Rethinking maritime security from the bottom up: Four principles to broaden perspectives and centre humans and ecosystems
Traditional approaches to maritime security focus on state and economic perspectives. We suggest that a more holistic approach to maritime security is needed that encompasses state, economic, human and environmental security to make maritime security more equitable, sustainable and responsive to contemporary social and environmental challenges. Adopting a normative human and eco-centric approach to maritime security, which revolves around the needs of coastal communities and the imperative of ocean sustainability, can be guided by four principles: participation and pluralism, autonomy and agency, equity and justice, and coherence and coordination.
Authors
- Nathan Bennett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4852-3401)
- Natasha Stacey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2262-9817)
- Annie Young Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2530-1251)
- Dirk J. Steenbergen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4067-4432)
- Hanh Nguyen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1155-2479)
- Michael Fabinyi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5293-4081)
- Edward Sing Yue Chan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2786-4939)
- Stefan Partelow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-4005)
- Maria Tanyag (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0514-5183)
- Kate Barclay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-0965)
- Christopher Cvitanovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2565-3396)
- Bianca Suarez
Institutions
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (CA)
- University of Bonn (DE)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of Canberra (AU)
- Yonsei University (KR)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Charles Darwin University (AU)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- World Wildlife Fund (US)
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (CH)
- Life & Brain (Germany) (DE)
- ACT Government (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Ocean Sustainability
- Published
- 2025-06-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-025-00130-9
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Maritime Security and History
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.53
Funders
- European Commission
- HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
- Australian Research Council
- Ocean Nexus Center, EarthLab, University of Washington