Defining the Migrating Population of Sinking States from the Perspective of International Law

Owing to the absence of universally agreed approaches to migration, which is related to environmental changes and/or natural disasters, the case of sinking states population changes of residence is taken to illustrate nuances in terminology that reflect the substantial differences in legal treatment of such persons. This paper presents the existing variations of denoting the link between migration and environmental changes of sinking states with the special focus on the shades of meaning of the terminology in use and then suggests to give separate attention to the forced or voluntary character of such migration and its expression in terms.