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AbstractThe threat of the permanent physical disappearance of the territory of states no longer belongs to the mythical realm, and the situation is particularly imminent for small island developing states. While most international legal scholarship has so far focused on issues stemming from territorial disappearance, this article goes one step further. It questions the appropriateness of the classical notion of the territorial state — a socio-cultural and politico-legal entity evolving on a defined territorial area — as the basis for an international legal system faced with new realities created by climate change, sea-level rise, and globalization. After examining the current rules on statehood within the context of the physical disappearance of states' territories and looking into the solutions suggested in the legal literature to address territorial loss, this article assesses a new way of understanding statehood by exploring theoretical lenses through which a new model of statehood could be contemplated.

The deep seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction, or what is referred to as "the Area," is the common heritage of humankind, safeguarded by mandating the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to protect the marine environment and to regulate all mining-related activities on the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdiction. So far, the ISA has 7 contracts for polymetallic sulfide (PMS) exploration. PMS deposits are located at and near deep-sea hydrothermal vents, one of the most remarkable ecosystems on Earth. Where hot and mineral rich vent fluids escape from the earth's crusts, minerals precipitate and are deposited, and unique biomass rich microbial and animal communities are thriving. Several intergovernmental organizations suggest that active vents classify as areas in need of conservation. The ISA is currently developing regional environmental plans for PMS and has set some first steps to protect active vents from mining impacts. We review the current regulatory and policy framework for deep-sea spatial management, and set it into the environmental context. We conclude that all current management measures of the ISA would not be suited to protect the marine environment from harmful mining impact. We recognize that ISA's area-based management tools are under development, and suggest that improvements can be achieved by studying and recognizing the ecological attributes of ecosystems and their connectivity, as well as governance connectivity, taking into account area-based management tools of different users in the same area.

The Anthropocene requires of us to rethink global governance challenges and effective responses with a more holistic understanding of the earth system as a single intertwined social-ecological system. Law, in particular, will have to embrace such a holistic earth system perspective in order to deal more effectively with the Anthropocene's predicaments. While a growing number of scholars have tried to reimagine law and legal scholarship in a more holistic way, these attempts remain siloed. What is required is a shared epistemic framework to enable and enhance collaborative intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and co-learning that go hand in hand with thorough transdisciplinary stakeholder engagement. We argue that the nascent concept of earth system law offers such an overarching epistemic framework. This article serves as an invitation to fellow explorers from various legal fields, other disciplines, and from a wide range of stakeholders to explore new frontiers in earth system law. Our aim is to further stimulate the study of earth system law, and to encourage collaboration and co-learning in a fertile epistemic space that we share.