Alarmist publications have forecast that numerous Nation-States will be put under threat of disappearing by rising sea levels related to global warming. Such a situation would imply a form of statelessness never before experienced in history. In this paper we examine the available literature on that topic, clarifie confusing concepts, and present basic geographic data allowing us to estimate the accuracy of the danger. We then enumerate possible policy paths to face climatic statelessness from very pragmatic dykes such as the one erected around the Maldives to sci-fi solution such as the replication of the State in the metaverse recently announced by Tuvalu. This paper will be an updated version of Piguet, E. (2019) Climatic Statelessness: Risk Assessment and Policy Options. Population and Development Review, 45, 865-883.

Etienne Piguet
Institute of Geography – University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland)

 
ID Abstract: 110