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Southeast Asia is beset by a host of maritime security threats including illegal fishing, piracy, smuggling and environmental crimes. Institutions responding to these issues have proliferated. This article systematically maps and demonstrates this new complexity and fragmentation using original empirical data. Focusing on blue crimes rather than territorial disputes, it argues that fragmentation, a non-hierarchical proliferation of arrangements, is a key driver of regional cooperation on maritime security, and that while conflict overlap and duplication are present between arrangements, the development of trust and collective identification between actors is having an overall positive effect on regional cooperation. The article further argues that this emerges from fragmentation in two ways. First, fragmentation creates more opportunities for sustained interaction, which can habituate cooperation due to the expanding web of meetings. Second, fragmentation, when well-managed, exposes an expanding set of actors to these trust-building processes. The article therefore provides new perspectives on regional dynamics and the state of cooperation in the field of maritime security. (Contemp Southeast Asia/GIGA)

From 6 June to 20 August, 2020, I undertook a 76-day, ~3800 mile bicycle trip across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. In this talk I will share with you some of the amazing people, landscapes and birds I encountered, mostly in rural towns and along blue highways. The gradually changing birdscape, both in sight and sound, underscored the sensitive ecological gradients to which birds respond, as well as the ability of some species to thrive in agricultural monocultures. Rivers large and small regularly benchmarked my progress, as well as the western journey of Lewis & Clark over 200 years ago. The recent incidents in the US involving African Americans as targets of white violence inexorably caused me to festoon my bicycle with #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) signs and share my experiences on social media. I encountered a variety of reactions, often positive and occasionally sharply negative, in a sea of generosity and extraordinary kindness as I wheeled my way through towns on the brink of collapse, vast private ranches and the occasional city. Rural America exhibits an abundance of loyalty and empathy for local communities, yet it is sometimes hard for Americans – myself included – to empathize with people they have never met in person. Two imperatives I took away, with ramifications for both biodiversity and political stability, were the need to somehow bring divergent communities together and to encourage empathy at the national level, among communities that otherwise experience each other only on TV.

From 6 June to 20 August, 2020, I undertook a 76-day, ~3800 mile bicycle trip across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. In this talk I will share with you some of the amazing people, landscapes and birds I encountered, mostly in rural towns and along blue highways. The gradually changing birdscape, both in sight and sound, underscored the sensitive ecological gradients to which birds respond, as well as the ability of some species to thrive in agricultural monocultures. Rivers large and small regularly benchmarked my progress, as well as the western journey of Lewis & Clark over 200 years ago. The recent incidents in the US involving African Americans as targets of white violence inexorably caused me to festoon my bicycle with #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) signs and share my experiences on social media. I encountered a variety of reactions, often positive and occasionally sharply negative, in a sea of generosity and extraordinary kindness as I wheeled my way through towns on the brink of collapse, vast private ranches and the occasional city. Rural America exhibits an abundance of loyalty and empathy for local communities, yet it is sometimes hard for Americans – myself included – to empathize with people they have never met in person. Two imperatives I took away, with ramifications for both biodiversity and political stability, were the need to somehow bring divergent communities together and to encourage empathy at the national level, among communities that otherwise experience each other only on TV.

A case study of Darfur notes that United Nations Secretary-General has identified climate change as one of the root causes of conflict. Increases in the length of drought cycles, expansion of the Sahara desert, & the breakdown of social structures designed to resolve disputes have led to severe violence between tribes competing for resources. Emphasis is placed on the need for long-term programs to allow people to maintain their traditional standards of living without being forced to migrate & the re-establishment of local social institutions for dispute reconciliation. Adapted from the source document.

The effectiveness of human rights monitors in the context of complex emergencies is limited by two recurrent challenges. First, observers often struggle to gain access to active conflict zones. Second, the evidence collected is typically dominated by anecdotal narratives and eyewitness accounts that give snapshots of emerging or past human rights violations. New technologies and methodologies increasingly support traditional human rights research in overcoming these limitations. Looking at cases in Darfur, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and South Ossetia provides useful lessons and exposes both benefits and limitations of the use of remote sensing in conflict zones for the benefit of human rights research and advocacy. Adapted from the source document.

The Indonesian "haze" that engulfs Southeast Asia is a result of the burning of forests and has a detrimental effect on the health of millions of people. Indonesia is currently the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. In response to the dangers posed by forest fires to national and global environmental security, the then Indonesian president publicly declared a "war on haze" in 2006 and called for the use of all necessary measures to stop the deliberate setting of fires. Although his strong "securitising" rhetoric received much public support, it is yet to produce results. The Indonesian authorities have had little success in preventing fires or prosecuting the culprits. Indonesia thus appears to be a null case - that is, a case of an unsuccessful securitisation. We argue that this unsuccessful securitisation needs to be understood against the backdrop of Indonesia's vast decentralisation process, which resulted in certain powers being devolved from Jakarta to the provinces. We find that it is the ability of local and regional elites (often entrenched in patronage networks with plantation owners) to curtail environmental policies which explains the continuation of forest fires. With regard to securitisation theory, our findings suggest that securitising moves and audience acceptance do not necessarily lead to the successful implementation of emergency measures. It appears that there are intermediate factors - in our case mainly linked to the nature of and the distribution of power within the political regime - that impact on the success of securitisation processes. (JCSA/GIGA)

Every jurisdiction in Australia has now enacted legislation to protect volunteers of community organisations and all levels of government from incurring personal civil liability. In most jurisdictions these laws transfer liabilities incurred by volunteers to the public sector organisation that organises the work they undertake. This article provides a brief background to the reforms before undertaking an examination of the impact of the legislation upon public sector organisations and their volunteers.