Exploring an integrated approach to the suppression and prevention of marine piracy : Dalhousie Marine Piracy Project

On the premise that the source of piracy is deeply embedded in the social, political and economic structures of society, the Dalhousie Marine Piracy Project (DMPP) goal was to undertake an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to assessing and addressing the problem of contemporary piracy and its impact on the shipping and coastal communities. [...] The report reflects the ‘integrated or interdisciplinary thinking’ of the DMPP Team - the application of the collective mind - in collating all the relevant data about the socio-economic and human costs of piracy, the counter-piracy policies and practices, and varied legal regimes, organizational strategies and governance processes. [...] The purpose of soliciting advice from the ISWG, as described in the project proposal, was to obtain third-party guidance and approval of the final list of cross- cutting areas on which the DMPP should concentrate its work for the second phase of the project. [...] In addition, the DMPP team agreed that the constraints arising from the current definition of piracy, as provided for in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, should be brought to the attention of the ISWG as it cut across each of the three identified priority areas. [...] Validation of the findings of the sectoral working groups, prioritization of action, and the identification of additional issues of concern are all anticipated outputs for the ISWG.