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Policy Briefs

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Latest Policy Briefs and Reports

Cooperative Security, Arms Control and Disarmament Peace and Security in Northeast Asia

Conventional Arms Control on the Korean Peninsula: The Current State and Prospects

Policy Brief  No.59 - November, 2019 • By Yong-Sup Han

The September 19 Military Agreement adopted by the two Koreas in 2018 is a modest but remarkable success in arms control history. Nevertheless, heated debates are taking place, both inside South Korea and abroad, over the legitimacy and rationality of the agreement. This policy brief analyses the true meaning of the September 19 Military Agreement between the two Koreas, to identify its problems and policy implications in order to draw up supplementary measures to implement it successfully. Furthermore, the paper draws some implications for the relationship between progress on North Korea's denuclearisation issue and further conventional arms control on the Korean Peninsula.

Climate Change and Conflict

The Climate-Conflict-Food Security Nexus: Pacific Marine Ecosystems

Policy Brief  No.58 - November, 2019 • By Kirsten Davies

Growing scientific evidence indicates that global impacts and flow on effects of climate change are threatening ecosystems and food security. Developing countries, especially coastal communities across the Pacific, are at risk of climate-related food insecurity. This is particularly the case in the context of unprecedented threats posed to the health of marine ecosystems and their capacity to provide protein, income and spiritual connections for Pacific communities. This policy brief advocates for adaptive co-management approaches that integrate traditional and Western knowledge, law, governance, science and technology in a bid to protect nature. Framed by national and global legal and governance systems, it highlights the importance of approaches which empower local communities. The policy brief concludes with five recommendations which focus on the importance of working with local communities, as the ‘front line’ guardians of nature.

Climate Change and Conflict

“We Are Therefore We Live”: Pacific Eco-Relational Spirituality and Changing the Climate Change Story

Policy Brief  No.56 - October, 2019 • By Upolu Lumā Vaai

While there is overwhelming physical evidence and warning about climate change and conflict, it seems we have succumbed to the shadows of a one-sided story, a story that focuses entirely on the secular physical dimension with the spiritual lost beneath a one-dimensional umbra. Spirituality is critical to a new path for a new climate story.