Digital States: Digitalization in the Midst of Sea Level Rise

Abstract

The Montevideo Convention provides that a state should possess a defined territory to be a person of international law. The United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea also provides that the sovereignty of a coastal state extends, beyond its land territory and internal waters and, in the case of an archipelagic state, its archipelagic waters, to an adjacent belt of sea. Baselines play a pivotal role in the Convention, as they are itself the basis of a state's maritime zones of jurisdiction. Territory is an area over which a state has effective control. Control over territory is of the essence of a state. Territory includes land, maritime areas, airspace, and outer space. In 2100, several cities and countries will be submerged due to sea level rise caused by climate change. This imperils the state's livelihoods, the well-being of its people, and undermines the full realization of a sustainable future for them. More importantly, these countries' status in international law remains unanswered. How will the existing treaties treat these submerged states are they still considered "states"? To what extent can these states exercise their maritime jurisdiction and sovereignty if the coast, where the baselines are drawn, disappears? These questions are relevant in determining whether the state loses its statehood due to the loss of physical territory and whether the state is still entitled to continue its control over the maritime areas. The physical disappearance of all the land territory of a state is unprecedented and the relevant gap in international law is evident. In this study, the proponent seeks to recognize digital territories under international law and how it mends the gap for the current black letter laws in force. First, states, by having their digital counterpart, will continue to enjoy their statehood in a sense of permanence by departing from the concept based on physicality. Digital states will continue to provide services to their nationals, wherever they are, through the Internet. Finally, digital territories will be used as bases for baselines under UNCLOS to continue exercising control over their maritime areas, giving them legal stability and protection.