SIDS, Territorial Loss, and Notions of Statehood under International Law: Reparative Approaches

As global climate change intensifies, Small Island Developing States are experiencing dangerous effects and facing unprecedented risk in terms of projected territorial loss. Because the international system views states as territorial entities and links state membership with the assurance of human rights, the implications of total territorial disappearance of these islands for the realization of human rights are potentially disastrous. By utilizing the metric of adherence to key principles of differentiated responsibility, the paper analyzes potential pathways for protecting vulnerable states and their inhabitants in situations of territorial loss. It concludes that any protective framework must include a reparative approach that places greater differentiated responsibility on the states that caused climate change in terms of handling migration, promoting climate resilience and adaptation, and mitigating additional climate harms, even if doing so requires significant internal change.