The legal status of islands has increasingly become contested in various parts of the world as a result of the distinction between islands and rocks, and the increasing development of artificial islands. Can international law resolve these issues or just make them more contentious?

Donald Rothwell is a professor of international law at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Born on the island continent of Australia, he is a graduate of the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary, and has lived on Vancouver Island and studied islands and the law of the sea for 30 years.