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The Legal Position of Inhabited Islands Submerging Due to Sea Level Rise Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2013-2014 The legal position of inhabited islands submerging due to sea level rise Masterproef van de opleiding ‗Master in de rechten‘ Ingediend door Anemoon Soete 00903062 Promotor: Prof. dr. Frank Maes Commissaris: Hendrik Schoukens Acknowledgment I suppose this is the place to squeeze blood, tears and sweat from words to bring across just how daunting the task was I have been burdened with. I still relive the countless times friends and family asked me the same polite, yet also caringly sincere, question. With faces contorted slightly, in precisely the appropriate amount of agony, they uttered the words ―how I was doing or if I would rather not talk about it?‖. I always knew ‗it‘ was not to be confused with anything else but thesis writing. I even grew accustomed to this social necessity directed towards so many students in their twenties. Each time, I could tell I was never fully able to answer that question in a satisfactory sullen manner when I gladly elaborated on what I had just, literally just, found out. I will have to let those same people down once more. I have to be honest, I have loved being able to do research on the topic of this paper. For this, I am grateful towards my thesis advisor, Prof. Frank Maes, for allowing me and trusting me to put forth my own take on this legal topic, something which is not always easily appreciated. I have felt welcome with thesis-related, as well as off-topic questions at all times, and what is more, I have felt welcome as a person and not as thesis student number six. Further trust I encountered in my parents‘ unwavering confidence that I would be able to add valuable thoughts to this paper. For that, for not asking me how I was doing, and for so many other ways in which you have helped me, I sincerely want to thank you. i Table of Contents Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................................................ i Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................................... iii Acronyms ....................................................................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................................... vii I – INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 1 I. 1. The scientific link between climate change, rising sea level and sinking island states .............................. 3 I. 2. Impact of statehood ............................................................................................................................................ 6 I. 2. 1. International ................................................................................................................................................. 7 I. 2. 2. National ......................................................................................................................................................... 8 II – STATEHOOD ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 II. 1. Dominant statehood theories ........................................................................................................................ 10 II. 2. Montevideo criteria .......................................................................................................................................... 11 II. 2. 1. Defined territory ...................................................................................................................................... 12 II. 2. 1. 1. Land territory .................................................................................................................................... 13 II. 2. 1. 2. Maritime zones ................................................................................................................................. 15 II. 2. 1. 3. Saving maritime zones .................................................................................................................... 17 Straight baselines ........................................................................................................................... 17 Charts .............................................................................................................................................. 18 National legislation ........................................................................................................................ 18 Declared continental shelf ............................................................................................................ 19 Maintaining the status of island ................................................................................................... 20 Historic waters ............................................................................................................................... 21 Updating the LOSC ...................................................................................................................... 21 Bilateral and multilateral agreements .......................................................................................... 22 Enforcing maritime rights ............................................................................................................ 22 The heart of a maritime zone ...................................................................................................... 23 Fixation in time .............................................................................................................................. 23 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 23 iii II. 2. 2. Permanent population ............................................................................................................................. 24 II. 2. 2. 1. Climate change refugees ................................................................................................................. 26 II. 2. 2. 2. National migration policies ............................................................................................................ 27 II. 2. 3. Exercise of power and the right to self-determination ...................................................................... 28 II. 2. 3. 1. Government ex situ .......................................................................................................................... 29 II. 2. 3. 2. Cosmopolitanism ............................................................................................................................. 31 II. 2. 4. The capacity to enter into relations with other states and state independence .............................. 31 II. 3. In search of land and state in fulfillment of the Montevideo criteria ...................................................... 33 II. 3. 1. Mitigation and limited adaptation when land territory is largely lost .............................................. 33 II. 3. 2. Adaptation when habitable territory is entirely lost ........................................................................... 34 II. 3. 2. 1. Land reallocation .............................................................................................................................. 34 Cessation of land ........................................................................................................................... 34 Leasing or buying land from another existent state ................................................................. 36 II. 3. 2. 2. New land, artificially elevated points and seasteading ................................................................... 37 II. 3. 2. 3. Merger ................................................................................................................................................ 38 II. 4. A world order after and beyond Montevideo ............................................................................................. 39 II. 4. 1. Exceptions to the Montevideo criteria ................................................................................................. 39 II. 4. 1. 1. Temporariness of changes .............................................................................................................. 39 II. 4. 1. 2. Non-recognition as reparation for internationally wrongful conduct ..................................... 41 Peremptory norms of law ............................................................................................................. 42 The act of breaching ..................................................................................................................... 46 Shortcomings of the Articles on Responsibility of States‘ duty of non-recognition .......... 49 II. 4. 2. Defining continued statehood through recognition ........................................................................... 50 II. 4. 2. 1. Ex injuria jus non oritur .....................................................................................................................
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