“This is the greatest tragedy a nation can face: if a state is submerged in water, will it be wiped from the map?

If the sea swallows up the Maldives or Tuvalu, does that wipe the country and its citizens off the map? This unimaginable damage caused by climate change represents an unprecedented crisis for the international community and people are at risk of losing their identity.

,This is the biggest tragedy that an individual, a nation, a nation can face.” Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed told AFP. According to the United Nations Climate Experts (IPCC), sea levels have already risen by 15 to 25 cm since 1900 and the rise is accelerating with an even faster rate in some tropical regions.

According to a study, 5 states are at risk of becoming uninhabited by 2100

Thus, if emissions continued to rise, The oceans around the islands of the Pacific and Indian Ocean can get about an extra meter by the end of the century. This of course remains below the highest point of most small island states, but with the rise in water level there will be an increase in storms and wave-submersibles: the water and land will become contaminated with salt, prolonging the number of uninhabited atolls. before they were covered by the sea.

According to a study cited by the IPCC, five states (Maldives, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati) are at risk of becoming uninhabited by 2100, creating 600,000 stateless climate refugees.

State without territory? This is the project of “Rising Nations”

an unprecedented situation. Of course wars have wiped the states off the map. but “We have never seen a state completely losing its territory due to a physical phenomenon like the rise of the sea”, Notes Sumudu Atapattu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, the Montevideo Convention of 1933 on the Rights and Duties of States, a context in this matter is clear: a state is composed of a defined territory, a permanent population, a government, and the ability to interact with other states.

Convince the members of the United Nations to recognize our nation, even when we are under water, because that is our identity

So if the area is swallowed up, or no one can live on what’s left of it, at least one of the criteria falls. but “The concept of state is a legal fiction created for the purposes of international law. We can therefore create a new novel to include these fragmented states”, pleads Sumudu Atapattu.

This is the idea behind the “Rising Nations” initiative launched in September by several Pacific governments: “Convince the members of the United Nations to recognize our nation, even if we are submerged in water, because it is our identity”Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Kousia Natano told AFP.

Nation State 2.0

Some are already wondering how to use these Nation States 2.0. “You can have territory somewhere, population can be somewhere else, and government can be third,” Kamal Amarane, director of the Center for Climate Mobility at Columbia University, told AFP.

For this it will be required first of all a “political statement” United Nations, then one”Treaty” Between a threatened state and a “host state”, a sort of permanent embassy and its population is ready to welcome the government in exile, which would then have dual nationality.

Former UN officials also draw attention to the ambiguity in the Montevideo Convention: “When we talk about the region, is it the mainland or the sea area?

“mature person”

With 33 islands spread over 3.5 million km2 in the Pacific, Kiribati, small in terms of land area, is one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in the world. If this maritime sovereignty was preserved, a state would not disappear, assures some experts.

While some islands are already submerged and shorelines are receding, freezing the EEZ would be the first to secure access to critical resources.

In an August 2021 statement, members of the Pacific Islands Forum, including Australia and New Zealand, coincidentally “announced“that their maritime “will continue to apply without reduction, notwithstanding any material changes related to sea level rise”.

But, in any case, some do not consider leaving their threatened country. ,Humans are resourceful, they will find floating ways to live there.” Referring to floating cities, says Mohamed Nasheed.

But these states do not have the resources for such projects. money issue for “Loss and Loss” The effects of global warming will be a hot topic at COP27 in Egypt in November.

even the defenseright to live“And not to forsake your land and”Her Legacy”, “You Always Need a Plan B”, Kamal Amarane insists. Keeping this in mind, he called for the launch ofas soon as possible” a process “Politics“To preserve the uninhabited states of the future, to give hope to people“. Because the current uncertainty “Produces bitterness and confusion, and with that, we kill one nation, one people”,