Sea Level Change and Maritime Boundaries

Climate change is modifying, in varying measure, the coastal geography of States. The phenomenon is not temporary but is expected to carry on during the 21st century and beyond. A distinctive feature of modern international law is the concept of maritime zones. Each maritime area is subject to an intricate scheme of States’ rights and obligations. Coastal geography is a fundamental component of a long-standing method, developed and agreed upon between States, to establish the outward limits of these areas. A feature of this method is the baseline. In international law it is the only reference line from where the outward limits of maritime zones are measured. There are clear rules on how this is established along a coast. There is a concern amongst a number of States that rising sea water levels as a result of climate change may compel them to shift their baselines inward thus affecting the outward limits of their maritime zones. It is clear that the stability of maritime boundaries is put into question and this may bring about serious political, legal and economic repercussions. This concern may also affect the outcome of dispute settlement procedures before a competent international court or tribunal the purpose of which is to resolve overlapping maritime claims. Key questions emerge. What is the role played by coastal geography in the legal regime determining the outward limits of maritime zones? What are the consequences of changes to coastal geography? To what extent are dispute settlement procedures before a Court or Tribunal immune from this concern? Is international law able to address this? If so, in what way and what are its limits? What can be done to resolve this?

Acknowledgements * Table of Cases * Table of Treaties and Legal Instruments * List of Abbreviations * List of Illustrations * Introduction * Chapter 1: The Concern * 1.1 Sea Level Rise and the Impact of a Changing Baseline * 1.2 Conclusion * Chapter 2: The Baseline * 2.1 The Normal Baseline * 2.2 Atolls and Reefs * 2.3 Straight Baselines * 2.4 Coastlines: Deeply Indented, Cut into or the Presence of a Fringe of Islands * 2.5 Mouths of Rivers * 2.6 Bays * 2.7 Particular Coastal Circumstances * 2.7.1 Historic Bays * 2.7.2 Highly Unstable Coastlines * 2.8 Low-Tide Elevations * 2.9 Archipelagic States * 2.9.1 Straight Archipelagic Baselines * 2.10 Base Points Along Ice Formations * 2.11 Conclusion * Chapter 3: Islands * 3.1 The Constitutive Elements of an Island * 3.2 Rocks in the Regime of Islands * 3.3 The Requirements of Human Habitation or Economic Life of their Own * 3.4 Submerging Islands * 3.5 "New" and "Uncovered" Islands * 3.6 Conclusion * Chapter 4: The Judicial Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries * 4.1 The Applicable Law Governing the Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries * 4.2 Land - the Source of a State’s Rights over Adjacent Waters * 4.3 Delimitation of Overlapping Maritime Zones * 4.3.1 Base Points * 4.4 Delimitation of the Territorial Sea * 4.4.1 Historic Title or Special Circumstances * 4.4.2 The Median Line * 4.5 Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf * 4.5.1 The Delimitation Methodologies and Coastal Geography * 4.5.2 The Equidistance/Relevant Circumstances Method * 4.5.3 Relevant Circumstances * 4.5.4 The Disproportionality Test * 4.6 The Angle-Bisector Method * 4.7 Coastal Instability * 4.8 Conclusion * Chapter 5: Stability and Clarity * 5.1 Maritime Boundaries established by a Judicial Decision or an Agreement * 5.2 Unilaterally Declared Maritime Boundaries * 5.2.1 State Practice * 5.2.2 Maritime Limits (1): Historic Title or Historic Rights * 5.2.3 Maritime Limits (2): Permanence * 5.4 Sea Level Rise and Maritime Delimitation by Judicial Institutions * 5.5 Monitoring the Stability of Baselines and Base Points * 5.6 Conclusion * Concluding Remarks * Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… * INTERNATIONAL LAW COMMISSION DOCUMENTS * INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION REPORTS * BOOKS * PAPERS IN JOURNALS * REPORTS * THESES/RESEARCH PAPERS * NEWSPAPER ARTICLES * SPEECHES * WEBSITES * OTHER *

Antoine Grima is a lecturer at the University of Malta and member of the International Law Association Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise.