From Guam to the world stage, Julian Aguon's voice for justice is transforming the global conversation on climate and human rights. And this week, Governor Lou Leon Guerrero honored him with the Maga’håga Award for his unwavering advocacy for Guam and the people of the Pacific.

In every corner of the world, there are people who dare to reimagine what justice can look like.  And from this small island, one of them is Aguon. A lawyer, writer, and law firm founder – he was presented the Maga’håga Award, a symbol of recognition for his work championing indigenous rights and the future of the Pacific.

“A guy from Guam winning a very important case on climate change in the world courts is not something to take very lightly," said the governor. "Thank you for your commitment, your dedication, your love, your passion for our people, and our culture.”  She said Aguon’s courage and dedication offer hope in a time when the world desperately needs it.

And no matter how far his advocacy takes him, his heart remains in the Pacific and a reflection of inafa'maolek. Through his firm, Blue Ocean Law, he has brought the voices of Pacific peoples to the world’s most powerful courts.

Earlier this year, Aguon and the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change secured a landmark opinion from the International Court of Justice declaring that nations have a legal duty to protect the climate system for future generations. “An advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice is really the only kind of case that can affect everyone everywhere," Aguon explained. "That is so astonishingly humbling for me to be able to be of service at that scale.”

For that historic achievement, Aguon has also been named one of four recipients of the “Right to Livelihood Award” – known as Sweden’s “Alternative Nobel Prize”. The right livelihood foundation recognized him for “carrying the call for climate justice to the world’s highest court,” and for his unwavering advocacy for the CHamoru people of Guam and all Pacific islanders.

In accepting the honor, Aguon dedicated it to the people of Micronesia who, in his words, “continue to resist the militarization of our homelands and insist upon our right to live in the world on our own terms.”

As his work reaches the highest levels of international law – he says none of it would be possible without the community that lifted him up. He said,  “I couldn’t do any of the work without all of you here. The people that love me and lift me up. No one’s an island.”

“We are here to be beautiful, we are here to be exceptional, and we are here to be of service to each other.”

As he prepares to receive the Right to Livelihood Award in Stockholm this December, Aguon continues to remind the world that the power to create change can begin anywhere, even on a small island surrounded by a great blue ocean.