Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. Introduction Michael B. Gerrard and Gregory E. Wannier; 2. Sea level rise in a changing climate Mary-Elena Carr, Madeleine Rubenstein, Alice Graff and Diego Villareal; Part II. Sovereignty and Territorial Concerns: 3. When do states disappear? Thresholds of effective statehood and the continued recognition of 'deterritorialized' island states Jenny Grote Stoutenburg; 4. The nation ex-situ Maxine Burkett; 5. Introducing the law of the sea and the legal implications of rising sea levels Ann Powers; 6. Options to secure maritime jurisdictional claims in the face of global sea level rise Clive Schofield and David Freestone; 7. Sea level rise and maritime zones: preserving the maritime entitlements of 'disappearing' states Rosemary Rayfuse; Part III. Resettlement Protections and Proposed Solutions: 8. Human rights and climate change: reflections on international legal issues and potential policy relevance Siobhan McInerney-Lankford; 9. Refugee and human rights protections for climate migrants in the international system Michele Klein Solomon and Koko Warner; 10. 'In the face of looming catastrophe': a treaty for climate change displaced persons and its discontents David Hodgkinson and Lucy Young; 11. The national immigration policy options: limits and potential Katrina Wyman; 12. Domestic law for resettlement of persons displaced by climate change Leslie Stein; Part IV. Establishing Accountability: 13. Could a small island successfully sue a big emitter? Pursuing a legal theory and a venue for climate justice Jacob Werksman; 14. Making good the loss: an assessment of the loss and damage mechanism under the UNFCCC process Ilona Millar, Catherine Gascoigne and Elizabeth Caldwell; 15. Ocean acidification: international legal avenues under the UN convention on the law of the sea Dean Bialek; 16. Securing planetary life sources for future generations: legal actions deriving from the ancient sovereign trust obligation Mary Christina Wood, Stephen Leonard, Nicola Peart and Daniel Bart; 17. Transboundary climate challenge to coal: one small step against dirty energy, one giant leap for climate justice Maketo Robert, Leonito Bacalando, Jasper Teulings, Kristin Casper, Jan Šrytr and Kristina Šabová.

Promotional Information

This book addresses legal issues of rising seas endangering the habitability and existence of island nations in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

About the Author

Michael B. Gerrard is Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Law School, where he teaches courses on environmental and energy law and directs the Center for Climate Change Law. He is also Associate Chair of the Faculty of Columbia's Earth Institute. Before joining the Columbia faculty in January 2009, he was partner in charge of the New York office of Arnold and Porter LLP, where he continues as Senior Counsel. He is author or editor of ten prior books, two of which were named Best Law Book of the Year by the Association of American Publishers: Environmental Law Practice Guide (twelve volumes, 1992) and Brownfields Law and Practice: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Land (four volumes, 1998). His other most recent books are The Law of Green Buildings (with Cullen Howe, 2010), The Law of Clean Energy: Efficiency and Renewables (2011) and The Law of Adaptation to Climate Change: US and International Aspects (with Katrina F. Kuh, 2012). Greg Wannier is a judicial clerk for the Hon. S. James Otero on the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He largely edited this book while serving as Deputy Director of the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. His research has included analyses of EPA regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and associated litigation, legal mechanisms for adapting to the effects of global climate change, implications of electricity grid reliability protections for energy resource development, the viability of market solutions to climate change, and national and international trade protections, both environmental and security motivated. Greg received his JD from Stanford Law School, where he served as President of the Environmental Law Society and Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Journal of Law, Science and Policy.

Reviews

'Threatened Island Nations highlights current legal authorities and then explains how they can be used. It aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the legal issues involved and of the legal options for the future, which can guide legal and political activities.' Janet Lewis Reinke, Law Library Journal

'… the volume is timely and highly relevant, and reaches its stated goal of providing 'a comprehensive summary of the legal issues at play and of legal options for the future, which can then guide constructive legal and political activities … As a legal book, it addresses primarily legal scholars, yet the contributions are of interest to a much wider audience, scientists and practitioners alike.' The Round Table

'This collection provides a unique contribution to a field increasingly crowded with political theorists, geographers, and migration scholars, offering a refreshing legal counterpoint to a debate that is becoming increasingly polarized between sweeping claims of global justice and pragmatic accounts of 'migration as adaptation'.' Susannah Wilcox, Global Law Books (www.globallawbooks.org/home.asp)