Sea-level rise and human mobility: The legal implications for Ireland’s foreign and domestic policies
| dc.contributor.author | Cubie, Dug | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-10-16T08:23:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-10-16T08:23:13Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | In October 2023, the Irish government’s Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on National Coastal Change Management Strategy concluded it was inevitable that, as a result of rising sea levels, a managed retreat may in time be required along some parts of the Irish coastline. This stark warning highlights Ireland’s vulnerability as an island nation to global climate change and sea-level rise. While adaptive measures can be made to protect coastal communities, there is a need to undertake comprehensive planning to prepare for the foreseeable impacts of climate change. Ireland is not alone in facing such risks—over a third of states in the world are directly affected by sea-level rise. Such scenarios raise complicated legal questions, which prompted the UN International Law Commission (ILC) to commence analysis in 2018 of the legal implications of sea-level rise. This article starts by examining recent developments concerning the legal implications of climate change in general, before specifically analysing the ongoing work of the ILC on sea-level rise and human mobility. Drawing on international legal and policy frameworks, the article then considers Ireland’s obligations arising from sea-level rise and population displacement. In particular, it addresses a) Ireland’s foreign policy, including international development assistance and legal migration routes for persons fleeing the impacts of sea-level rise; and b) domestic policies relating to climate change adaptation and planning for internal climate displacement. | en |
| dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
| dc.description.version | Published Version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Cubie, D. (2024) 'Sea-level rise and human mobility: The legal implications for Ireland’s foreign and domestic policies', Irish Studies in International Affairs, 35(1), pp. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.0.a939553 | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1353/isia.0.a939553 | en |
| dc.identifier.endpage | 25 | en |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2009-0072 | en |
| dc.identifier.issued | 1 | en |
| dc.identifier.journaltitle | Irish Studies in International Affairs | en |
| dc.identifier.startpage | 1 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10468/16578 | |
| dc.identifier.volume | 35 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Royal Irish Academy | en |
| dc.rights | © 2024, the author. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution license, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | Rising sea levels | en |
| dc.subject | Irish coastline | en |
| dc.subject | Global climate change | en |
| dc.subject | Legal implications of sea-level rise | en |
| dc.subject | Human mobility | en |
| dc.subject | Climate displacement | en |
| dc.title | Sea-level rise and human mobility: The legal implications for Ireland’s foreign and domestic policies | en |
| dc.type | Article (peer-reviewed) | en |
