Sea-Level Rise and International Law (original) (raw)
Related papers
International Law and Sea Level Rise
BRILL eBooks, 2019
As indicated above, it was new scientific evidence and findings that prompted the establishment of the Committee in 2012. These include in particular the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concerning the trends in sea level change during the course of 20 th century and the first decade of the 21 st century, as well as its projections for further sea level rise. At the time of the establishment of this Committee in 2012, the IPCC had issued four assessment reports, the last of which was then published in 2007. 11 The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) 12 of 2013/14, issued soon after this Committee was established, was the first to reverse a trend of successive reductions in the upper end of projections for 2100 in the previous IPCC reports. With an upper end prediction of 98 cm, 13 it is the second highest so far. Importantly, however, this prediction is based on major scientific advances since AR4, resulting in a better understanding of 20 th century sea level change and its 8 Baselines Committee Sofia Report (n. 3), at 424-425 (on-line, at 30-31); emphasis added.
The Law of the Sea Convention and Sea Level Rise in the light of the South China Sea Arbitration
2017
Sea level rise from anthropogenic climate change is an increasing concern for the international community and especially for coastal States. The prospect of whole islands disappearing under rising waters raises serious questions as to the impact upon maritime jurisdiction and the ability of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to deal with the inundation of large areas of territory. The South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal recently considered these questions. Here, the Tribunal relied on a high standard for what constituted human habitability under Article 121 of the Law of the Sea Convention, which likely will have broad implications for small island States in the future. This paper will consider whether the Law of the Sea Convention can cope with sea level rise, and the likely effects of the restrictive definition adopted by the South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal. It also considers direct and indirect impacts of sea level rise for the application of the Law of the...
International Law and Sea-Level Rise: Forced Migration and Human Rights
This report provides a general overview of the international law issues relating to sea-level rise, (forced) migration and human rights. The first part provides a brief account of “What We Know and What We Can Expect”, discussing sea-level rise and its impacts, and then, in turn, their relationship and interaction with the criteria of statehood, human rights and mobility. The second part features “tools” with the potential to address the mobility and human rights implications associated with sea-level rise and its impacts. Part two initially explores interventions that would enable affected persons to remain in situ, before embarking on an examination of extant “tools” pertinent to internal and cross-border movements, respectively. The final part presents the way forward, drawing out key areas and principles of international law with the capacity to lend clarity and content to States’ obligations to address the challenges presented by sea-level rise.
Because they are at the frontline of climate change, Pacific islands’ governments and populations have early alerted on effects of sea level rise, a phenomenon that raises an urgent and existential threat in this part of the world. Among the legal questions emerging from that emergency, consequences on territorial integrity and sovereignty, State continuity, permanence of maritime limits and boundaries, as well as protection of human rights, are of crucial importance. Pacific islands’ representatives pushed for more awareness on those issues, and they are also actively participating to the construction of legal responses, particularly in the framework of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). This article proposes an analysis of consequences of sea level rise from an international law perspective, focusing on Pacific States and territories. Effects of sea level rise being more present and documented in Oceania than in any other area in the world, a regional approach deserves specific attention and can usefully serve a general reflection on these challenges. The text thus aims to study impacts of sea level rise on territorial integrity and human rights at a regional scale, and to address more general prospects on development of international law.
The Italian Review of International and Comparative Law
For some coastal States, the rise in sea levels may cause the baselines and national maritime spaces to regress towards the coast. From a legal point of view, the question arises as to whether, in the event of such phenomenon occurring, the States concerned would be able to maintain their current baselines and outer limits of national maritime spaces. According to some authors, this would be prohibited by the existing rules of the international law of the sea. If this were the case, one would nevertheless still have to consider whether the States affected by sea-level rise could invoke a state of necessity in order not to apply, without committing an internationally wrongful act, any rules of international law stipulating that baselines are ambulatory. In order to answer that question, this essay examines and applies to the present case all the cumulative conditions laid down in Article 25 of the Draft Articles on State Responsibility adopted in 2001 by the International Law Commiss...
The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Maritime Limits: A Grotian Moment in the Law of the Sea
The legal order of the oceans centres on coastal geography which is undergoing unprecedented changes. Claims to national jurisdiction are based on distance from the coast and are only enforceable as long as they are consistent with international law. Consequently, sea level rise and submergence of coastal features can affect the location and enforceability of unilateral maritime limits and bilateral boundaries. Some States wish to maintain previously established entitlements around submerged territory but the only way to prevent fluctuations of unilateral limits is through artificial conservation of coastlines. Therefore, a change, in either the location of maritime entitlements or rules governing such entitlements, is inevitable. It has been proposed that maritime limits should be frozen to ensure opposability as coastlines change. That would enable States to exercise sovereignty and sovereign rights over areas that have no anchor in coastal territory, arguably causing a departure from the land dominates the sea principle and a Grotian Moment in the law of the sea. However, this article concludes that it is unlikely that proposals to freeze maritime limits will change the law of the sea and that the proposals may in fact serve to deter another paradigm shift, one that involves a departure from the principle of stable boundaries.
The Implication of Sea-level Rise Toward the Small Island Nation of Maldives: Legal Perspective
LAW REFORM
Climate change has always been a major issue and a long discussion in the international community. One of the tangible manifestations of climate change is rising sea levels. Sea level rise also has a significant impact on small island countries or micro-countries which are geographically small and have very low land elevations. The impact of sea level rise will pose a threat that is quite dangerous for the existence of a small island nation like the Maldives. This article applies normative legal research methods using a conceptual approach, cases and regulations. This study aims to examine the implications of sea level rise on the Maldives perspective and provide options in the form of legal construction to solve this problem. This research found that The UNCLOS does not provide explicit reference against the sea-level rise effected by climate change. However, International community have been making progress to address this issue with a numbers of conferences. This study suggest t...
Sea-Level Rise and the Law of the Sea in the Western Pacific Region
Journal of East Asia and International Law, 2020
Sea-level rise (SLR) is considered one of the most serious consequences of climate change. The risk of SLR compels legal consideration of this phenomenon related to many interrelated domains including the Law of the Sea. The Western Pacific region contains the most low-lying coastal countries and small island States seriously affected by SLR in the world. This research has been carried out as a contribution paper on the State practice in the Western Pacific region to the topic of "Sea-level rise in relation to international law" conducted by the Study Group of the United Nations International Law Commission in the period of 2020-2021. It aims to summarize the consequences of SLR for the Western Pacific States and outline their legal positions in relation to the sea-level rise. It also discusses specific issues, challenges and opportunities facing the Western Pacific States in supporting the maintenance of maritime baselines and limits notwithstanding physical changes caused by SLR.
Rising Tensions: The impact of Sea Level Rise on Maritime Zones
2020
Sea Level Rise will result in a variety of impacts by 2100. One of these will be changing coastlines around the world as land is inundated by the ocean. Currently, the mean lowwater lines around the world are used as baselines for maritime zones under the United Nations Convention on the Law Of the Sea. These physical points will change in the future and UNCLOS does not explicitly state what this means for maritime zones. In some cases the Vienna Convention on the Law of International Treaties can be applied to fix zones defined under bilateral treaties. However, for zones not defined in a bilateral treaty, the future is more uncertain. The future of these zones is likely to be up to the discretion of courts and tribunals with jurisdiction over UNCLOS or rely on updates to the convention.