This open access book explores the human rights implications of sea level rise. The recent data confirms that the global average sea level will continue to rise and to make coastal zones less habitable or uninhabitable. Furthermore, these changes are increasing human mobility at the domestic and international level. Against these challenges, the book explores how international law is changing in light of common concerns. For the first time, it offers a reflection on the application of the innovative human rights-justification theory (as being developed in the ongoing Horizon Europe Human Rights Justification project) in this field by exploring the States use of justifications in interpreting their protective duties and in adopting climate measures. The book is structured around three thematic sessions: I ) Sea Level Rise, Stability and Security; II) Sea Level Rise and the Rights of Affected Population; III) Sea Level Rise: New Developments at International Level.
Chapter
1. Sea Level Rise: Implications for Human Rights An Introduction
(Elisa Fornalé).- Part I: Sea Level Rise, Stability and Security.
Chapter
2.
Sea Level Rise: Scientific Evidence, Socio-Economic Realities, and Adaptation
Challenges for Coastal Communities (Vilane Gonēalves Sales).
Chapter
3. The
International Law Commissions Study Group on Sea-level Rise and
International Law and Its Impact on International Law (Massimo Starita).-
Chapter
4. The Role of the Security Council to Address and to Provide
Responses to Peace and Security Risks Resulting from Sea-level Rise (Giuseppe
Nesi and Elisa Fornalé).- Part II: Sea Level Rise and the Rights of Affected
Population.
Chapter 5. Sea Level Rise and Human Rights (Veronika
Bķlkovį).
Chapter
6. Sea Level Rise as a Form of Gendered Climate Violence:
International Legal Implications for Migration (Sara De Vido).
Chapter
7.
Rethinking Sustainable Migration for the Anthropocene (Samuel Ballin and
Prof. Sandra Mantu).
Chapter
8. Human Rights and Justifications in Climate
Litigation: A First Attempt at Conceptualization (Federica Cristani and
Elisa Fornalé).- Part III: Sea Level Rise: New Developments at International
Level.
Chapter
9. Sovereignty, State Cooperation and Sea Level Rise (Tamas
Adany).
Chapter
10. The Advisory Opinion of the International Tribunal for
the Law of the Sea (Curtis Doebbler).
Chapter
11. Assessing Innovative
Sources for the Loss and Damage Mechanism: The Role and Prospective
Regulation of Climate-Friendly Foreign Investment (Cristani Federica).
Elisa Fornalé is one of the first international lawyers, to establish and continue to lead innovative research at the intersection of human migration and climate change. She has a proven record in securing significant research funding in this field, as demonstrated by the award of her SNSF project Framing Environmental Degradation, Human Mobility and Human Development as a Matter of Common Concern (CLI_M_CO2) in 2017; a number of influential publications which were among the first works on the topic, as well as the organization of community-building workshops and international conferences. Elisa's leadership positions are reflected in her appointment as co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on International Law and Sea Level Rise. She is currently the Work Package Leader for Climate of the Horizon Europe Human Rights Justification project (States Practice of Human Rights Justification: A Study in Civil Society Engagement and Human Rights through the Lens of Gender and Intersectionality, 2023-2026).
