Map by, Eric Gaba (Sting – fr:Sting)
The Stimson Center and India’s Observer Research Foundation recently partnered on a project exploring evolving trends that intersect with natural resources in the Indo-Pacific region. This project produced Sea Change: Evolving Maritime Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific Region. The report covers a wide geography, and some of the most critical crossroads of the 21st century. It ranges from sea lanes to security partnerships, to fisheries. Essentially, it covers issues that may not be on every security analysts’ list of important issues, but should be. According to the introduction on of the publication:
Sea Change: Evolving Maritime Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific Region began in the fall of 2013 when the US-based Stimson Center partnered with India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) to launch a research initiative analyzing the maritime policy challenges and opportunities arising across the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific as these areas emerge as central theaters of 21st century geopolitics In particular, the project aimed to illuminate the evolving role that the waters, shipping lanes, and natural resources of the Indo-Pacific will play in shaping relationships between major regional and extra-regional powers while also examining the various ways that energy exploration and exploitation, infrastructure development, and environmental pressures will impact the Indo-Pacific lit- toral in the coming years and decades
The contents of the publication is copied below. The report is available here.
Contents Sea Change: Evolving Maritime Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific Region
- Introduction, by Diane French, David Michel, and Ricky Passarelli
- The Indo-Pacific Region and the Rise of Transnational Maritime Threats and Challenges, by P.K. Ghosh
- US Maritime Security Relations and Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific: Opportunities for Enhanced Cooperation, by Scott Cheney-Peters
- India’s Evolving Security Relations and Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, by W. Lawrence S. Prabhakar
- Island States in a Region of Great Powers, by Nilanthi Samaranayake
- The Changing Balance of Power in the Indian Ocean: Prospects for a Significant Chinese Naval Presence, by David Brewster
- Energy Exploration, Exploitation, and Exports in the Indo-Pacific Region, by Dan Millison
- Shipping Developments and Challenges in the Indo-Pacific Maritime Realm, by Rupert Herbert-Burns
- Fisheries, Food Security, and Climate Change in the Indo-Pacific Region, by David Michel
- A Strategy for Securing the Maritime Commons, by Girish Gujar, P.K. Ghosh and Hong Yan