Environmental security in the eastern Indian Ocean, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean: A risk mapping approach

This report is part of a joint Australia-France project under which Australian and French teams have worked to map environmental security risks in the Indian and Southern Oceans. This study establishes an environmental security ‘risk map’ for the region and also includes discussions of potential interactions between environmental risks and broader geopolitical challenges. The authors assess the likelihood and consequences of major potential disruptions, detail cross-cutting sources of disruption and possible triggers for concerted action and consider the implications of emergent issues or threats and escalated responses to them (including likely cascading and compounding impacts if threats are not addressed). French researchers are due to release a similar study of environmental security risks in the western Indian Ocean in 2020.

The report provides a foundation to inform policy decisions on the allocation of national resources and to help identify opportunities for future cooperation between Australia, France and others.