Melting Ice Sheets: Unravelling the Legal Challenges of Submerging Islands

In 1983, India began the exploration of Antarctica with the establishment of Dakshin Gangotri, followed by Maitri and Bharati research centres. In order to build a comprehensive approach and demonstrate India's contribution to Antarctica, research in numerous areas was begun. They were, “Antarctica’s contribution towards global sea-level rise, the background of aerosol properties, variability in the sea ice cover and phenomenon like Antarctica haze and Ozone concentrations”. To felicitate the study and to ensure environmentally sustainable and viable research procedures, the Indian government enacted the Antarctica Act, 2022. While India’s strategy is aligned with its objective of sustainable development, there is vacuum in addressing the legal challenges of submerging islands, due to the global sea-level rise as a result of melting ice sheets, which poses a burden on the island states and is a potential threat for their future. Even the Montevideo Convention, 1933 establishes a conventional definition of a state, but lacks to address the legal status of an island that has submerged and is inaccessible to humans. This paper will critically analyse India's policy on the legal challenges over the existence of Island States, the environmental reverberations, along with a case study of Lohachara island and Ghoramara island of India, and the dearth of a legal framework on critical issues, and practical mitigation strategies for a better tomorrow.