migration (even if it remains internal), will undermine
the stability and legitimacy of states on both sides of
the border, increasing the risk of NIAC and IAC, the
adverse effects from which will further confound the
situation.
State Sovereignty and Ecomigration in Volume:
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The fate of states may depend on how far and how
fast ecomigration will go.
The Authority of States to Control Migration
It is not only the law relating to states and persons
on land that should be examined further. Although it
is beyond the scope of this article, the law of the sea
should also be considered because it, too, is grounded
heavily in state sovereignty, as the 1982 United Na-
tions Convention on the Law of the Sea amply illus-
trates. The health of the seas is vital to human sur-
vival and good reason to reconsider whether the seas
should be divided and exploited according to sover-
eignty (Vidas 2011).
International law, domestic law, and state practice
are legal barriers to migration, but states’ preroga-
tives, though broad and powerful, are not unfettered.
International human rights law is being interpreted,
advocated, and in some cases applied in ways that
reflect a developing consensus that human rights are
slowly and selectively gaining ascendance over state
rights. Climate change is reason to consider further,
and possibly adjust, the balance between state prerog-
atives and individual rights.