2022 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 4(2) Studies on climate change predict that Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Maldives and the Seychelles are likely to become uninhabitable.87 Hence, their governments would be forced into exile, where they would depend on the resources and goodwill of foreign countries.88 Since exile would mean a lack of sovereignty, it may result in the loss of statehood, even before the disappearance of territory.89 Although sinking island states may lose statehood in one way or the other,90 they neither deprive their nationals of social recognition nor intend to shirk any responsibilities for protection. Kiribati is a good example. In 2014, the Government of Kiribati adapted the ‘Migration with Dignity’ policy to mitigate the effects of future statelessness. This policy had two main pillars: an ‘Education for Migration’ programme and the purchase of 6,000 acres of land on one of Fiji’s islands.91 When some nationals emigrated to that land, the then President of Kiribati Anote Tong remarked: [t]hese people now live in Fiji but have their own seat in the parliament of Kiribati …. The spirit of the people of Kiribati will not be extinguished. It will live on somewhere else because a nation isn’t only a physical place. A nation — and the sense of belonging that comes with it — exists in the hearts and the minds of its citizens wherever they may be.92 Tong’s successor, Taneti Maamau, has gone down a different route. Bolstering the economy through sustainable tourism and international aid, as well as raising parts of the island, he wants Kiribati’s population to stay as long as possible.93 Apart from Kiribati, other sinking island states have made similar plans to protect their nationals. While the Marshall Islands have also purchased patches of 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 See Jon Barnett and W Neil Adger, ‘Climate Dangers and Atoll Countries’ (2003) 61 Climatic Change 321, 321. Susin Park, ‘Climate Change and the Risk of Statelessness: The Situation of Low-Lying Island States’ (Legal and Protection Policy Research Series No PPLA/2011/04, UNHCR, May 2011) 13. See ibid 14; UNHCR, ‘Climate Change and Statelessness: An Overview’, Submission to the 6th Session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action, 15 May 2009, 2. Derek Wong questions this conclusion. In his view, sinking islands states may continue to be granted statehood so that global order is maintained: Derek Wong, ‘Sovereignty Sunk — The Position of Sinking States at International Law’ (2013) 14(2) Melbourne Journal of International Law 362. Yet it is not clear how their continued de jure existence may contribute to the maintenance of global order when entire populations need to be resettled. See UNHCR, Universal Periodic Review: The Republic of Kiribati (Report, June 2014); Republic of Kiribati, ‘Fiji Supports Kiribati on Sea Level Rise’ (Press Release, 11 February 2014) <http://www.climate.gov.ki/category/action/relocation/>, archived at <https://perma.cc/4YKL-K6T8>. ibid. See Ben Walker, ‘An Island Nation Turns Away from Climate Migration, Despite Rising Seas’, Inside Climate News (online, 20 November 2017) <https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20112017/kiribati-climate-change-refugees-migrationpacific-islands-sea-level-rise-coconuts-tourism/>, archived at <https://perma.cc/2LYBS46H>; Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Kiribati, Kiribati 20-Year Vision 2016–2036 (Report) <https://www.mfed.gov.ki/sites/default/files/KIRIBATI%2020YEAR%20VISION%202016-2036%20.pdf>, archived at <https://perma.cc/5D8B-DL3Y>. 250