Breakout Session: Sea-Level Rise: Island States at the Frontlines

When: 29 April 2026 | 11:00-12:30

Format: Roundtable discussion or panel discussion

Venue: Commonwealth building (tbc)

For small island and low-lying coastal states spanning the Pacific, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, climate change is not a future risk — it is a present and existential threat to statehood, sovereignty and survival. Rising sea levels, intensifying storms, saltwater intrusion and coastal erosion are already undermining the territorial, economic and social foundations upon which these states depend, raising profound questions that existing international legal and political frameworks were never designed to answer.

This session provides a forward-looking assessment of the legal and political challenges posed by accelerating sea-level rise, examining emerging doctrines around the preservation of statehood, the continuity of maritime rights, and the status of populations facing potential displacement or statelessness. From the Pacific to the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, states are pioneering innovative legal arguments and political strategies to assert their rights and secure recognition within multilateral forums — often in the face of insufficient support from the broader international community.

Yet this session goes beyond the legal dimension. It spotlights regionally-rooted approaches to building resilience — drawing on indigenous knowledge, regional solidarity mechanisms, and locally-driven adaptation strategies — whilst examining how frontline voices can be more effectively amplified within global climate, peace and security mechanisms. With representatives from some of the world's most climate-vulnerable states at the table, the session recentres the debate around those with the most at stake, foregrounding their agency, their innovations and their demands for justice.

Guiding questions:

• How is international law evolving to address the unprecedented challenges of sea-level rise — including the preservation of statehood, the continuity of maritime zones and the rights of potentially displaced populations — and where do critical gaps and ambiguities remain?
• What regionally-rooted approaches to climate resilience and adaptation are proving most effective across the Pacific, Caribbean and Southeast Asia, and how can these be better supported and scaled through multilateral frameworks?
• How can small island and low-lying coastal states more effectively translate the urgency of their situation into political leverage within global climate, peace and security mechanisms — and what responsibilities do larger states bear in enabling this?

Speakers:

• Jamie Tarawa, CPS Advisor to PIFS
• Daunivakasala Kalitabua Ravunakana, Military and Police Advisor, Permanent Mission of Fiji to the UN (tbc)
• Dionisio Da Costa Babo Soares, Permanent Representative Permanent Mission of Timor-Leste to the UN (tbc)
• Jesus Enrique II Garcia, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the UN (tbc)
• Caribbean represenative (tbc)

Moderated by  Swathi Veeravalli (tbc),

Return to the BCSC 2026 New York Agenda.