Environmental drivers of maritime insecurity: governance, enforcement and resilience in the western Indian Ocean

Abstract

Despite evidence of the interconnections between the environment, security, and development in a maritime context, and the acute impact this relationship has on the human security of coastal populations, they remain siloed policy areas and underrepresented in the academic literature. This article zooms in on the western Indian Ocean as an example of a region where environmental dynamics intersect with other stressors, such as poverty, disenfranchisement, and a limited maritime security capability, to drive and prolong criminal disorder and violence. After providing some regional context, I explore how climate change, marine environmental degradation, and resource exploitation are linked to occurrences of maritime insecurity by drawing on fisheries crime and piracy. Next, I critically analyse how regional states have built capacity to improve resilience against environmental factors that contribute to increasing maritime insecurity. I conceptualise this under three headings: environmental governance, enforcement and monitoring, and building resilience. This analysis reveals that despite increasing governance arrangements and a shift in the rhetoric towards regionalism, significant gaps remain in terms of physical, technical and human capacity.