Climate Change is Unjust War

Abstract

"We live in constant fear of the adverse impacts of climate change. For a coral atoll nation, sea level rise and more severe weather events loom as a growing threat to our entire population. The threat is real and serious, and is of no difference to a slow and insidious form of terrorism against us." -Saufatu Sopoanga, former Prime Minister of Tuvalu Though the climate crisis is undeniably global in its scope, the situation is especially dire for countries whose territory is comprised entirely or primarily of low-lying land. When, for example, its 11,000 citizens are threatened with displacement by rising waters, the sovereign nation of Tuvalu will face an existential threat. The same could be said of the Maldives, Kiribati, Nauru, and others. Against this backdrop, we argue for a conclusion that might seem implausible to some readers-even some of those most moved by the plight of Pacific Island communities-namely, that these most vulnerable nations very soon will have the right to...