GLOBAL MARITIME SECURITY ASSOCIATION

The relevance of the seas and oceans is of huge significance. Maritime trade routes form the global economic artery system. Oceans contain vast resources such as food, oil and gas and materials crucial for the energy transition. Maritime infrastructure, off-shore installations, data cables, pipelines and their landing points are essential not only for economic development, but also a nation’s stability. They contribute substantially to global and national economic development, and create significant employability, which is especially important for the developing countries in the Global South.

Oceans also play an important role as a climate regulatory system, keeping northern regions warm and tropical climes temperate. The oceans also absorb 30% of the world’s carbon and provide 50% of the world’s oxygen. This has been exacerbated by the effects of climate change and population growth, increasing the number and scale of natural disasters that occur in coastal regions.

Sadly, the maritime domain also provides a basis for illicit, unregulated and unreported fishing and mining as well as illicit trafficking. This is possible because oceans contain vast areas that are beyond national jurisdiction. Hence, some nefarious actors who live by the rules of finders/keepers and regard the oceans as up for grabs. Some nation states have also increasingly and unilaterally tried to claim the ocean’s resources, turning them into a playground for strategic competition.

To counter these negative developments, efforts at the national and international level, such as the recent High Seas Treaty, are underway to strengthen the rules based international order. However, although some of these efforts are already internationally binding, they leave room for interpretation for state and non-state actors alike and, first and foremost, lack a widely recognised enforcement capability.

In sum, the challenges the global community is faced with on our seas and oceans are vast and require all hands-on deck. In our view, and in order to ensure a safe, secure, responsible and sustainable use of the seas and oceans, nations, international institutions and private enterprises must join in a combined effort. Global-MSEA aims to be the linking pin that will bring all hands together and become the global common voice that is missing at (inter)national policy tables.