Tag Archives: small island states

Can international law offer protection to those at risk of climatic statelessness?

Climatic Statelessness

Focusing again on climatic statelessness Over the last couple of years I have been blogging about climatic statelessness. Climatic statelessness is not yet a firmed-up concept, more a way to think about what happens, in reality and under international law, when a state no longer exists as a result of the effects of climate change.  How might we strengthen legal …

Adapting to absence – Can outcomes at COP26 help prevent climatic statelessness?

COP26

This blog is part of a series examining climatic statelessness and the impact of slow onset climate change and extreme events on small island states and communities. Immediate action is needed to protect small island states from loss of their land and therefore their statehood, their identity and their lives.  Adaption is crucial to ensure that these communities are not …

Shall I at least set my lands in order? – Can states acquire new territory to avoid climatic statelessness?

Territory

As we get closer to COP26 in Glasgow this November and following on from the Climate and Development Ministerial on 31 March 2021, I want to come back to an issue I discussed in a series of blogs last year: statelessness caused by the impact of climate change. One way to look at citizenship is as the connection between a …

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken – Can a submerged state meet the criteria for statehood?

Criteria for statehood

For this blog, part of my series focusing on climatic statelessness, I return to the issue of small island states at risk of disappearing due to slow-onset climate change. My first blog of the series, looked at how climate change and cross-border migration interrelate and what would happen in the event that entire communities and even states were displaced due …

That sinking feeling – climate change and climatic statelessness

Climatic Statelessness

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s COP26 UN climate change conference has been postponed.  But the urgency of tackling climate change has not gone away in the face of the pandemic.  As the UN explains: “COVID-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the …