It is difficult to comprehensively acknowledge all the people who have helped us throughout the years, as a book really is the sum of ideas, conversations, and research that occurs over a long period of time. First of all, though, we think we should acknowledge the role that both our PhD supervisors have had in our careers up to now. Prof. Shibayama, now at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Waseda University, is really a father figure to all his students, not only providing support but also acting as a role model on how to be an academic. Prof. Kohki Abe, at the Law School of Kanagawa University, is one of the most dedicated human rights professors and activists in Japan, and his inspiration and comments helped us greatly in writing this book. Not only that, both of them have added great insight into certain aspects of this book, and their role in this is greatly appreciated. We would like to also acknowledge Jose´ A. Puppim de Oliveira, Assistant Director and Senior Research Fellow of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS), for his role in helping us with several aspects of this book. In terms of other input to this research, Dr. David Leary from the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney also contributed at the beginning of this research with insights with regard to the meaning and application of the Law of the Sea. He has been instrumental throughout the years in collaborating and helping in various pieces of research that we have done, and his name also deserves to be greatly recognised in the elaboration of this book. Dr. Hiroshi Takagi, formerly from JICA but now at Tokyo Institute of Technology, also greatly contributed over the years with many ideas, suggestions, and background information on various Atoll Island States and the role that climate change will have on the coastal environment and protection works. The case study on Tuvalu and much of the comments on this country are based on talks with him, unless otherwise noted. Dr. Bea Lecroq, previously at the Japan Agency for Marine-Each Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and now at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), taught us much regarding foraminifera, what they are, and how they are actually important to the atolls