Improving Solutions for the Asian-Pacific ‘Sinking Islands’ Paradigm


by Imaan Budhram
3012 words



Abstract


Introduction


Legal Challenges of the ‘Sinking Islands’ Paradigm


Legal Solutions for Kiribati


Clash Between Western and Asian-Pacific Discourse


Conclusion


References

References


Albert, S., Leon, J.X., Grinham, A.R., Church, J.A., Gibbes, B.R. & Woodroffe, C.D. (2016). Interactions between sea-level rise and wave exposure on reef island dynamics in the Solomon Islands. Environmental Research Letters, 11(5), pp. 1-9.

Aurescu, B., Cissé, Y., Teles, P.G., Oral, N. & Santolaria, J.J.R. (2018). Report on the work of the seventieth session: Sea-level rise in relation to international law (Report No. A/73/10). International Law Commission https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2018/english/annex_B.pdf

Bravo, M. (2009). Voices from the sea ice: the reception of climate impact narratives. Journal of Historical Geography, 35, pp. 256-278.

Bettini, G. (2013). Climate Barbarians at the Gate? A critique of apocalyptic narratives on ‘climate refugees’. Geoforum, 45, pp. 63-72.

Bettini, G., Nash, S.L. & Gioli, G. (2017).  One step forward, two steps back? The fading contours of (in)justice in competing discourses on climate migration. The Geographical Journal, 184(4), pp. 348-358.

Byravan S. & Rajan S.C. (2015). Sea level rise and climate change exiles: A possible solution. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 71(2), pp. 21-28.

Byravan, S. & Rajan, S.C. (2006). Providing new homes for climate change exiles. Climate Policy, 6, pp. 247–252.

Caramel, L. (2014, July 1). Besieged by the rising tides of climate change, Kiribati buys land in Fiji. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/01/kiribati-climate-change-fiji-vanua-levu 

Costa, M. & Sharp, R. (2011). Gender responsive budgeting in the Pacific region: The Pacific Island Countries Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Tuvalu. University of South Australia. 
https://www.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/episerver-6-files/documents/eass/hri/gender-budg ets/pic.pdf

Crate, S.A. & Nuttall, M. (2009). Introduction:Anthropology and Climate Change in Anthropology of Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions. Crate, S.A. and Nuttall,M. (eds.) Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek CA.

Crawford, J. (2006). The Creation of States in International Law (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Daly, M., Poutasi, N., Nelson, F. & Kohlhase, J. (2010). Reducing the Climate Vulnerability of Coastal Communities in Samoa. Journal of International Development, 22(2), pp. 265-281.

Dempster, H. & Ober, K. (2020, January 10). New Zealand's "Climate Refugee" Visas: Lessons for the Rest of the World. Center for Global Development. https://www.cgdev.org/blog/new-zealands-climate-refugee-visas-lessons-rest-world.

Farbotko, C. (2010). Wishful sinking: Disappearing islands, climate refugees and cosmopolitan experimentation. Asian Pacific Viewpoint, 51(1), pp. 47-60.

Farbotko, C. & Lazrus, H. (2012). The first climate refugees? Contesting global narratives of climate change in Tuvalu. Global Environmental Change, 22(2), pp. 382-390.

Höing, N. & Razzaque, J. (2012). Unacknowledged and unwanted? ‘Environmental refugees’ in search of legal status. Journal of Global Ethics, 8(1), pp. 19-40.

Jaswal, P.S. & Jolly, S. Climate Refugees: Challenges and Opportunities for International Law. Journal of the Indian Law Institute, 55(1), pp. 45-58.

Johnstone, B. (2019). The Unprecedented Sinking Island Phenomenon: The Legal Challenges on Statehood Caused by Rising Sea Level. New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law, 23, pp. 97-112.

Marek, K. (1968). Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law (2nd ed.). Librairie Droz.

McAnaney, S. C. (2012). Sinking islands formulating realistic solution to climate change displacement. New York University Law Review, 87(4), pp. 1172-1209.

McNamara, K.E. & Gibson, C. (2009). ‘We do not want to leave our land’: Pacific ambassadors at the United Nations resist the category of ‘climate refugees’. Geoforum, 40, pp. 475-483.

Nunn, P.D., Kohler, A. & Kumar, R. (2017). Identifying and assessing evidence for recent shoreline change attributable to uncommonly rapid sea-level rise in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, Northwest Pacific Ocean. Journal of Coast Conservation, 21, pp. 719–730.

Osborne, H. (2016, February 20). Climate change: Kiribati turns to artificial islands to save nation from Atlantis fate. International Business Times. https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/climate-change-kiribati-turns-artificial-islands-save-nation-atlantis-fate-1544942.

Van der Ploeg, J., Sukulu, M., Govan, H., Minter, T. & Eriksson, H. (2020). Sinking Islands, Drowned Logic; Climate Change and Community-Based Adaptation Discourses in Solomon Islands. Sustainability, 12(17), pp. 7225-7243.

Stoutenburg, J.G. (2013). When Do States Disappear?: Thresholds of Effective Statehood and the Continued Recognition of “Deterritorialized” Island States. In M.B. Gerrard and G.E. Wannier (Eds.), Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate. Cambridge University Press.

Sparks, T. (2018). Statehood in an Era of Sinking Islands. In T. Jafry (Eds.),

The Routledge Handbook of Climate Justice (pp. 83-99). Routledge.

Tabe, T. (2019). Climate Change Migration and Displacement: Learning from Past Relocations in the Pacific. Social Sciences, 8(7), pp. 218-235.

Warbrooke, A. (2014). Australia’s ‘Pacific Solution’: Issues for the Pacific Islands. Social Sciences, 1(2), pp. 337-348.

Wong, D. (2013). The Position of ‘Sinking States’ at International Law. Melbourne Journal of International Law, 14(2), pp. 346-391.