Carved in Charts, Not Sand: The ICJ’s Stance on Preservation of Baselines in Its Advisory Opinion on Climate Change

Abstract
Climate-induced sea-level rise poses an unprecedented challenge to the fundamental structure of the law of the sea, particularly regarding the legal status of baselines. The debate between “ambulatory” baselines that shift with changing coastlines and “fixed” baselines that remain static despite physical alterations has emerged as a critical legal question with implications for small island developing states. As coastal recession threatens the location of maritime zones, the international community has faced an urgent need to clarify a legally valid route between the polarised stances.
This Article employs the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties interpretative framework to conduct an analysis of Article 5 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – the article setting the scene – to determine the favourable approach. Furthermore, after analysing the International Court of Justice's recent Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, this paper accentuates the drawbacks in the evaluation of the Court under the veil of ostensibly evolutionary steps concerning baselines and emphasizes potential routes that would be favored.

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