In the light of the ILC’s impending report on the topic, the UK Government should commit to working with like-minded states to explore ways of (i) formally recognising the continuity of Small Island Developing States’ legal statehood, should all their The UK Small Island Developing States Strategy 43 inhabitable land disappear due to sea-level rise and (ii) recognising countries’ legal maritime zone boundaries as fixed, even if their coastlines retreat due to sea level rise. (Paragraph 49) Ca...

In the light of the ILC’s impending report on the topic, the UK Government should commit to working with like-minded states to explore ways of (i) formally recognising the continuity of Small Island Developing States’ legal statehood, should all their The UK Small Island Developing States Strategy 43 inhabitable land disappear due to sea-level rise and (ii) recognising countries’ legal maritime zone boundaries as fixed, even if their coastlines retreat due to sea level rise. (Paragraph 49) Capacity building Type: conclusion | Number: 16 | Response status: partially_accepted Government response: Partly Agree 19. The UK recognises that sea level rise is matter of critical concern for many SIDS. The UK has changed its position to accept that baselines under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – and hence the maritime zones measured from them - may remain fixed in law. The UK supp