Littoral States Research Articles

Military and political aspects of cooperation of Caspian states as the main guaranteed of ensuring regional security

Caspian region has always been a point of intersection of interests for multiple states. Throughout all historical periods, the presence of influential states in the Caspian Sea coast led to escalation of tension in the region. Such factors as heterogenic population of littoral states and differences in mentality further aggravated the situation. Thus, the military-political activity of the Caspian states has always been of paramount importance. The significance of military-political activity for the countries of Caspian Basin was substantiated by the following key factors: concentration of the majority of explored hydrocarbon deposits of these countries on its continental shelf; presence of substantial reserves of various biological resources in the waters of Caspian Sea; location of the region on the junction of important geopolitical paths; largely populated coastal regions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and formation of new states in the region, this activity acquired a special character.

Contribution of the researchers of the Department of Ichthyology and Hydrobiology of Saint-Petersburg State University to the conservation of the Caspian sturgeon population

The paper deals with the main historical moments of the Caspian sturgeon population dynamics and the formation of their stocks. The participation of researchers of the Department of Ichthyology and Hydrobiology of Saint-Petersburg State University in creating the concept of sturgeon conservation in the Caspian Sea and the specialized institute of sturgeon farming in Astrakhan was highly appreciated. The materials on the contribution of the Department’s researchers to the study of the physiological state of sturgeon producers, improving their quality, survival and safety in the conditions of artificial breeding of these species are presented. The data on the reduction of the sturgeon abundance reared and released into the Caspian Sea by the Caspian littoral states are presented. A description of the current state of the sturgeon of the Caspian basin is given. The data on changes in stocks, the structure of the spawning part of the population and reproduction of the beluga, Russian sturgeon and stellate sturgeon in the Volga-Caspian basin under the conditions of the prohibition of their commercial fishing are analyzed. It was shown that during the years of the ban, the abundance and stocks of sturgeon and biological indicators of breeding migrants to spawn in the Volga continued to decrease and the proportion of females among them, which is associated with the illegal catch of sturgeon, comparable in scale to the commercial fishery before the ban was introduced. Reduced natural (up to its complete cessation in the Beluga) and artificial reproduction of sturgeons are stated. Only observing the moratorium on sturgeon fishing in all the Caspian littoral states, strengthening the protection of fish at feeding grounds and spawning migrations can preserve and restore their unique Caspian populations.

Current Developments of Legal Instruments to Prevent and Control of Pollution In The Straits of Malacca

The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest straits in the world, with more than 60,000 vessels through the strait per year. This strait is located in a strategic location to connect the west part and east part of the world. However, the number of vessels transit and pass through the strait affects marine environmental issues. Pollution, especially vessel-based sources, may affect marine life. To settle the issues along with the boundary issue, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore have entered into some agreements to cooperate to manage the Strait of Malacca since the 1970s. Recently, the concept of Cooperative Mechanism has been developed. Several meetings amongst these states have been done with some positive deals. With this concept, the littoral states believe that it can prevent, reduce, and control of marine pollution in the Strait of Malacca. However, more progress is still needed to enhance from the implementation of the Cooperative Mechanism. Keywords: Strait of Malacca, Pollution, Marine, Environment, Cooperative Mechanism.

IMPACT OF PIRACY AND SEA ROBBERIES ON FISHING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA: A FOCUS ON LAGOS COASTAL AREA

Nigeria as a littoral state with a coastline of slightly above 800 kilometers and located in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) region puts the government in a position that requires her to deploy resources to combat the menace of piracy and sea robbery. Pirate activities affected not only the maritime transport sector, but the other forms of maritime economic activities. The fishing industry also got her fair share of this menace despite the contribution of the industry to the society. The activities of pirates and sea robbers and their impacts on fishing industry in Lagos coastal area was investigated using structured questionnaire deployed to relevant stakeholders in the fishing business in Lagos area. This research interrogates possible factors that create the enabling environment for piracy to flourish. The study revealed that the inability of government to effectively curb activities of these criminals was to some extent influenced by corruption, poverty and inequality in the society. Financial loss to the nation due to the menace was found to be alarming and has forced several fishing companies out of business to the extent that only few fishing vessels (trawlers) are currently in operation in the area of study. The research confirmed negative effects of piracy on sea businesses, particularly fishing activities, which was the crux of this investigation. The study recommends, amongst others, the Nigerian government should evolve sound resource management and equitable allocative practices to leverage the enormous natural resources and oil affluence to effectively address the cacophony of economic afflictions and legal framework should be revisited, reviewed, reformed and harmonized.

Policing the Seas: Building Constabulary Maritime Governance in the Horn of Africa – The Case of Djibouti and Kenya

ABSTRACTThe upsurge of Somali based maritime piracy after 2005 resulted in considerable international activity in the Horn of Africa, ranging from naval missions to capacity building projects. It also ushered in a new focus by regional states on the dangers as well as the opportunities associated with the sea. In Kenya and Djibouti, two states directly impacted by piracy, this resulted in a strategic shift toward the ocean, breaking with a historical land-centric security approach, in an attempt to reform their domestic maritime sectors and coastal governance architectures by capitalizing on assistance from external capacity building providers. This article adds rigor to the field of maritime security studies by zooming in on how two key littoral states have reformed their domestic maritime sectors following a decline in acts of piracy. It explores important questions such as how have Djibouti and Kenya approached maritime governance historically? How are their territorial maritime spaces delineated and defined? How has the phenomena of piracy influenced the development of coastal governance in both countries? Has this led to innovative practices? Can these practices be applied in other jurisdictions? Finally, what has been the impact of external capacity building assistance on the development of both Djibouti and Kenya’s maritime sector and respective approaches to coastal governance and enforcement? This research is significant as it sheds new light on the limitations and challenges facing domestic maritime security sectors in Africa, but also highlights new ways states can improve and build maritime constabulary governance through international partnerships, capacity development and embracing the blue economic agenda using the cases of Djibouti and Kenya as archetypal models.

LITTORAL STATES’ DEFENSE DIPLOMACY IN MALACCA STRAIT THROUGH THE MALACCA STRAIT PATROL FRAMEWORK

<p>Malacca Strait, as one of the strategic straits in world trade, often face various non-traditional security threats. In accordance with United Nations Convention on the Law of The Sea (UNCLOS), littoral states such as Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia are obligated to maintain the security in Malacca Straits, to ensure that world trades and world economic are not disrupted. This study analyzes how the Malacca straits patrol (MSP) framework is formed by littoral states in order to maintain the security stability in Malacca Strait. The authors employ qualitative method through literature study. The obtained data were analyzed using the theory of defense cooperation and concept of defense diplomacy. The results of the study conclude that MSP, which is consisted of the Malacca Straits Sea Patrol (MSSP), "Eyes-in-the-Sky" Combined Maritime Air Patrols (EiS), and the MSP Intelligence Exchange Group (IEG), is classified as a defense diplomacy activity in the form of multilateral contacts between military officials and multilateral military exercises aimed at increasing mutual trust and defense capabilities of each country.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Malacca Strait, Malacca Straits Patrol Framework, Threat, Defense Cooperation, Defense Diplomacy</p>

Hashemites, Egyptians and Saudis: the tripartite struggle for the pilgrimage in the shadow of Ottoman defeat

Most analyses of the fate of the Hijaz and the Muslim pilgrimage after the First World War have focused on the struggle between Hashemites and Saudis. But in actuality the Egyptians were heavily involved in this dispute, for the Hijaz had been for centuries part of a geopolitical system based on the Red Sea littoral states. Indeed, this was a tripartite struggle, which afforded much more room for maneuver than a simple bilateral one. This article covers the maneuvers of all three parties, demonstrating how they tried to gain possession of the hajj, and all that meant for world Islamic leadership.

Future Trends in Caspian Littoral States Five-Side Economic Cooperation

Until lately economic relations of Caspian littoral states were mainly developed on bilateral basis. Level of five-lateral cooperation evidently because of various reasons didn’t matchthe intensity in political dialogue and dynamics of communication in different other segments.Focus on oil and gas sector and aspiration for separation were dominating. Still possible formatsof All-Caspian interaction have been discussed since the Second Caspian Summit 2007. Whileexperience of successful co-working and mutual trust were growing, with new priorities in economic development set (first of all - transport and infrastructure) the Caspian Littoral States started seeking for a suitable common platform. A new chapter for the “Caspian Five” in this segmentwas open with the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea signed at the highest levelin August 2018, as well as intergovermental Agreements on cooperation in trade, economic andtransport fields. Decision to organize the first Caspian Economic Forum in Turkmenistan on August, 12 this year under participation of governments’ members and business delegations of thelittoral states is significant. Cooperation in this format can bring a good synergy.

КОНВЕНЦІЯ ПРО ПРАВОВИЙ СТАТУС КАСПІЙСЬКОГО МОРЯ ЯК ГАРАНТ РЕГІОНАЛЬНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ

У статті досліджена політико-правова особливість статусу Каспійського моря. Визначені основні етапи переговорного процесу прикаспійських держав та здійснено аналіз основних положень Конвенції про правовий статус Каспійського моря. Стверджується, що прийняття цього документу вплинуло на формування регіональної безпеки. Офіційно прикаспійські держави домовились про недопустимість присутності третіх сторін в Каспійському морі. Вказані основні прогалини, які залишаються не узгодженими між сторонами.

Is the Bay of Bengal regaining its lost importance?

ABSTRACTThe Bay of Bengal was important for world trade till the close of the nineteenth century. Weakening imperialism and the newly found independence by nations brought mistrust and weakened the bond of cohesiveness and unity, making the Bay to lose its identity. This was extenuated by the creation of regional identities of ‘Southeast Asia’ and ‘South Asia’. While Southeast Asia restored their unity under ASEAN in 1965 and South Asia under SAARC in 1985, no real effort to revitalize the entire swath of the Bay as one entity was made until the initiation of India’s ‘Look East’ policy in 1991 and later the formation of BIMSTEC in 1997. In the new millennium, the rise of China and India and their interest and focus on this region, has brought about forced cooperation, connectivity and conflict forcing bilateral, multilateral, regional and sub-regional agreements by littoral states. This has led the Bay to acquire an importance that cannot be ignored. The paper evaluates these efforts to decipher if the Bay of Bengal is really regaining its lost importance.

Coast Guard Cooperation in the South China Sea

The recent emergence of coast guard capabilities in East Asia necessitates a deeper assessment of the potential and limit of coast guard co-operation. Developing a framework of analysis based on the experiences of confidence-building measures (cbms) within the United Nations and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (csce), this article examines if enhanced coast guard cooperation can be a tool to build trust among littoral states in the South China Sea, reduce tension and increase stability in the region. The potential and limit of coast guard cooperation as a confidence-building measure are assessed along five dimensions: First, the importance of local ownership. Second, the necessity of a multi-level operational approach. Moreover, the challenge of spoilers and bureaucratic fragmentation. Fourth, transnational coast guards cooperation in disputed waters, and finally, the risk of cooperation and confidence-building being undermined by great power competition in contested waters.

Asymmetric Bargaining Model for Water Resource Allocation over Transboundary Rivers.

Sustainable transboundary water governance is often challenged by conflicts between agents, which necessitates the design of cooperative and self-enforcing alternatives to facilitate equitable water distribution. The Nash bargaining approach, which originated from game theory, could offer a good mathematical framework to simulate strategic interactions among involved agents by considering individual rational benefits. Given that river-sharing problems often involve multiple self-interested agents, the asymmetric Nash bargaining solution (ANBS) could be used to describe agents’ powers, as determined by disparate social, economic, and political as well as military status, and ensure win–win strategies based on individual rationality. This paper proposed an asymmetric bargaining model by combining multi-criteria decision making, bankruptcy theory, and the ANBS for water distribution in the transboundary river context. The Euphrates River Basin (ERB) with three littoral states was used as a case study. Turkey has the highest bargaining power in ERB negotiation since it dominates in terms of economic strength, political influence, and military capacity, whereas in the two downstream countries these aspects are limited due to their internal political fragmentation and weaker military status. The water satisfaction percentages of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq under the best alternative are 96.30%, 84.23%, and 40.88%, respectively. The findings highlight the necessity for synthetically considering the agent’s disagreement utility and asymmetrical power when negotiating over water allocation.

Burden-Sharing, Geopolitics, and Strategy in NATO’s Black Sea Littoral States

The allocation of scarce resources is a grand strategic question – burden-sharing behavior has clear effects on states’ ability to contribute to collective defense. I operationalize transatlantic burden-sharing in line with NATO’s “Cash, Capabilities, and Contributions” approach for a mixed-methods analysis of the burden-sharing behavior of NATO’s Black Sea littoral states – Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. Using a multi-method analytical approach, I find that national and particularly regional political economies drive burden-sharing choices more than geostrategy, at least in the current strategic environment. Specifically, Bulgaria appears to be hedging between Russia, NATO, and the European Union, resulting in rhetorical commitments to NATO and the EU but limited behavioral changes. Romania, on the other hand, seems to be prioritizing protection from NATO against Russia in an almost obsequious way, rapidly increasing defense spending to meet the Wales Pledge criteria. Finally, Turkey has focused on terrorism and its Kurdish issue, both within its own borders and in neighboring Syria, testing allies’ loyalty.

Water management paradigm shifts in the Caspian Sea region: Review and outlook

The study explores the shifts in water management paradigms in the Caspian Sea basin over the last three centuries with an emphasis on the period after 1990. The investigation is based on the chronological analysis of developments in the water sector, treaties and agreements between the littoral states, important technical inventions, and changes in political regimes. The methodology used in the paper captures two concepts. The concept of water management paradigms helps to comprehend developmental stages of water management of the Caspian Sea. The concept of hydrosocial cycle was applied as an analytical lens for studying each paradigm. We examine different understandings of water in the following five stages: i) pre-industrial era (before 1846); ii) industrialization era (1846–1917); iii) Soviet collectivization era (1917–1940); iv) hydraulic mission (1940–1990); v) independent littoral states (1990–present). Before the Industrial Revolution, the Caspian Sea was managed by the Russian Empire and Persia for navigation and fishing only. The ensuing technical progress gave an impulse to regional sectoral activities, pushing forward the hydraulic mission that caused a considerable degradation of the sea’s ecosystems. The adoption of the Tehran Convention in 2003 became a first step towards the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) paradigm for the Caspian. However, the water governance of the Caspian states does not adhere to the principles of IWRM and, consequently, environment continues to deteriorate. The study provides new directions and approaches for reviewing the role of society in the governance of the Caspian Sea and its resources.

The Caspian Sea Treaty

The ‘Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea’, signed by the five littoral states on 12 August, is an important step for regional security and economic development. If implemented in good faith, the treaty could facilitate important energy projects, but the Caspian Sea region is likely to be defined by Russia's geopolitical ambitions and Iran's geo-economic anxieties in the near future.

Complexities of the Baltic Sea regulatory framework

The Baltic Sea Region is subject to international regulation at the global level, through EU legislation, and sub-regionally. This article aims is to identify features of the regulatory framework both in terms of the nature of core legal instruments and the role of intergovernmental organizations. As the article seeks to identify interconnections between the regulatory layers, the role of EU law for Baltic Sea cooperation warrants special attention. EU law, the article claims, not only comes with a promise of monitoring and enforcement, but can also be a main source of diffusion of the regulatory process. Further, while EU law structures the regulatory scene in accordance with EU competence, it excludes one Baltic Sea littoral state – the Russian Federation. For this reason alone, the global and regional levels retain their importance, underlining also the importance of regulatory interaction.

The Complexity of the Caspian Basin

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of newly independent States marked the uprising of a new era in the region of the Caspian Basin. Failing to reach a consensus regarding the legal nature of the Caspian, Russia, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan’s policies have been characterized by a perpetual pursuit of establishing themselves as key-role agents in the region. The question about “Lake or Sea” is yet to be answered after many decades. This paper focuses on analyzing the significance of the Caspian Basin for the littoral States and how it determines their political agenda.

Managing Giant Clams in the South China Sea

Abstract Tridacna gigas, the world’s largest living bivalve, could once be found on shallow coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific Region where its presence can be traced back to around 10 million years. However, following several local extinctions throughout its geographic range, its SCS population appears to have also been the subject of unprecedented overharvesting. This article discusses the obligations of littoral States of the SCS to protect and preserve this threatened resource and its habitat, to cooperate and consult with each other to that effect and act with due diligence. Given these obligations and the risk of irreversible harm and species’ extinction in the SCS, it proposes that littoral States should proceed to list the SCS population of T. gigas in the CITES Appendix I, impose an immediate ban on further harvesting pending (re-)assessment of the population, and adopt a management plan to ensure its survival and sustainable use.

Geopolitics in the changing geography of the Baltic Sea Region: the challenges of climate change

ABSTRACTThis article outlines the possible geopolitical consequences of climate change in the Baltic Sea Region. In order to do so it also presents a framework that understands geopolitics as a dynamic rather than static field of study. One of the most important factors that determine the character of the impact of climate change on geopolitics in the Baltic Sea Region will be the kind of relations that exist between the littoral states. Still, modern societies are buffered from changes in local natural systems by the world economy and the global trade in foodstuffs. This makes them vulnerable, to different degrees, to the effects of climate change in other parts of the world. If, or when, the latter lose their capacity to produce surplus for export, then climate change is likely to affect the welfare and geopolitical relations of the Baltic Sea Region states.

Recent Developments in the Energy Strategy of Iran in the Caspian Region

Despite the fact that the production of hydrocarbons in the Caspian Sea basin is not a priority for Iran, Tehran attaches special importance to strengthening economic cooperation with the littoral states. Iran, which was out of a regional discourse for a long time, comes up with initiatives that can shape new approaches towards the regional development in a broad array of issues, including extraction and transportation of hydrocarbon resources. For instance, recent developments have shown that the Iranian authorities clearly acknowledge that the energy factor still has a prevailing influence on both the shaping and implementation of economic and foreign priorities of the Caspian states, the economy of which remains export-oriented. As a result, Iran started to prepare the ground for the joint development of the Caspian offshore deposits and resuming oil swap operations.Therefore, the main purpose of the paper is to consider Iran’s policy toward the Caspian region highlighting Tehran’s energy strategy towards the Caspian basin and focusing on the exploration activities and prospects of development of offshore fields, as well as energy cooperation with littoral states.