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Relevance: GS-I (Geography) | GS-II (IR) | Source: The Hindu
The News: The UN General Assembly recently passed a landmark declaration on sea-level rise. As oceans rise drastically, the UN has set new rules to protect vulnerable island nations, ensuring they don’t legally disappear even if their physical land sinks underwater.
1. Rewriting International Law
If an entire country sinks, does it still exist? The UN has officially answered “yes.”
- Statehood Survives: Traditionally, a country needs physical land to exist. The UN now agrees that sinking nations (like Tuvalu or Fiji) will keep their sovereign statehood and UN seats even if their territory disappears.
- Countries get massive economic rights: like fishing, oil etc, based on their coastlines. The UN ruled these maritime borders are permanently fixed. If a coast shrinks inland, the country won’t lose its ocean territory.
- Citizenship: Displaced people will not become “stateless” refugees. They will legally keep their original nationality and rights.
2. The Practical Hurdle
- The Funding Gap: While the legal rules are set, survival is expensive. Developing nations need over $300 billion every year to build sea walls or relocate citizens, but currently receive less than a tenth of that from the global community.
Practice MCQ
Q. Consider the following statements regarding international law and climate diplomacy:
- Under the recent UN Declaration, a country automatically loses its UN membership if its physical territory is completely submerged by rising seas.
- India launched the IRIS initiative to help Small Island Developing States (SIDS) build climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (b) 2 only
Hint: Statement 1 is entirely incorrect; the landmark UN Declaration explicitly protects the statehood and UN membership of island nations even if they lose their physical territory. Statement 2 is correct and represents India’s active climate diplomacy.
Hint: Statement 1 is entirely incorrect; the landmark UN Declaration explicitly protects the statehood and UN membership of island nations even if they lose their physical territory. Statement 2 is correct and represents India’s active climate diplomacy.
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