UN passes first declaration on sea level rise, protecting island nations’ sovereignty

The UN General Assembly unanimously approved a declaration affirming that island nations retain their sovereignty and maritime borders even if rising seas physically submerge their land, a win sought for years by the Alliance of Small Island States. The declaration echoes a 2024 International Court of Justice ruling and applies to countries like Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, which face near-total inundation within a century.

The U.S. did not block the resolution despite the Trump administration having withdrawn from the Paris agreement, opposed a global shipping carbon tax, and dismantled USAID. A law professor advising the island alliance suggested American cooperation reflects self-interest, since the U.S. also stands to lose coastline and does not want its own maritime borders destabilized by the same precedent.

The declaration includes language calling on wealthy nations to provide 'expanded access' to adaptation funding, though it creates no new money itself. Current climate aid to poor countries runs about $130 billion a year, far short of the $300 billion target set for 2035, and much of it arrives as loans that heavily indebted nations like the Bahamas can ill afford.

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