In 2022, Tuvaluan Minister Simon Kofe announced at COP27 that Tuvalu would become the first digital State. Climate change-induced sea-level rise (SLR) significantly threatens the physical territory of small island developing States (SIDS), such as Tuvalu. To preserve its function as a State, Tuvalu will move its history, culture, territory and government into an exclusively digital space. This raises consideration of what is or could be a digital nation.This paper explores the concept of a digital nation in the context of international law as it applies to cyberspace. Using Tuvalu as a case study, it argues that while SIDS may be able to sustain statehood after the loss of physical territory through creating national ecosystems in cyberspace, these digital identities conflict with the current conception of sovereignty in international law and its intersection with cybersecurity. A State's sovereignty may extend to cyberspace, but it remains rooted in the physical world. Although a State may exercise sovereignty over the cyber infrastructure and cyber activities within its own territory, its reach is restricted if those elements reside in another State's territory. As Tuvalu, and potentially other SIDS, transition into digital nations, their citizens and cyber infrastructure must be situated in the sovereign territory of another State. This paper considers the implications of SLR for the cybersecurity of SIDS, and whether a digital nation may rely on domestic or international legal frameworks to effectively protect its digital ecosystem from State or non-State cyber threats.

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