Falepili Union Treaty: A Concrete Solution Initiative Relating to Climate Change and Sea Level Rise

Abstract

One of the most prominent problems of climate change would be the sinking of island States due to the phenomenon of sea level rise. According to the scientists most of the low-lying island States located in the Pacific and even in the Indian Ocean would disappear in the foreseeable future. If this happens, many problems will likely to emerge in social, economic, political and legal fields. Hence, legal problems that would appear could be classified in two main categories. The first category should deal with maritime boundaries of these States. Second category should rise questions on the future of the legal status of their statehood and future fate of the people that reside in the territories of the States concerned. Thus, many discussions have taken place in various planes. Finally, a treaty between Australia and Tuvalu have been concluded; the former, being one of the most important States contributed to the climate change itself, and the latter, being one of the most probable States that would be affected by this phenomenon. In this respect, the main purpose of this article is to analyse the said treaty in legal context. So as to achieve, the arrangement of the titles is presented as such: Probable effects of sea level rise due to the climate change and Tuvalu; Proposals regarding the territorial aspects of the sea level rise problem; Analysis of the provisions and its contents of the said Treaty.

Keywords

• Sea Level Rise
• Tuvalu
• Sovereignty
• Uti Possidetis Principle
• Falepili Union Treaty

Falepili Birliği Antlaşması: İklim Değişikliği ve Deniz Seviyesi Artışına Dâir Somut Bir Çözüm Girişimi

Abstract

İklim değişikliğinin en önde gelen sorunlarından biri, deniz seviyesindeki artışa bağlı olarak ada devletlerinin batması olmaktadır. Bilim insanlarına göre, Pasifik hatta Hint Okyanuslarında konumlanan alçak seviyedeki ada devletleri görülebilir bir gelecekte yok olacaktır. Eğer bu gerçekleşirse, sosyal, iktisadi, siyasi ve hukuki alanlarda birçok sorunun ortaya çıkması muhtemeldir. Böylelikle, hukuki sorunlar iki ana kategoride ele alınabilir. İlk kategori bu devletlerin deniz sınırlarıyla ilgilidir. İkinci kategori ise, bu devletlerin gelecekteki hukuki statüleri ve ilgili devletlerin halklarının gelecekteki kaderine ilişkin soruları gündeme taşımalıdır. Böylelikle, çeşitli düzeylerde tartışmalar yapılagelmiştir. Nihayetinde Avustralya ve Tuvalu arasında bir antlaşma bağıtlanmıştır ki; ilki iklim değişikliğine katkısı bulunan en önemli devletlerden biriyken, ikincisi bu fenomenden en fazla etkilenme olasılığı olan devletlerden biridir. Bu çerçevede, bu makalenin temel amacı bu antlaşmanın hukuki bağlamda analizi olmaktadır. Bunun yapılması için bölümler şu şekilde düzenlenmiştir: İklim değişikliği çerçevesinde deniz seviyesinin artışının muhtemel etkileri ve Tuvalu; Deniz seviyesi artışına dair ülkesellik açısından getirilen çözüm önerileri; Antlaşma hükümlerinin ve içeriklerinin değerlendirilmesi.

Keywords

• Falepili Birlik Anlaşması
• Deniz Seviyesi Artışı
• Tuvalu
• Egemenlik
• Uti Possidetis İlkesi

References

1. 1933 tarihli Devletlerin Haklarına ve Ödevlerine Dâir Montevideo Sözleşmesi
2. 1961 tarihli Diplomatik İlişkilere Dâir Viyana Sözleşmesi
3. 1963 tarihli Afrika Birliği Örgütünün Kahire Bildirisi
4. 1982 tarihli Birleşmiş Milletler Deniz Hukuku Sözleşmesi
5. 1984 tarihli Rarotonga Antlaşması
6. 2023 tarihli Beyaz Saray Bilgilendirme Notu
7. 2023 tarihli Devlet Devamlılığı ve İklim Değişikliğiyle İlgili Deniz Seviyesi Artışı Karşısında Şahısların Korunmasına Dâir Bildirge
8. 2023 tarihli Avustralya-Tuvalu Arasında Falepili Birliğine Dâir Antlaşma

9. Antonopoulos C, ‘The Principle of Uti Possidetis Iuris in Contemporary International Law’ (1996) 49 Revue hellénique de droit international 29-88
10. Barnett Jon, ‘Titanic States? Impacts and Responses to Climate Change in the Pacific Islands’ (2005) 59 (1) Journal of International Affairs 203-219
11. Barnett J and Adger WN, ‘Climate Dangers and Atoll Countries’ (2003) 61 (3) Climate Change 321-337
12. Bilková V, ‘A State without a Territory?’ (2016) 47 Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 19-47
13. Bird E and Prescott JRV, ‘Rising Global Sea Level and National Maritime Claims’ (1989) 1 Marine Policy Reports 177-196
14. Blanchard C, ‘Evolution or Revolution? Evaluating the Territorial State Based Regime of International Law in the Context of the Physical Disappearance of Territory Due to Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise’ (2015) 53 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 66-118
15. Boer B, ‘Environmental Law and the South Pacific Law: Law of the Sea Issues’ in James Crawford and Donald R Rothwell (eds) (1st edn, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1995) 67-92
16. Camprubí AT, Statehood under Water: Challenges of Sea-Level Rise to the Continuity of Pacific Island States (1st edn, Brill 2016)
17. Carew-Reid J, Environment, Aid and Regionalism in the South Pacific (1st edn, National Centre for Development Studies 1989)
18. Caron DD, ‘When Law Makes Climate Change Worse: Rethinking the Law of Baselines in Light of a Rising Sea Level’ (1990) 17 (4) Ecology Law Quarterly 621-653
19. Caron DD, ‘Climate Change, Sea Level Rise and the Coming Uncertainty in Oceanic Boundaries: A Proposal to Avoid Conflict’ in Seoung-Yong Hong and Jon M Van Dyke (eds), Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes and the Law of the Sea (1st edn, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 2009) 1-17
20. Churchill RR, Lowe AV and Sander A, The Law of the Sea (4th edn, Manchester University Press 2022)
21. Connell J and Roy P, ‘The Greenhouse Effect: The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Low Coral Islands in the South Pacific’ in JC Pernetta and PJ Hughes (eds), Implications of Expected Climate Changes in the South Pacific Region: An Overview (1st edn, UNEP Regional Seas Reports & Studies no: 128 1990)
22. Costi A and Ross NJ, ‘The Ongoing Legal Status of Low-Lying States in the Climate-Changed Future’ in Petra Butler and Caroline Morris (eds), Small States in a Legal World (1st edn, Springer 2017) 101-138
23. Çamyamaç A, Denize Kıyısı Olmayan ve Coğrafî Açıdan Elverişsiz Devletlerin Hukukî Durumu (1st edn, Adalet 2012)
24. Çamyamaç A, ‘Yapay Adalar ve Uluslararası Deniz Hukuku’ (2017) 82 (1) İzmir Barosu Dergisi 79-175
25. Çamyamaç A, ‘Yapay Adalar Üzerine Hayaller: Açık Denizlerde Yeni Devlet Projeleri’ (2018) 2018 (I) Galatasaray Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi 171-220
26. Çamyamaç A, ‘Avrupa’daki Minyatür Devletlerin İkili Diplomatik İlişkilerine Dair Uluslararası Hukuk Açısından Pragmatik Bir Değerlendirme’ (2019) 2019 (2) Galatasaray Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi 59-162
27. Çamyamaç A, ‘Malta Askerî Egemen Düzeni’nin Diplomatik İlişkilerine Dair Genel Bir Değerlendirme’ (2020) 10 (1) Hacettepe Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi 310-353
28. Çamyamaç A, ‘Uluslararası Hukukta Deniz Sınırlandırmalarına İlişkin Genel Bir Analiz’ in Anıl Çamyamaç (ed), Ulusal ve Uluslararası Hukukta Sınırlar (1st edn, Adalet 2023) 205-292
29. Dalrymple FR, ‘South Pacific Forum: The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty—An Introduction’ (1985) 24 (5) International Legal Materials 1440-1441
30. Duong TTV, ‘When Islands Drown: The Plight of ‘Climate Change Refugees’ and Recourse to International Human Rights Law’ (2010) 31 (4) University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 1239-1268
31. Farbatko C, ‘Wishful Sinking: Disappearing Islands, Climate Refugees and Cosmopolitan Experimentation’ (2010) 51 (1) Asia Pacific Viewpoint 47-60
32. Farbatko C and Lazarus H, ‘The First Climate Refugees? Contesting Global Narratives of Climate Change in Tuvalu’ (2012) 22 (2) Global Environmental Change 382-390
33. Freestone D and Pethick J, ‘Sea Level Rise and Maritime Boundaries: International Implications of Impacts and Response’ in Gerald H Blake (ed), Maritime Boundaries (1st edn, Routledge 1994) 73-90
34. GAGAIN M, ‘Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Artificial Islands: Saving Maldives’ Statehood and Maritime Claims through ‘Constitution of the Oceans’’ (2012) 23 (1) Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law & Policy 77-120
35. Gerrard MB, ‘Statehood and Sea-Level Rise: Scenarios and Options’ (2023) 17 Charleston Law Review 579-601
36. Hayashi M, ‘Sea Level Rise and the Law of the Sea: Legal and Policy Options’ in Hiroshi Terashima (ed), Proceedings of International Symposium on Islands and Oceans (1st edn, Ocean Policy Research Foundation 2009) 78-90
37. Jain AG, ‘The 21st Century Atlantis: The International Law of Statehood and Climate Change-Induced Loss of Territory’ (2014) 50 (1) Stanford Journal of International Law 1-52
38. Jesus JL, ‘Rocks, New-Born Islands, Sea Level Rise and Maritime Space’ in Jöchen A Frowein, Klaus Scharioth, Ingo Winkelmann and Rudiger Wolfrum (eds), Verhandeln für den Frieden/Negotiating for Peace: Liber Amicorum Tono Eitel (1st edn, Springer 2003) 579-603
39. Kaynakçıoğlu U, Uluslararası Hukukta İklim Değişikliğinin Denizler Üzerindeki Etkileri (1st edn, Filiz Kitabevi, 2023)
40. Khadem A, ‘Protecting Maritime Zones from the Effects of Sea Level Rise’ (1998) 6 (3) IBRU Boundary & Security Bulletin 76-78
41. Klein N, ‘Land and Sea: Resolving Contested Land and Disappearing Land Disputes under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea’ in Chiara Giorgetti and Natalie Klein (eds), Resolving Conflicts in the Law: Essays in Honour of Lea Brilmayer (1st edn, Brill 2019) 249-296
42. Lalonde S, ‘The Role of Uti Possidetis Principle in the Resolution of Maritime Boundary Disputes’ in Christine Chinkin and Freya Baetens (eds), Sovereignty, Statehood and State Responsibility: Essays in Honour of James Crawford (1st edn, Cambridge University Press 2015) 248-272
43. Lusthaus J, ‘Shifting Sands: Sea Level Rise, Maritime Boundaries and Inter-State Conflict’ (2010) 30 (2) Politics 113-118
44. Marek K, Identity and Continuity of States in Public International Law (1st edn, Librairie Droz 1968)
45. Nesi G, ‘Uti Possidetis Doctrine’ in Rudiger Wolfrum (ed), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (on-line edn, January 2011) via <[www.mpepil.com](http://www.mpepil.com)> (erişim tarihi: 02/03/11)
46. Papadimitropoulos P, ‘The Rarotonga Treaty: A Regional Approach to Non-Proliferation in the South Pacific’ (1988) 30 (1) IAEA Bulletin 29-31
47. Rayfuse R, ‘W(h)ither Tuvalu? Ocean Governance and Disappearing States?’ in Hiroshi Terashima (ed), Proceedings of International Symposium on Islands and Oceans (1st edn, Ocean Policy Research Foundation 2009) 91-103
48. Rayfuse R, ‘Sea Level Rise and Maritime Zones: Preserving the Maritime Entitlements of ‘Disappearing’ States’ in Michael B Gerrard and Gregory E Wannier (eds) Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate (1st edn, Cambridge University Press 2013) 167-191
49. Riphagen W, ‘Some Reflections on ‘Functional Sovereignty’’ (1975) 6 Netherlands Yearbook of International Law 121-165
50. Rodgers-Miller L and Bardach JE, ‘In Face of a Rising Sea’ (1988) 7 Ocean Yearbook 177-190
51. Rothwell DR and Stephens T, The International Law of the Sea (2nd edn, Hart Publishing 2016)
52. Safi S, Mülteci Hukuku (1st edn, Legal 2017)
53. Samancı U, ‘Deniz Seviyesinin Yükselmesinin Uluslararası Hukuka Olası Etkileri’ in Melda Sur and Esra Katıman (eds), III. Uluslararası Deniz Hukuku Konferansı/The 3rd Conference of the Faculty of Law on the International Law of the Sea (1st edn, Onikilevha 2021) 303-352
54. Schofield C, ‘Shifting Limits? Sea Level Rise and Options to Secure Maritime Jurisdictional Claims’ (2009) 3 (4) Carbon & Climate Law Review 405-416
55. Sefrioui S, ‘Adapting to Sea Level Rise: A Law of the Sea Perspective’ in Gemma Andreone (ed), The Future of the Law of the Sea: Bridging Gaps between National, Individual and Common Interests (1st edn, Springer 2017) 3-22
56. Sharma SP, Territorial Acquisition, Disputes and International Law (1st edn, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1997)
57. Sharon O, ‘To Be or not to Be: State Extinction through Climate Change’ (2021) 51 (4) Environmental Law 1041-1083
58. Shaw MN, ‘The Heritage of States: The Principle of Uti Possidetis Juris Today’ (1996) 67 British Yearbook of International Law 75-154
59. Soons AHA, ‘The Effects of a Rising Sea Level on Maritime Limits and Boundaries’ (1990) 37 (2) Netherlands International Law Review 207-232
60. Sur M, Uluslararası Hukukun Esasları (16th edn, Beta 2022)
61. Storr C, International Status in the Shadow Empire: Nauru and the Histories of International Law (1st edn, Cambridge University Press 2020)
62. Stoutenburg JG, Disappearing Island States in International Law (1st edn, Brill Nijhoff 2015)
63. Tanaka Y, The International Law of the Sea (3rd edn, Cambridge University Press 2019)
64. Tirpch K, ‘Governments in Exile’ in Rudiger Wolfrum (ed), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (on-line edn, April 2011) via [https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e1049](https://opil.ouplaw.com/display/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e1049) (erişim tarihi: 01/07/17)
65. Torres Bernárdez S, ‘The ‘Uti Possidetis Juris Principle’ in Historical Perspective’ in Konrad Ginther, Gerhard Hafner, Winfried Lang, Hanspeter Neuhold and Lilly Sucharipa-Behrmann (eds), Völkerrecht zwischen normativem Anspruch und politischen Realität: Festschrift für Karl Zemanek zum 65. Geburtstag (1st edn, Duncker & Humblot 1994) 417-437
66. Verzijl JWH, International Law in Historical Perspective: State Territory vol III (1st edn, AW Sijthoff 1970)
67. Yamagata T, ‘Scientific Aspects of Sea Level Rise in Central Tropical Pacific’ in Hiroshi Terashima (ed), Proceedings of International Symposium on Islands and Oceans (1st edn, Ocean Policy Research Foundation 2009) 48-54
68. Guilfoyle D and Green A, ‘The Australia-Tuvalu Falepini Union Treaty: Security in the Face of Climate Change … and China?’ (EJIL Talk, November 28 2023) via [http://ejiltalk.org/the-australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty-security-in-the-face-of-climate-change-and-china/](http://ejiltalk.org/the-australia-tuvalu-falepili-union-treaty-security-in-the-face-of-climate-change-and-china/) (erişim tarihi: 28/11/23)
69. Miller N, ‘A New Island of Hope Rising from the Indian Ocean’ (BBC/The World of Tomorrow Series, September 11 2020) via <[www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200909-a-new-island-of-hope-rising-from-the-indian-ocean](http://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200909-a-new-island-of-hope-rising-from-the-indian-ocean)> (erişim tarihi: 01/12/23)
70. Ratuva S, ‘Good Faith Lacking in Australia-Tuvalu Agreement’ (Island Times, November 21 2023) via [https://islandtimes.org/good-faith-lacking-in-australia-tuvalu-agreement/](https://islandtimes.org/good-faith-lacking-in-australia-tuvalu-agreement/) (erişim tarihi: 28/11/23)
71. Rothwell DR, ‘A Pacific Union: Australia-Tuvalu Deal Goes Well beyond Climate’ (The Interpreter, November 14 2023) via [https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/pacific-union-australia-tuvalu-deal-goes-well-beyond-climate](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/pacific-union-australia-tuvalu-deal-goes-well-beyond-climate) (erişim tarihi: 28/11/23)
72. ‘Tuvalu Residency and Security Treaty: What Is It and Why Is Australia Doing It?’ (The Guardian, November 10 2023) via [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/10/tuvalu-residency-and-security-treaty-what-is-it-and-why](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/10/tuvalu-residency-and-security-treaty-what-is-it-and-why) (erişim tarihi: 28/11/23)