Securing the Seas: A Comprehensive Assessment of Global Maritime Security

Maritime security is a paramount feature not only of international peace and security, but also of the development, human rights and environmental agendas. Global trade, energy security, food security, sustainable development, and global communications depend on safe and secure oceans.

This report has three objectives:

1. It provides a systematic and synthetic overview of how maritime security matters and how it is currently addressed within the United Nations system. The report provides an essential map of the patchwork of United Nations entities and related institutions addressing maritime security. It offers guidance for engaging with the United Nations to enhance maritime security. Yet, it also reveals
challenges, such as the lack of overarching strategy or coordinating body.

2. The report identifies the key items on the maritime security agenda. It reviews the persistent challenges that define the current agenda, but also outlines 20 emerging risks, threats and regulatory deficits that must be addressed. Many of these are related to new technologies, the acceleration of maritime activities, and the link between maritime security and the environment.

3. The report outlines institutional pathways for addressing the arising matters on the agenda, but also improving the quality of the United Nations’s maritime security governance overall.