Justice for Small Island Nations: Intersections of Equity, Human Rights, and Environmental Justice

• Author: Sumudu Anopama Atapattu
• Pages: 299-322

299

Justice for Small Island

Nations: Intersections of

Equity, Human Rights, and

Environmental Justice

Sumudu Anopama Atapattu*

Introduction .................................................................................................299

I. Climate Change and Small Island States ...............................................301

II. Environmental Justice as a Framework ................................................. 303

A. Distributive Justice .........................................................................307

B. Procedural Justice ...........................................................................308

C. Corrective Justice ............................................................................309

D. Social Justice ...................................................................................310

III. Climate Justice and Small Island States ................................................. 311

IV. Climate Justice and the Paris Agreement ..............................................318

Conclusion ................................................................................................... 321

Introduction

We live in constant fear of the a dverse impacts of climate change.

For a coral atoll nation, sea level rise and more severe weathe r events

loom as a growing threat to our entire population. e threat is real

and seriou s, and is of no dierence to a slow and insidious form of

terrorism against us .

– Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Saufatu Sapo’aga1

After the euphoria at the adoption of the Paris Agreement has died down

and its formal signing on Earth Day completed, the above quote from the

prime minister of Tuvalu at the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties

1. Harsha Walia, Why Migration Should Be Central to Paris COP21 Climate Talks, ., Nov 30,

2015 (quoting statement of prime minister of Tuvalu at the United Nations), http://www.telesurtv.net/

english/opinion/Why-Migration-Should-Be-Central-to-Paris-COP21-Climate-Talks-20151125-0011.

html.

* e author gratefully acknowledges the research assistance of Dan Schreiber, Esq.

Chapter 11

300 Climate Justice

(COP21) oers a dose of reality. Likewise, a May 2016 news story that ve of

the Solomon Islands have disappeared into the Pacic Ocean and six more

have experienced a dramatic reduction in their shorelines2 should send alarm

bells to even the most ardent climate skeptic. ese adverse consequences,

certainly the d isappearance of islands, were expected to take place in the

distant futu re, not during our lifetime. us, addressing the plight of small

island States has become an urgent issue.

Nevertheless, the international community has dragged its feet a nd not

taken meaningf ul action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, despite

the adoption of the Paris Agreement. e signicant gap between what States

have pledged under t heir nationally determined contributions ( NDCs) in the

run up to the Paris Agreement and what is required to avert tipping points

is disconcerting.3 Sma ll island States are understandably very worried. Even

more disconcerting are the climate skeptics who, in the face of overwhelming

scientic evidence, continue to dispute its existence.4 “Wet feet ma rching”5

could become a reality sooner than a nticipated.

Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to the global commu-

nity. Nowhere are these challenges more pronounced and dire than in rela-

tion to small island States.6 With sea-level rise a ssociated with increased

temperatures a nd melting of glaciers, these small island States a re facing a

bleak future. ey are already experiencing increased severe weather events,

which are causing extensive ha rdship to this vulnerable group of States.7

ese nations and their people stand to lose every thing they have, including

statehood, which is crucial to exist as a lega l entity under international law.8

2. Angela Dewan, Five Solomon Islands Swallowed by the Sea, CNN., May 10, 2016, http://edition.

cnn.com/2016/05/10/world/pacic-solomon-islands-disappear/.

3. U.N. E P (UNEP), T E G R 2015: A UNEP S

R (2015), http://uneplive.unep.org/media/docs/theme/13/EGR_2015_301115_lores.pdf.

4. See N K, T C E: C . T C (2014); R N,

S V   E   P (2011).

5. “Wet feet marching” has become the slogan to refer to climate refugees, especially from small island

States, after the impassioned speech of Atiq Rahaman of Bangladesh before the COP in Berlin in 1995:

“If climate change makes our countries uninhabitable. . . . we will march with our wet feet into your

living rooms.” See Marissa Knodel, Wet Feet Marching: Climate Justice and Sustainable Development

for Climate Displaced Nations in the South Pacic, 14 V. J. E. L. 127 (2012).

6. e emphasis on small island States should not be taken as an indication that the impact on other

countries is not important. Areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and low-lying countries such as Bangla-

desh are also extremely vulnerable.

7. Leonard A. Nurse et al., Small Islands, in C C 2014: I, A, 

V. P B: R A. C  W G II   F

A R   I P  C C 1613 (V.R. Barros

et al. eds., 2014), http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg2/WGIIAR5-Chap29_FINAL.

pdf.

8. Whether a State ceases to become a State once it loses its territory, which is one of the criteria of state-

hood, (or as some contend, its population) is a hotly debated issue. See S A, H