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, and the rise of India, Indonesia, South Africa, and other littoral nations as increasingly significant regional powers and global players are transforming the Indian Ocean 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. This report 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.