Rising seas, rising islands: Negotiating development at the dawn of climate diplomacy

Abstract

‘Prime Minister Brundtland of Norway's distressing statement that the impact of world climate change “may be more drastic for mankind than any other challenges except for nuclear war” not only reflects her tremendous foresight but also demonstrates the need for a comprehensive global strategy to protect the weather and climate as part of an effort to ensure that our planet Earth remains fit to sustain human life’, observed Malta's David Attard in a letter to the London Times in August 1988. The planetary extent of the environmental effects of nuclear war – with its attendant threat of ‘nuclear winter’ – was among what Brundtland's Our Common Future described as ‘phenomena emerging on a global scale’. 1 These transboundary phenomena also included ozone depletion and Attard's concern, climate change, which existing political institutions, according to the Brundtland Report, were ill-prepared to address. 2 The legal advisor to Malta's prime minister continued, ‘May I utilise your distinguished newspaper to suggest that the first phase of this global strategy would be a UN resolution declaring the weather and climate to be part of the common heritage of mankind and that the appropriate mechanism be established to protect these natural resources in the interests of mankind?’ 3