Statelessness and Environmental-Induced Displacement: Future Scenarios of Deterritorialisation, Rescue and Recovery Examined

摘要

This article examines the prospect of environmental displacement and the creation of stateless populations in the context of low lying islands in Melanesia (Carteret Islands and Vanuatu), Micronesia (Kiribati) and Polynesia (Tuvalu), and the Maldives. It reviews the literature on environmental displacement and statelessness before evaluating pre-emptive attempts at 'national rescue'. This article concludes with a reconsideration of the ideas of deterritorialisation and 'national moorings' in light of the obligations on receiving states to respect the human rights of stateless people.