Will island nations have sovereignty after they’re gone?
Interesting article in the January 2010 issue of Ocean & Coastal Management: Vanishing Island States and Sovereignty. Full text here. The abstract:
Sea level rise could bring about an event that has not previously been seen in modern history, that of the physical disappearance of some low-lying Island States. The objective of this paper is to examine what are the likely scenarios for some of these islands in the course of the next century, and analyse for each scenario if these Island States could continue to claim an Exclusive Economic Zone or not. Also, it will analyse the possibility that Island States could continue having some sort of status analogous to statehood even if it was to lose all territory. Finally, the idea of a “government-in-exile” will be discussed, where the State could retain its identity waiting for a future re-emergence of the island.
The result seems to be: the law doesn’t say, and it’s not really clear. Still, the authors examine a number of plausible scenarios, including one where islands build their way out of trouble, by constructing what the authors term “Dutch-style flood defenses”. The only problem: for a country like the Maldives, it would cost 90% of their GDP to construct them.