Residents of a Dutch Caribbean island sued the metropolis, demanding in court on Thursday that the Dutch state take more measures to protect the island from the effects of climate change, Reuters reported.

The 8 plaintiffs in the case want the Netherlands to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero by 2040, 10 years earlier than the Dutch government’s current plans call for. The plaintiffs accuse The Hague government of not doing enough to protect the island from rising sea levels.

Located in the southern Caribbean, Bonaire is a Dutch colony, which in 2010 received the status of a municipality of the Netherlands. About 20,000 residents who are citizens of the Netherlands live here.

“The Caribbean Netherlands has been forgotten for too long. There are plans to protect the European Netherlands from sea level rise and other impacts of the climate crisis, but this does not yet apply to Bonaire,” Danik Martis, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

The cause is supported by the environmental group Greenpeace, which says that by 2050, parts of the island of Bonaire will be permanently submerged and the barrier reef that protects the island is dying.

The Netherlands, which was sued by its Caribbean citizens

Last May, a group of Bonaire residents filed a lawsuit against Holland with the same allegations.

The Netherlands is known for its storm dams and thousands of kilometers of dams built to protect the European territory, about a third of which is below sea level. But the country is also one of the biggest polluters per capita in Europe and has faced a series of scandals and lawsuits over its emissions.

Following a process initiated by Vanuatu, an island seriously affected by global climate warming, the UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution at the end of March 2023 asking international justice to clarify the “obligations” of the world’s nations in the fight against climate change.

The resolution was hailed as “historic” progress, a “significant milestone” and a “triumph for international climate diplomacy.” NGOs and a number of states among the 130 co-authors of the text strongly welcomed this consensus text.