My latest analysis, published with the Center for Maritime Strategy, highlights the intricate web of maritime security challenges in the Western Indian Ocean. From piracy to drug trafficking, the region faces diverse threats requiring coordinated international response. Despite numerous initiatives, a cohesive security architecture remains elusive due to competing visions and priorities among stakeholders.
I emphasize the crucial role of the Contact Group on Illicit Maritime Activities (CGIMA) as a neutral platform for strategic dialogue. While a unified structure is unlikely, CGIMA offers hope for better coordination and inclusivity. The goal: navigate complexity through open communication and collaboration, ensuring a safer Western Indian Ocean through collective action.
With presentations from Iglika Yakova (DG Mare), Anne Mette Mosekjær Søndergaard (Oersted), Nathalie De Jaeger (Belgian Government), and Izabela Surwillo (Danish Institute for International Studies), we specifically looked into the link between critical maritime infrastructure protection (CMIP) and the blue economy.
Panelists at the EMD roundtable on infrastructure
CMIP allows us to evaluate blue economy ambitions in a new light, since harvesting and preserving ocean resources involves the planning, building and protection of infrastructures. These range from energy platforms, to cables, aquaculture farms to the sensors needed for ocean monitoring and restoration projects.
CMIP emphasizes that the decisive question of contemporary ocean governance is how we protect and care for ocean infrastructures. Such a line of thinking offers opportunities to overcome the fragmentation between discourses of maritime security and the blue economy.
The European Maritime Day is the annual celebration of the European Union to take stock of efforts in developing the blue economy, restoring marine biodiversity and safeguarding marine activities. The 2024 edition took place in Svendborg, Denmark at the Svendborg International Maritime Academy.
Organization by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG Mare), the event attracts more than 1.000 visitors, mainly from, science, technology and government.
On April 27 and 28 two key events of our collective research project AMARIS (Analyzing Maritime Security in Ghana) will take place in Accra. On day one we will have an internal meeting and review the set of current drafts for academic articles and how to drive them to publication. Papers, include a discussion of the problem of inter-agency coordination, the effect of maritime security strategies and on the impact that the concept of maritime security had for governance and organization of the maritime sector in Ghana.
On day two, the AMARIS team will present our key policy insights to the major stakeholders and agencies in Ghana. We will investigate how the maritime threat landscape has been evolving, what the key hurdles are in creating effective maritime security governance, and what best practices can ensure the effective delivery of capacity building. The event is hosted by the Center for Maritime Law and Security Africa one of the member institutions of AMARIS.
Our new research project Analyzing Maritime Insecurity in Ghana (AMARIS) is launching. The project which is part of the SafeSeas family, investigates the inter-linkage between blue crimes in Ghana’s waters, maritime security governance in the country, including a case study of the maritime security strategy, as well as the impact of external capacity building assistance. The project is funded by the Danish International Development Agency DANIDA and is a cooperation between the University of Copenhagen, CEMLAWS Africa, the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, and the University of Ghana. It will run until 2022. Part of the project is a training school for junior maritime security analysts from West Africa. More information will be available soon on the SafeSeas website.
