Tuvalu

Population: 11,808
GDP: $14.94 million (2002 est.)
Total Area: 26 sq km
Annual carbon emissions per capita: N/A
Annual carbon emissions as percent of world's total: N/A%

Environmentalists have long worried about the fate of this tiny Pacific state. Now, however, international legal experts have also taken up the topic of its imminent demise. A nation's “territorial integrity” is one of the paramount legal principles. It’s unprecedented, however, for a country to completely lose its territory without the use of military force.

"Is it supposed to become a virtual country?" asked Rainer Lagoni, Professor of Maritime Law at the University of Hamburg. There is no legal definition for a country entirely without land. […]

This island nation has already dealt with floods, tropical storms and El Niño for a long time. But those studying climate change are predicting an even bleaker future. Every schoolchild in Tuvalu learns to fear "global warming." It serves as the collective term for spoiled harvests, salty pools and the waves that keep rolling closer and closer, right up to airport runway.
“Islanders without an Island: What Will Become of Tuvalu's Climate Refugees?” Spiegel Online-International, September 14, 2007