The Stimson Center, based in Washington, DC, recently released a new report that covers many substantial topics related to the nexus between climate change and security in the Indian Ocean region. It is certainly worth a read. Below is the announcement of the report’s release from David Michel, co-editor of the report and Director of the Environmental Security Program at the Stimson Center.
“Stimson’s Environmental Security program is pleased to announce the release of a new report, Indian Ocean Rising: Maritime Security and Policy Challenges.
The Indian Ocean is rapidly emerging as a key focus of international politics. Its strategic energy reserves and natural resources, the growing importance of its ports and shipping lanes, the rise of India, Indonesia, South Africa and other littoral nations as increasingly significant regional powers and global players are transforming the region into a major crossroads for multiple security, maritime policy, and governance issues. Rising flows of trade, investment, people, and ideas are linking the Indian Ocean countries to each other and to the rest of the world ever more closely. At the same time, enduring problems ranging from piracy on the high seas to weak and failing states on shore, as well as territorial disputes in the regional seas and mounting environmental pressures on coastal and marine resources pose persistent challenges for maritime policymakers around the Indian Ocean region.
Indian Ocean Rising: Maritime Security and Policy Challenges explores the evolving security, socio-economic, commercial, and environmental trends that will shape the Indian Ocean region in the coming decades and examines their implications for decision-makers and stakeholders. The authors analyze issues including piracy, trafficking, and terrorism; the deployment of naval power; the commercial shipping industry; the future of the Law of the Sea; regional and offshore energy development; natural resources management; and rising stresses on the marine environment.
The full report is available here, where it can be downloaded either by individual chapters or as a complete volume.”
