Open AccessSIDS, Territorial Loss, and Notions of Statehood under International Law: Reparative Approaches
Author(s) -
Abigail Kleiman
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of environment and climate change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2581-8627
DOI - 10.9734/ijecc/2022/v12i930739
Subject(s) - resilience (materials science) , adaptation (eye) , climate change , psychological resilience , political science , state (computer science) , human rights , international law , small island developing states , environmental resource management , law and economics , environmental planning , political economy , business , geography , law , sociology , ecology , economics , computer science , psychology , social psychology , physics , algorithm , neuroscience , biology , thermodynamics
As global climate change intensifies, Small Island Developing States are experiencing dangerous effects and facing unprecedented risk in terms of projected territorial loss. Because the international system views states as territorial entities and links state membership with the assurance of human rights, the implications of total territorial disappearance of these islands for the realization of human rights are potentially disastrous. By utilizing the metric of adherence to key principles of differentiated responsibility, the paper analyzes potential pathways for protecting vulnerable states and their inhabitants in situations of territorial loss. It concludes that any protective framework must include a reparative approach that places greater differentiated responsibility on the states that caused climate change in terms of handling migration, promoting climate resilience and adaptation, and mitigating additional climate harms, even if doing so requires significant internal change.