2021
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
3(2)
discussion, one that also needs to be context sensitive and nuanced by the
protection needs of the displaced nationals of LLISs.
C
Context-Based Relevance
What emerges from the present analysis is that while the protection provided by
the 1954 Convention stops short of providing an adequate framework to bridge the
current gap in the protection of EDPs from LLISs, it could nevertheless prove to
be a valuable tool in certain scenarios. The nature of such scenarios, ie the fact that
the relatively weak protection and limited scope of the law on statelessness would
be relevant only in the absence of better options, has meant that, thus far, little
attention has been devoted to assessing its relevance in the context of climateinduced migration.
Approaching the future through a spectrum of scenarios does not imply an
assessment of desirability. Conversely, the present article does include a
discussion on the future statehood of possible deterritorialised LLISs, but with the
purpose of nuancing what has become a widely accepted conclusion, and one that
may also prove to be premature not with regards to its forecast but to the certainty
with which it presents this forecast. Abstract discussions on the possibility of
deterritorialised statehood are fascinating and open a new perspective on several
core issues of public international law. However, statehood remains a slippery
concept for legal scholars, and presenting any conclusion as definitive, even
implicitly, risks overlooking the numerous contingencies inherent to such a
politically charged topic.
The present analysis aims to add to the scope of scenarios and corresponding
solutions that collectively constitute the future of states threatened by climate
change. Admittedly, it describes a poor solution in most futures. However, the
present article demonstrates that the 1954 Convention may nevertheless have a
role to play in the protection of the rights of environmentally displaced persons
from LLISs. With its minimal reliance on proactive action by the international
community, the 1954 Convention could provide a useful starting point upon which
to build better solutions, or a possible source of protection for EDPs who find
themselves within the jurisdiction of state parties to the 1954 Convention.
A clear limitation of this analysis is its mostly theoretical nature. Practical
access to the protection afforded by the 1954 Convention remains challenging, and
hypothetical EDPs intending to avail themselves of the latter would likely face
substantial obstacles, possibly due to the ambiguity of their state of origin’s status.
Indeed, the clarity of the statehood, or lack thereof, of their state of origin would
likely influence the success of their claim to stateless status. 90 Here, countryspecific analyses could yield more practically relevant results. However, for this
to be possible, the relevance (albeit highly context-reliant) of the law on
statelessness needs to be acknowledged.
CONCLUSION
Climate statelessness is not a new subject of interest for scholars interested in the
challenges faced by LLISs. However, most inquiries on the matter do not
90
Stoutenburg (n 6) 407. Bianchini also emphasises that the high complexity of certain cases
can negatively influence the outcome of the statelessness determination process in the context
of the United Kingdom: Bianchini, ‘Identifying the Stateless’ (n 33) 456.
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