'We Have to Act': Bonaire Residents File Climate Suit Against Netherlands

Eight residents of the Caribbean island of Bonaire sued the government of the Netherlands Thursday for not doing enough to protect the Dutch municipality from the climate emergency.

In the lawsuit, filed alongside Greenpeace Netherlands, the islanders demand that the Netherlands work with Bonaire to make a plan to protect it from the impacts of the climate crisis and that it do its "fair share" to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C by reaching net-zero by 2040 instead of 2050.

"The time for talking is over, we have to act," plaintiff Kjelld Kroon, a 28-year-old program creator, said in a statement. "I don't want to have to wait any longer, and that's why I'm taking action today."

As a low-lying Caribbean island, Bonaire is especially vulnerable to the climate crisis. A study commissioned by Greenpeace found that sea-level rise could cause permanent flooding on parts of the island by 2050 and submerge one-fifth of it by 2100. Rising temperatures would also devastate the coral reefs that the island relies on for tourism, fishing, and protection from storms; damage infrastructure and cultural heritage; and harm public health through more frequent heatwaves and vector-born diseases.

"Climate change is happening right now on Bonaire. It's getting increasingly hot and the rain showers are more frequent and more extreme. These downpours are causing flooding, inundating many houses. Including my mother's house," Kroon said.

Despite these risks, the plaintiffs say that the Netherlands has violated their human rights by not doing enough to protect Bonaire from the impact of rising temperatures caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels. The Netherlands has maintained a presence on Bonaire for nearly 400 years, and the island became a special municipality in 2010.

"It shouldn't matter whether you live on Bonaire, on Ameland, or in Valkenburg. It's the Dutch government's duty to protect all of us from the consequences of the climate crisis."

"The Caribbean Netherlands has been forgotten for too long," plaintiff Danique Martis, a 25-year-old social worker, said in a statement. "There are plans in place to protect the European Netherlands against sea-level rise and other consequences of the climate crisis, but for Bonaire this is not yet the case. It saddens me to see how, despite knowing their responsibility, the Dutch government has chosen to push our right to safety aside. For this reason, we are going to the court, so they have no choice but to act."

The plaintiffs sent a pre-trial letter to the Dutch government in May of 2023 to give it a chance to resolve their concerns without a trial, The Guardian reported.

However, the Netherlands responded that its net-zero timeline was sufficient. Plaintiffs also were not satisfied with meetings concerning adaptations.

"It shouldn't matter whether you live on Bonaire, on Ameland, or in Valkenburg. It's the Dutch government's duty to protect all of us from the consequences of the climate crisis," Andy Palmen, executive director of Greenpeace Netherland, said in a statement.

The lawsuit was delivered to the district court in the Hague Thursday as part of a protest march from the prime minister's office, according to Greenpeace. At the same time, plaintiffs held a press conference in the capital of Bonaire.

"The government has a duty to reduce global warming as much as possible, and right now it's failing to do so," Palmen said. "We demand more protective measures for Bonaire, and we want the Dutch government to speed up the reduction of carbon emissions from the whole of the Netherlands. This is in the interest of all of us."