ABSTRACT
As a multiplier of global and regional insecurity drivers, including overfishing, poverty, social fragility and transnational crime, marine environmental degradation has the potential to exacerbate insecurity in South East Asia. This chapter examines a range of marine environmental challenges, with a particular emphasis on climate-related factors, contributing to destabilisation and insecurity in the marine and coastal environments of South East Asia, including ocean warming, sea level rise and severe weather events. It explores a variety of global and regional initiatives in South East Asia with the potential to mitigate the maritime security implications of marine environmental degradation and climate change impacts. These initiatives include: transboundary marine environmental protection projects, fisheries conservation and sustainable use agreements, cooperative arrangements to combat transnational crime and creative solutions to maritime disputes. Finally, the chapter also considers how these collaborative ocean governance structures can be further developed to cope with the ongoing effects of marine environmental degradation and climate change on maritime security.
