Maritime global critical infrastructure
IRGC’s first project focusing on critical infrastructures concluded with the publication in 2006 of the IRGC White Paper Managing and Reducing Social Vulnerabilities from Coupled Critical Infrastructures", also the title of an IRGC policy brief published in 2008.
IRGC has now begun work, in collaboration with our project partner – the Disaster Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto University, Japan – on a project addressing the risk governance of the maritime global critical infrastructure. The project has a specific focus on the Strait of Malacca and the Port of Singapore.
In this project IRGC addresses the issue of risk governance relating to potential break-points in the global critical infrastructure of global shipping and trade. This system inherently encompasses a great variety of stakeholders, resulting in a high level of systemic complexity and uncertainty. Given that approximately 90% of world trade is transported by sea, the global economy is heavily dependent on the effective operation of the shipping industry. One of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is the Strait of Malacca, carrying around 25% of all world trade and half of the world’s shipped crude oil. Located at its end is the Port of Singapore – the world’s busiest port in terms of shipping tonnage, attracting vessels from over 600 ports in 120 countries each year. Due to their strategic importance, these two critical infrastructures combined present an ideal case example for IRGC to develop recommendations for improved risk governance of the maritime global critical infrastructure.
The project will hold two regional seminars in April 2010, in preparation for the second international multi-stakeolder workshop in the summer. This will be followed by the publication of a policy brief presenting risk governance recommendations for the maritime global critical infrastructure in the autumn. IRGC’s share of the project’s 2009 budget is 16,000 CHF.
For more information about this project, please contact Ms Malin Samuelsson at the IRGC secretariat malin.samuelsson@irgc.org