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JDR Vol.21 No.4 pp. 633-664
(2026)
doi: 10.20965/jdr.2026.p0633

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Artificial Island Development as a Climate Change Adaptation Measure for Atoll Countries: A Country-by-Country Review

Mikiyasu Nakayama† ORCID Icon, Yuto Kunitake ORCID Icon, Emiri Iwasaki, and Sae Koyama

Global Infrastructure Fund Research Foundation Japan
Shiodome City Center 5F, 1-5-2 Higashi Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-7105, Japan

†Corresponding author

Received:
January 30, 2026
Accepted:
March 14, 2026
Published:
August 1, 2026
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
artificial island development, atoll countries, climate change adaptation, right to stay, sea-level rise (SLR)
Abstract

Low-lying atoll countries face existential threats from climate change, including sea-level rise, freshwater contamination, and coastal erosion. This review examines artificial island development as a transformational adaptation strategy for four atoll countries (the Maldives, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu) through a comparative analysis evaluating technical, financial, legal, and governance dimensions. Our findings reveal that artificial island development is technically achievable, as demonstrated by the Maldives’ Hulhumalé project, which has created approximately 4 km2 of elevated land at twice the elevation of natural islands. However, implementation feasibility varies substantially across nations depending on governance structures and land-tenure systems. Centralized state ownership in the Maldives enables rapid implementation, while customary land tenure in Pacific nations presents significant barriers. Financial requirements vastly exceed domestic fiscal capacities, with estimated adaptation costs ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of U.S. dollars, necessitating substantial international climate finance. The review identifies critical environmental trade-offs, because dredging operations damage coral reef ecosystems, which provide natural coastal protection, and highlights unresolved legal uncertainties under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) regarding maritime zones and sovereignty preservation. Despite these challenges, artificial islands offer a pathway to honor atoll communities’ “right to stay” in their homelands, although successful implementation requires integrated governance reform, sustained international financing, and environmental safeguards in addition to engineering solutions.

The four atoll countries reviewed

The four atoll countries reviewed

Full text
Cite this article as:
M. Nakayama, Y. Kunitake, E. Iwasaki, and S. Koyama, “Artificial Island Development as a Climate Change Adaptation Measure for Atoll Countries: A Country-by-Country Review,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.21 No.4, pp. 633-664, 2026.
Data files:
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