UNCLOS and sea level rise

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted 10 December 1982, entered into force 16 November 1994, 1833 UNTS 396 (UNCLOS). U.N. General Assembly, 22nd session, Examination of the question of the reservation exclusively for peaceful purposes of the seabed and the ocean floor, and the subsoil thereof, underlying the high seas beyond the limits of present national jurisdiction, and the use of their resources in the interests of mankind General debate (1 November 1967). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Policymaker Summary of Working Group I (Scientific Assessment of Climate Change): Executive Summary” (2018), available at 〈https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ipcc_90_92_assessments_far_wg_I_spm.pdf〉. Caron, 1990, When law makes climate change worse: rethinking the law of baselines in light of a rising sea level, Ecol. Law Q., 17, 621 A. Soons, The Effects of a Rising Sea Level on Maritime Limits and Boundaries (1990) 37 Netherlands International Law Review 207 (citing E. Bird and V. Prescott, "Rising Global Sea Levels and National Maritime Claims" (1989) Marine Policy Reports 177. . Freestone and J. Pethick, International Legal Implications of Coastal Adjustments under Sea Level Rise: Active or Passive Policy Responses? in J. Titus and N. Psuty (eds.), Adaptive Options to Sea level Rise Report to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from the Miami Conference on Adaptive Responses to Sea Level Rise and Other Impacts of Global Climate Change, Vol. 1 (May 1990), pp. 237–256). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Policymaker Summary of Working Group II (Potential Impacts of Climate Change)”, 2018, [24], available at 〈https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ipcc_90_92_assessments_far_wg_II_spm.pdf〉. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Policymaker Summary of Working Group II (Potential Impacts of Climate Change)”, 2018, [24], available at 〈https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ipcc_90_92_assessments_far_wg_II_spm.pdf〉. IPCC, “Special Report: Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate – Chapter 4: Sea Level Rise and Implications for Low-Lying Islands, Coasts and Communities: Executive Summary”, 2019. Available at 〈https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-4-sea-level-rise-and-implications-for-low-lying-islands-coasts-and-communities/〉. Holder, 2017, The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warming, Guardian See S. Sefrioui, “Adapting to Sea Level Rise: A Law of the Sea Perspective” in Gemma Andreone (ed.), The Future of the Law of the Sea (Springer, 2017), 3–22. Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, April 29, 1958, 516 U.N.T.S. 206 (entered into force September 10, 1964) [hereafter TSC]. See the UN group of experts report on baselines on this issue: United Nations, Baselines: An Examination of the Relevant Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UN Office for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, New York, 1989), p.24. International Law Commission, “Sea-level rise in relation to international law”: First Issues Paper by Bogdan Aurescu and Nilüfer Oral, Co-Chairs of the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law” (28 February 2020), A/CN.4/740, [194]-[196] [hereafter FIP]. [49] Clive Schofield, “The Trouble with Islands: The Definition and Role of Islands and Rocks in Maritime Boundary Delimitation” in Seoung-Yong Hong and Jon M. Van Dyke (eds), Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes, and the Law of the Sea (Martinus Nijhoff, 2009), 19–37, 21. In re Arbitration Between the Republic of the Philippines and the People's Republic of China, PCA Case No.2013-19, Award (July 12, 2016) (South China Seas award) Clive Schofield and David Freestone," Islands Awash Amidst Rising Seas: Sea Level Rise and Insular Status under the Law of the Sea," International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, 34, 2019, pp. 391-414. K. Parlett, Jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal in Philippines v. China Under UNCLOS and in the Absence of China. AJIL Unbound, 110, 266–272; Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on the Award of 12 July 2016 of the Arbitral Tribunal in the South China Sea Arbitration Established at the Request of the Republic of the Philippines dated 2016/07/12, 2016. available at 〈https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/nanhai/eng/snhwtlcwj_1/t1379492.htm〉. Clive Schofield , “The Trouble with Islands: The Definition and Role of Islands and Rocks in Maritime Boundary Delimitation” in Seoung-Yong Hong and Jon M.Van Dyke (eds), Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes, and the Law of the Sea (Martinus Nijhoff, 2009), pp. 19–37. Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) [2012] ICJ Rep. 624 [hereafter Territorial and Maritime Dispute]. Gao, 2013, A Note on the Nicaragua v. Colombia Case, Ocean Dev. Int. Law, 44, 219, 10.1080/00908320.2013.808934 Stuart Kaye, 2017, The Law of the Sea Convention and sea level rise after the South China Sea Arbitration, Int. Law Stud. Ser., 93, 423 ILA, Baselines under the International Law of the Sea, Final Report, 2018. Available at 〈http://www.ila-hq.org/images/ILA/DraftReports/DraftReport_Baselines.pdf〉 (Accessed 4 December 2018). See International Law Association Committee on Baselines under the International Law of the Sea, “Final Report: Sofia Conference” (2012), at 31, available at http://ilareporter.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Source-1-Baselines-Final-Report-Sofia-2012.pdf. This report stated that “the existing law of normal baseline applies in situations of significant coastal change caused by both territorial gain and territorial loss. Coastal states may protect and preserve territory through physical reinforcement, but not through the legal fiction of a charted line that is unrepresentative of the actual low-water line.”. See International Law Association Committee on Baselines under the International Law of the Sea, “Final Report: Sofia Conference”, 2012, at 30. International Law Association (ILA), Resolution No. 1/2012: ‘Baselines under the International Law of the Sea’, 2012. Coalter, 2019, 61 Freestone, 2017, Sea level rise and impacts on maritime zones and limits: The work of the ILA Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise, 5 Korean J. Int. Comp. Law, 5, 5, 10.1163/22134484-12340077 I.L.A., Resolution 5/2018: Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise (2018) Final report of the Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise, International Law Association, Report of the Seventy-eighth Conference, Held in Sydney, 19-24 August 2018, vol. 78 (2019). J. Stoutenburg, “Implementing a New Regime of Stable Maritime Zones to Ensure the (Economic) Survival of Small Island States Threatened by Sea-Level Rise” (2011) 26 The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 263, 281-284. At its 3467th meeting, on 21 May 2019, the ILC decided to include the topic in its current programme of work. The Commission also decided to establish an open-ended Study Group on the topic, to be co-chaired, on a rotating basis, by Mr. Bogdan Aurescu, Mr. Yacouba Cissé, Ms. Patrícia Galvão Teles, Ms. Nilüfer Oral and Mr. Juan José Ruda Santolaria. U.N. General Assembly, “Report of the International Law Commission: Seventy-second session (26 April–4 June and 5 July–6 August 2021)”, UN Doc. A/76/10, 164–177. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [259]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [260]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Republic of Mali) [1986] ICJ Rep. 554, [23]. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [261]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [270]-[271]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [272]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [275]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. ILC, “Chapter IX: Sea-level rise in relation to international law”, UN Doc. A/76/10, [276]. Available at 〈https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2021/english/chp9.pdf〉. Pacific Islands Forum, Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the Face of Climate Change-Related Sea-Level Rise, 6 August 2021. Available at 〈https://www.forumsec.org/2021/08/11/declaration-on-preserving-maritime-zones-in-the-face-of-climate-change-related-sea-level-rise/〉. 〈https://www.aosis.org/launch-of-the-alliance-of-small-island-states-leaders-declaration/〉. For a detailed analysis, see F. Anggadi, “Establishment, Notification, and Maintenance: The package of State Practice at the Heart of the Pacific Islands Forum Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones”, 2022, 53 Ocean Development & International Law 19. For a detailed analysis, see also D. Freestone and C. Schofield, “Securing ocean spaces for the future? The initiative of the Pacific SIDS to develop regional practice concerning baselines and maritime zone limits”, 2019, 33 Ocean Yearbook, 58. [107] Alliance of Small States, Alliance Of Small Island States Leaders’ Declaration, 2021, [41], available at https://www.aosis.org/launch-of-the-alliance-of-small-island-states-leaders-declaration/. U.S. Remarks at a Meeting of the Sixth Committee on Agenda Item 77: Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its seventy-third session, October 27, 2022. Available at 〈https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/77/pdfs/statements/ilc/27mtg_us_2.pdf〉.