Pacific island nations face security challenges [1]
Friday, September 19, 2008 - 15:46. Updated on Thursday, September 11, 2014 - 15:48.
The key security challenges that Pacific Island Nations have to address are not military threats but other threats that range from climate change to "good governance" and corruption, the commander of the Tonga Defence Services, Brigadier General 'Uta'atu stated on September 17 before the opening of a Pacific-Island Nations Security Collaboration Workshop in Nuku'alofa.
The security workshop at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre brought together security experts from most of the Pacific Island nations to discuss security collaboration in the area encompassing 22 small island developing states and territories of the Pacific Islands.
At a Press Conference, Brigadier 'Uta'atu said that the key security challenges for Pacific Island Nations had been defined as, "non traditional security threats that cross borders and threaten the political and social integrity of the international communities."
"The Pacific Island nations are more concerned with the following security challenges: climate changes, natural disasters, ethnic problems, environmental degradation, trans-national crime, resources protection, good governance, and corruption."
The Brigadier spoke about these security challenges but did not elaborate on why "good governance" was perceived as a regional and global security threat.
He noted that many Pacific Islands nations considered climate change and global warming as their most serious security threats, and one that already threatened all key development sectors. Its impact was being felt on food crops and manifested in coastal degradation and extreme events.
"Although we may not be able to control the threats, we can be prepared for the effects," he said in noting that the new challenges "will continue to pose the risk of precipitating social, economic and political instability in the region."
Challenges
Ambassador Salmon from the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Honolulu, Hawaii said that the workshop brought together security experts from most of the Pacific Island Nations, excepting the French territories, Federated States of Micronesia, and Fiji. Also participating in the workshop are representatives from the Pacific Islands Forum and Civil Societies.
He said that the objective of the workshop was to talk about the security challenges of the region, and to find ways of addressing these challenges, and at the end of the Workshop on September 19 there will be a communique with recommendations.
Since the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies was established in September 1995, the Pacific Island Nations Security Collaboration Workshop had always been held in Honolulu, Hawaii, and hosted by the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies. The 2008 Workshop is the first to be held away from Hawaii, which is hosted by the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, and co-hosted by the Tonga Defence Services.
Security studies
Ambassador Salmon said that the decision to move the Workshop to Nuku'alofa was decided following a visit to the centre by the Tongan Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele, in February this year.
Since the centre was established in 1987, about 5,000 students from Asia and Pacific Islands have studied there, including 30 Tongans.
Dr Sevele officially opened the Pacific Island Nations Security Collaboration Workshop on September 17.