilian cities of Brasília and Manaus in May will include many more frontline stories from the climate crisis including people living in “sacrifice zones” in Chile, Bolivian women fighting to protect their local water supplies and Indigenous communities.

Medina and others are speaking at the hearing with the support of Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (Aida), an environmental law organisation that works in Latin America.

“A lot of issues that are going to be raised may seem disconnected,” said Marcella Ribeiro, a senior human rights and environment attorney for Aida. “But what I think is really beautiful [about] hearing from environmental defenders and communities directly is that they can pinpoint where or how these environmental issues connect with climate change. For example, environmental degradation and their ability to adapt.”

Once the opinion is published, it will have direct influence on the countries that accept the court’s jurisdiction. Legal experts say it will be an authoritative source on the obligations of states to respond to climate change, potentially boosting action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, supporting adaptation measures and helping establish mechanisms to address loss and damage.

Campaigners also hope it will invigorate existing climate lawsuits and petitions, such as those currently stalled at the inter-American commission on human rights (the court’s sister organisation), and say it could form the basis for future domestic or regional climate litigation.

It could even be used by countries during arbitration claims in investor-state dispute settlements, many of which are brought by companies in extractive industries.

The opinion is expected to have an impact outside the Americas too, including on the ICJ’s pending advisory opinion.

“We in the territories know something about our environment, we know what is happening,” said Medina. “Many scientists come and study what is happening and they can give context. But we who have experienced the changes … it is very important that our voices are heard.”

A high court judge has thrown out an attempt by the government’s most senior law officer to prosecute a woman for holding a placard on jury rights outside a climate trial.

Mr Justice Saini said there was no basis for a prosecution of Trudi Warner, 69, for criminal contempt for holding a placard outside the trial of climate activists that informed jurors of their right to acquit a defendant based on their conscience.

The solicitor general had argued that Warner, a retired social worker, had committed contempt by holding the sign that was read by potential jurors at the opening of the trial last April.

The judge said Warner had not harassed, impeded or even spoken to any of those entering inner London crown court last year. The sign referred to a 1670 case known as “Bushel’s case”, in which a jury refused to find defendants guilty despite a judge having instructed them to do so.

He said: “The solicitor general’s case does not disclose a reasonable basis for committal … the conduct did not amount to an act of contempt.”

The judge said: “I refuse the solicitor general permission to proceed and I dismiss the claim.”

Warner, who has waited for a year to find out if she will be prosecuted for contempt of court, said she was feeling “very relieved”.

She said: “I feel it is job done. What I was doing was drawing attention to the terrible repression of conscientious protesters, and in particular climate protesters, by the state.

“If what I did will empower other defendants to use the power to acquit by juries, this will have been the fight of my life.”

In his ruling, the judge said there was a well-established principle in law of jury equity; this was a de facto power to acquit a defendant regardless of directions from the judge. He said the principle in law had been tested in the highest courts in England and Wales, and existed in other countries such as Canada, New Zealand and the US.

Warner’s placard referred to the Bushel case, which is celebrated with a marble sign that is clearly visible in the central criminal court in London. It read: “Jurors, You have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.”

Warner stood outside inner London crown court last April for 20 minutes holding the placard as members of the public, lawyers and potential jurors filed into court. She held the sign on the first day of a trial for public nuisance of members of the climate campaign group Insulate Britain.

The judge in that trial, Silas Reid, referred her action to the attorney general to consider contempt of court.

Last week, the solicitor general argued in the high court that Warner should be prosecuted for contempt for holding the sign.

Aidan Eardley KC told the court a prosecution was needed “to maintain public confidence” in the independence of the jury system and that if Warner went unpunished, similar acts were “likely to propagate”. He claimed Warner had confronted jurors outside court and her actions were an interference with the administration of justice.

Saini said in his ruling on Monday that it was accepted Warner had made no attempt to hinder, compel or even speak to those going into the court.

The decision was welcomed by supporters outside the high court. It came after the UN rapporteur on environmental defenders highlighted the repressive actions taken against climate campaigners in the UK.

Michel Forst said he was alarmed at the restrictions being placed on defendants in climate trials, which include being prevented from mentioning the words climate change or fuel poverty, or the tradition of peaceful protects embodied in the US civil rights movement.

The sounds of our natural world are changing dramatically. Earth’s wildlife populations have plunged by 69% in fewer than 50 years. Fading along with them are many of the distinctive soundscapes of nature: the night-time calls of mammals, morning chorus of birds and buzz of insects.

This global story is stitched together by many local stories of loss. We spoke to readers about how natural sounds are changing where they live.

When I was a teenager in the 90s, I used to sneak out a lot to go to raves. I used to get back home at like six in the morning and always hated the noise the birds made outside my window. Even after 12 hours of blaring techno, the birds were so loud I never was able to sleep.

I’ve just temporarily moved back to that same childhood bedroom in the commuter belt of Munich having spent 15 years working as a photographer in the US. Now, there is literally no noise when I have my window open. No birds at all.

It’s a dire reminder of what we lost in such a short time. When I was 16 and you drove from one town to the next one you would need to clean the windscreen. Now you can drive for seven hours on the highway, and there is nothing. We only have blackbirds and sparrows in the garden, all the other birds are pretty rare – my parents freak out when they see them.

Now I feel nostalgic for those early morning bird noises, but I don’t think they’ll come back.
Oliver Fiegel, Munich, Germany

My husband and I built our house in the woods in New Brunswick in 1985. We were able to buy 50 acres of woodlot and build a modest home. When the sun came up in the early morning in spring and summer the cacophony of birdsong was so loud we’d have to shut our bedroom window in order to grab another hour or two of sleep. I am not a birder but my family has noted various warblers, thrushes, sparrows and thrashers over the years.

That ended long ago. I think I began really noticing the difference in the early 2000s, around the time our daughter was going to university. It seems as if it’s the migratory songbirds in particular that are disappearing. Yes, my hearing probably isn’t what it was 40 years ago, but honestly, the difference in volume and diversity of song is devastating to experience. The world we are leaving our children and grandchildren is going to be a very different place, I fear.
Debra McKeil, New Brunswick, Canada

There is a beautiful cherry tree in my parents’ garden which used to be buzzing with bees. It looks like a bride when it’s in bloom with this amazing white blossom. It was like standing under a beehive. When I was a kid I was afraid of insects, but now I’m 42, I know there isn’t anything to be afraid of.

Whenever I was feeling gloomy about the future, looking at this tree would allow me to pretend for a while that things were normal. But for a couple of years in a row now, the tree has been blooming a month earlier than it used to, when the bees are not yet around. Occasionally, there is a solitary bee on the tree, but that is rare. Every day I walk under that cherry tree in full bloom and hope to hear that humming but get disappointed.

This tree was planted by my grandfather 55 years ago. He loved nature. If he were here today I think he would be walking around shaking his head. I will take over this garden at some point, and I wonder what types of plants I will be able to have when I am old. In times when the world seems to be going in the wrong direction it would be nice to have certain things remain unchanged – especially those that really matter.
Jana Hudecova, Bratislava, Slovakia

I miss the fruity song of a blackbird that used to sing from a nearby tree in the evening. The chattering of tits. The hum of insect life. With the total disappearance of swifts and swallows, goldfinches and other garden birds (despite feeders), I feel very alarmed and very saddened.

I am 89 and this is so different from my memories of childhood, when the cuckoo always heralded the onset of summer warmth and swifts and swallows were a regular part of the summer scene. I recall the title of a book (which I’ve never read): Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson. Was this present time what she was writing about so prophetically?
Reader from Essex, UK

I miss the sound of the bullfinches. We usually heard their sweet single whistle before we saw them in our garden – I always knew they were about to arrive. They would usually appear in pairs – I found there was something reassuring and old-fashioned about that.

We’ve lived here for 30 years, and they’ve been here since the beginning. They can stick together for life – it’s comforting to think of them raising a brood together, just like we have in this house. My wife remembers watching them feeding on the sunflower seeds in the garden when she was feeding our daughter Emily. She and our son Ben loved watching them.

Looking back through my Garden Birdwatch for the British Trust for Ornithology I see that from 2003 to 2020 they were regularly observed for more than 15 weeks a year. Slowly they started to tail off and in the past four years it’s really noticeable – they didn’t visit us at all in 2023. Something must have changed in our area, like a hedgerow has gone or a field is being used differently. I’m not sure, but I’m missing them and wondering where they’ve gone.
Peter Gray, Chesterfield, UK

I was born in 1982 and lived in Norwich, in the east of England, until I was 25. I used to spend a lot of time outdoors in the countryside and at the coast, and developed a close connection with the natural world. While not a birder by any means, I was familiar with the songs and calls of many species, and loved listening to the blackbird and robin in our garden. Yet it was not until very recently that I realised my childhood experiences of bird song had been drastically impoverished, compared with if I had grown up in the 1950s. Since the postwar period, populations of nightingales and turtle doves have plummeted by more than 90%.

This decline has been so drastic that most people, including myself, have never encountered the beguiling songs of these summer visitors. But what’s more terrifying is that most people, again including myself, don’t realise these species are missing. Their eradication has been so swift and so complete that we’ve forgotten they used to exist at all.
Alex Smalley, Cornwall, UK

Curlews. My favourite sound in all the world and the sound of Cumbria. This time of year they should be calling over the fields here as they come inland to breed. Only 15 years ago you’d hear dozens. This year I’ve heard only one heartbreakingly lonely call in the night. There is no wild sound quite like the curlew – with each loss like this we lose the singularity of place which inspires us to care for it. You can’t love something that isn’t there.
Heidi Bewley, Cumbria, UK

I have lived here in Skåne for 35 years. When we first moved in there were several swallow pairs with nests under the farmhouse eaves and in various outhouses. Last year there was just a single pair. I miss their twittering when they first arrive and when they are hunting insects high and low.
Len Barnes, Tjörnarp, Skåne county, Sweden

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