Minister of State for International Development (): My Honourable Friend the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Indo-Pacific () has today
made the following statement:
In recent years, many small island developing states (SIDS) have
continued to voice concerns about the issues they will have to
deal with as a result of the encroaching sea. These issues are
particularly acute and urgent for those islands only a few metres
above current sea levels.
The UK has for many years worked in partnership with those island
states to address the impacts of climate change and rising sea
levels, and we will continue to do so. It is also right for the
UK to address the concerns of SIDS about the implications for
their statehood of potential future rising sea levels.
It has been the long-held position of the UK under successive
governments that the normal criteria applied for recognition of
statehood are that the entity should have, and seem likely to
continue to have, a clearly defined territory with a permanent
population under effective control of the Government, and
independence in external relations. The UK has, however, accepted
that other factors may also be relevant.
In this respect, His Majesty's Government acknowledges the real
and present challenge that rising sea levels induced by climate
change pose for states. As sea-levels rise, coastlines are likely
to regress, and territory may become completely inundated and
lost. Such scenarios should not automatically call into question
the statehood of those island states already recognised by the
UK, nor should the disappearance of one of the normal criteria
for statehood necessarily require us to withdraw recognition.
I can confirm that in such scenarios the starting point for His
Majesty's Government is to continue to recognise a state,
notwithstanding the loss of some or all of its land territory to
rising sea levels. Due regard would then need to be given to the
prevailing circumstances in each case, which would include among
other considerations the other criteria of statehood set out
above, and the wishes of the people of that state.
These would, in modern times, be situations without precedent,
and if they arise, the international community should approach
them with due care and sensitivity.
