Working Paper on “Atoll Island States and Climate Change: Sovereignty Implications.”
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January 13 , 2012.
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Dear Climate Change Readers,
The United Nations Institute of Advanced Studies has just released a new Working Paper titled “Atoll Island States and Climate Change:
Sovereignty Implications”, available for download at:
www.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/Working%20Paper%20166_Lilian%20Yamamoto_Miguel%20Esteban.pdf
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The paper examines some of the possible legal effects of the re-location of the
citizens of low-lying Atoll Island States.
It will discuss the issue of sovereignty, which would determine the
ability of the people of the islands to keep long-term control over their current natural
resources. Key to this would be the status of a submerged Atoll Island State, and if
sovereignty could be preserved through civil engineering defence works.
The possibility of having a government-in-exile is also discussed, which would centre
upon the idea that these islands could re-emerge one day in the distant future, where the
descendants of the current inhabitants could re-claim these lands. The scientific basis for this
will also be discussed, highlighting the complex physical and socio-political problems and
uncertainty associated to the status of these countries.
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Miguel Esteban
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
