Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Climate Change Resolution: A quiet interaction of ocean and climate change legal regimes

Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) are struggling to take appropriate actions for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and fisheries, and at the same time, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) recently adopted a legally binding Resolution on climate change. This article briefly analyses the main provisions of the Resolution. It also highlights the importance of this Resolution as an example of the interaction between ocean and climate change legal regimes. This article argues that the Resolution is an initiative in the right direction. The IOTC needs to take proactive steps to implement the Resolution considering the challenges the RFMOs face in climate action generally.