"No man is an island" but what if that island is under the sea? The legal dilemma of sinking states

At COP26 in 2021 the Foreign Minister from Tuvalu, a Pacific island state which is a member of the United Nations, stood knee-deep in water to highlight the threat of climate change and rising seas to his country\u27s very existence. The threat is not diminishing and the question that he and others want answered is whether Tuvalu can continue to exist if its lands are under water? Can it retain a right to its extensive Exclusive Economic Zone to provide for its displaced people if it no longer has territory or will these be lost to become areas beyond national jurisdiction? Current international law makes no provision for this specific eventuality. Yet increasingly the law is recognising virtual as opposed to actual property/things and making regulations to govern these. This paper looks at the current state of international law and considers whether a bridge can be constructed between sinking states and non-fungibles in order inform a legal solution to Tuvalu\u27s problem