Rising Sea Level: Legal Consequences on the Shifting of Coastal State Baseline

Baseline is a line drawn from the coastal configuration features, which is very important because the drawing of a baseline allows a coastal State to claim its own maritime zone as measured from said line. However, this concept of baseline currently faced new phenomena called the sea-level rise caused by the climate change. Climate change is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere and causing the earth's surface temperature and sea surface temperatures to increase causing the melting of ice and glaciers. Based on survey data Fifth Assessment Report conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it is said that in 2100 the rise of sea water will reach 0.52m to 0.98m. In this regard, the rise of seawater brings a legal implication of the possibility in a shift of the baseline due to the inundation of the coastline used as a place to draw the baseline itself, resulting in the possibility of States losing juridical claims in its maritime zone. Coastal States must now begin to have awareness regarding the impacts caused by rising sea level in order to anticipate and reduce the impact of rising sea level.