Sea level rise and its international law implications for legal certainty, stability and human rights

There is hardly any contemporary topic like sea level rise and the protection of affected populations where the intersection between natural sciences and social sciences is so prominent. From the local to the global level, we all face the challenge of understanding, analyzing and critiquing environmental changes, not only with the aid of scientific methods, but also by relying on our accumulated knowledge of law and politics. This is a complex scenario where the intersection between natural sciences and social sciences is marked. The topic is part of the Switzerland’s thematic priorities on the UN Security Council (2023/2024) by addressing the impacts of sea level rise as an important issue to preserve peace and security.

Prof. Elisa Fornalé (World Trade Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland), as Co-rapporteur of the ILA Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise, together with Prof. Davor Vidas (Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI), Norway), Chair of the ILA Committee, organizes the Conference:

Sea level rise and its international law implications for legal certainty, stability and human rights

The conference involves a unique team of leading experts directly involved in several ongoing scholarly, scientific and decision-making processes.These draw on the work and results of two key international bodies with long-term mandates: the Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise of the International Law Association (ILA), and the Study Group on sea-level rise in relation to international law of the UN International Law Commission (ILC).

Participants include initiators and several key members of these bodies. The overall objective of our conference is to explore the role of international law in the context of climate change-induced sea level rise. With this focus, the conference will illustrate emerging challenges that will cause fundamental questions for international law, including for the protection of the affected populations in the coming decades. Core legal and political issues are likely to emerge as a consequence of not only Earth System changes such as sea level rise, but also their combination with the inherently territorial (static) basis of the present international law architecture. This will require adjustments through interpretation and development of international law, to enable adequate regulation of increasingly mobile (dynamic) aspects such as human mobility under rapidly changing conditions.

Programme and agenda.
To attend on site, please register here.
To attend remotely, online via Zoom, please register here.

The conference is related to the activities of the International Law Association's (ILA) Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise. The Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise (ILA Committee) was established by ILA in 2012 with a two-part mandate: (1) to study the possible impacts of sea level rise under international law, in particular for small island and low-lying states; and (2) to develop proposals for the progressive development of international law in relation to the possible loss of (parts of) state territory and maritime zones due to sea level rise, including the impacts on statehood, nationality, and human rights. The Committee at the outset defined three main issue-areas of international law it intended to focus on in relation to sea level rise: (1) law of the sea; (2) forced migration and human rights; and (3) statehood.