ABSTRACT

The submergence of a State was, until recently, an almost unthinkable idea for international law. Although States may lose personality or disintegrate, the physical loss of a State’s territory has only begun to be contemplated in the context of catastrophic climate change. As the global climate warms, increasingly frequent and severe storm events and sea-level rise will render the territories of low-lying coastal and small island States uninhabitable, or may submerge them altogether.

This chapter evaluates the dominant theory of statehood, and argues that the paradigm is unable to meet this new reality. In a time of rising seas and sinking islands, its limited conception of territory as an immutable, fixed point of reference will become increasingly damaging to the coherence of the idea of the State and to the rights of the individuals most adversely affected. Instead, the chapter argues that it is necessary for our understanding of statehood to undergo an anthropic shift. Such a shift would parallel our developing Anthropocene-consciousness, or our awareness of the effects human activity is having on environmental systems; and would diminish the importance of territory in the conception of the State, focusing instead on the existence of a coherent socio-political community.