Receding maritime zones, uninhabitable states and climate exiles: How international law must adapt to climate change

Environmental Law and Management

Volumn 23, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 83-87

  Wei, David ^a  

^a Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD)   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BOUNDARY DELIMITATION; CLIMATE CHANGE; COMPETITION (ECONOMICS); FORCED MIGRATION; HUMAN RIGHTS; INTERNATIONAL LAW; MARITIME BOUNDARY; REFUGEE; STATE ROLE; UNITED NATIONS;

EID: 79961034117     PISSN: 10676058     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (43)

1. J Lusthaus Shifting sands: sea level rise, maritime boundaries and inter-state conflict' (2010) 30(2) Politics 113, 116.
2. D D Caron 'When law makes climate change worse: rethinking the law of baselines in light of a rising sea level' (1990) 17 Ecology Law Quarterly 621, 635-36.
3. UNCLOS arts 2-3.
4. C Di Leva, S Morita 'Maritime rights of coastal states and climate change: should states adapt to submerged boundaries?' World Bank Law and Development Working Paper Series No 5 at 18 available at http:/ /siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAWJUSTICE/Resources/ L&D-number5.pdf (last accessed 31 January 2011):
5. 'Many scholars have therefore considered the legal and physical boundary of these maritime zones to be ambulatory'. C Di Leva, S Morita ibid, citing M Reed 'Shore and sea boundaries: the development of international maritime boundary principles through United States practice' (2000) US Department of Commerce, Washington DC: [A]s the baseline ambulates, so does each of the maritime zones measured from if.
6. DD Caron 'Climate change, sea level rise and the coming uncertainty in oceanic boundaries: a proposal to avoid conflict' (2008) available at http://works.bepress.com/david-pag 83-caron/39 (last accessed 31 January 2011).
7. See R Rayfuse 'International law and disappearing states: utilising maritime entitlements to overcome the statehood dilemma' (2010) UNSWLRS 52,5.
8. See B Kwiatkowska, AHA Soons 'Entitlement to maritime areas of rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own' (1990) 21 NYIL 139,142:
9. See also A G Oude Elferink 'Clarifying Article 121 (3) of the Law of the Sea Convention: the limits set by the nature of international legal processes' (Summer 1998) IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin 58: '[T] he literature generally acknowledges the impossibility of an authoritative interpretation of it...'.
10. See also JI Charney 'Rocks that cannot sustain human habitation' (1999) 93 AMJIL 863.
11. R Rayfuse 'W(h)ither Tuvalu? International law and disappearing states' (2009) 9 UNSWLRS 12;
12. Rayfuse (n 20) 12.
13. J Crawford The Creation of States in International Law (2 nd edn Oxford University Press 2006) 715.
14. L Yamamoto, M Esteban 'Vanishing island states and sovereignty' (2010) 53 Ocean & Coastal Management 1 at 3.
15. Rayfuse (n 32) 11.
16. Rayfuse (n 20) 13.
17. J McAdam, B Saul 'An insecure climate for human security? Climateinduced displacement and international law' (2010) UNSWLRS 59, 7.
18. I acknowledge the vigorous and nuanced scholariy debate on how to classify climate and/or environmental migrants. I use the term 'climate exiles' instead of 'climate refugees' to underscore that they do not have the same rights as refugees in international law, and that an amendment of the Refugee Convention may not be the best legal solution. For an illustration of the opposing view that climate exiles already qualify as refugees under the Refugee Convention, see J B Cooper 'Environmental refugees: meeting the requirements of the refugee definition' (1998) 6 NYU Environmental Law Journal 480.
19. See UNHCR and others 'Forced displacement in the context of climate change: challenges for States under International law' (20 May 2009) submission to the 6th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action under the UNFCCC 9-10.
20. OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (10 September 1969, in force 20 June 1974) 1001 UNTS 45 art 1 (2).
21. Cartagena Declaration on Refugees (22 November 1984) Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights OEA/ Ser.L/V/II.66/doc.10 rev. 1 at 190-93 (1984-85) para 3.
22. J McAdam 'Environmental migration governance' (2009) UNSWLRS 1 at 15,
23. citing A Edwards 'Refugee status determination in Africa' (2006) 14 RADIC 204 225-27, who questions whether the OAU Convention can capture claims based on environmental movement.
24. M Conisbee, A Simms 'Environmental refugees: the case for recognition' (2003) New Economics Foundation pocketbook at 26, 32 available at http://www.neweconomics.org/ sites/neweconomics.org/files/Environmental- Refugees.pdf (last accessed 8 February 2011 ).
25. A meeting organised by the Maldives Government in 2006 produced text elements of a draft Protocol on environmental refugees. F Biermann, I Boas 'Preparing for a warmer world: towards a global governance system to protect climate refugees' (November 2007) Global Governance Working Paper No 33, 18-19:
26. see also F Renaud and others 'Control, adapt or flee: how to face environmental migration?' (2007) United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security, Interdisciplinary Security Connections Publication Series No 5/2007 at 34;
27. B Docherty, T Giannini 'Confronting a rising tide: a proposal for a convention on climate change refugees' (2009) 33 HVELR 349 at 393.
28. Biermann (n 60) 19;
29. UNHCR (n 55) 10.
30. Law & Policy 502
31. A Williams 'Turning the tide: recognizing climate change refugees in international law' (2008) 30:4 Law & Policy 502, 520.
32. ibid 518. A Williams Turning the tide: recognizing climate change refugees in international law.
33. Biermann (n 60) 27-30.
34. Biermann (n 60) 26.
35. Docherty (n 61 ) 376-84.
36. Docherty (n 61) 385-91.
37. DZ Falstrom 'Stemming the flow of environmental displacement: creating a convention to protect persons and preserve the environment' (2001 ) COJIELP 2,19-24.
38. D Hodgkinson and others "The hour when the ship comes in": a convention for persons displaced by climate change' 18 available at https:// www.ccdpconvention.com/documents/CCDP-Convention-Summary.pdf (last accessed 9 March 2011 ).
39. ibid 23-24.
40. ibid 42.
41. J McAdam 'Refusing 'refuge' in the Pacific: (de)constructing climateinduced displacement in international law' (2010) UNSWLRS 27,25.
42. Immigration New Zealand 'Pacific access category' available at http:/ /www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/pacificaccess (last accessed 8 February 2011 ).
43. Immigration New Zealand 'New Zealand's immigration relationship with Tuvalu' available at http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Foreign-Relations/ Pacific/NZ-Tuvalu-immigration.php (last accessed 8 February 2011 ).