Island nations may keep some sovereignty if rising seas make them uninhabitable – ‘Resettlement is an extremely unpopular solution’

By NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD of ClimateWire
25 May 2011 NEW YORK — Global sea level rise has put a handful of nations at risk of extinction — small island states in the Pacific and Indian oceans. But this week, a collection of international lawyers and politicians have begun work to ensure that doesn’t happen. They can’t prevent what many scientists see as the physical inevitability: a rise in ocean levels of 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 feet) by 2100, even if all greenhouse gas emitting into the atmosphere were to cease tomorrow. Rather, they are exploring ways to use existing formal and informal rules that would allow many nations to continue as legal entities entitled to ocean fishing and mineral exploration rights, even if their entire populations were forced to relocate elsewhere. The tiny nations of the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati and more are among those at most risk in the Pacific. These atoll nations are among the lowest-lying in the world, and should their archipelagos not completely submerge, it’s likely that rising sea levels and extreme saltwater flooding will permanently damage freshwater supplies and destroy agriculture, making them uninhabitable. The Maldives and Seychelles in the Indian Ocean face the same risks. But at a three-day discussion on their legal options at Columbia University, wrapping up today, scholars are pointing out ways that these states can still maintain an identity and international legal authority, even as they lose all their habitable territory. “It’s important to maintain a government that can defend its interests in the international arena,” advised international law expert Jenny Grote Stoutenburg of the University of California, Berkeley. Conceived last year by the government of the Marshall Islands, this week’s three-day seminar on “Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate” is the first to gather experts together to develop a formal body of knowledge that can guide the most vulnerable nations, should their worst fears become reality. … The questions are serious ones, and at the same time intellectually interesting. What happens to the people forced to relocate, and what is their citizenship status? Do their governments survive, and if so, do they retain their full seats at the United Nations, even though they have no habitable land to control? And do they still control the fisheries and mineral rights to the surrounding seas they now enjoy, or do those become international waters? …

Island Nations May Keep Some Sovereignty if Rising Seas Make Them Uninhabitable

Feb 21 (AFP) – Extreme high tides have flooded parts of the low-lying Marshall Islands capital Majuro with a warning Sunday of worse to come because of rising sea levels. Several areas of the city were flooded Saturday and forecasters predicted more to come on Sunday evening before the current high tide levels ease. Flooding of the Marshall Islands atolls, many of which rise less than a metre (three feet) above sea level, will increase in “frequency and magnitude” in the coming years, University of Hawaii marine researcher Murray Ford said. Ford, who is studying rising sea levels in the Marshall islands, said the weekend’s extreme tides of 1.67 metres were exacerbated by La Nina, a weather phenomenon that has caused the base sea level to rise by 15 centimetres (six inches) in recent months. “As the sea level is temporarily higher as a result of La Nina and overlies long-term sea level rise, the impacts are magnified,” Ford said. “While these events happen only a handful of times a year at present they will continue to increase in both frequency and magnitude.” Ford said a gauge measuring long-term sea level changes at Majuro indicated the “average sea level is more than six inches above predicted” levels. …

Extreme tides flood Marshalls capital