Geographical Change and the Law of the Sea
This book examines the implications of geographical change for maritime jurisdiction under the law of the sea. In a multistranded intervention, it analyses and critiques both the explicit and implicit reasoning underpinning the familiar claim that maritime limits are, as a general rule, ambulatory—shifting with changes to the coast. The book examines and challenges related and analogous arguments regarding the implications of geographical change for maritime boundaries. It attempts to clarify the principles and presumptions bearing upon an assessment of the fluidity of boundaries generally. Finally, it considers and contests claims that entitlement to maritime space will be lost if the features generating such entitlement are submerged by rising seas. This analysis is extended in a comment on the implications of a loss of habitable land and large-scale population displacement for continuing territorial sovereignty and statehood. The in-depth analysis of the existing law in this book offers new answers to the question of the implications of geographical change for entitlement to maritime space, maritime limits, and international maritime boundaries. It also helps to clarify the circumstances in which either or both territorial sovereignty and statehood may be lost, explaining why the impacts of climate change upon land and population will not automatically have this result—even if the affected State is no longer ‘effective’ as a State or territorial sovereign. The book includes an analysis of the principle of intertemporal law that suggests a useful framework for considering questions of stability and change in international law more broadly.