Emerging Challenges To Energy Security In The Asia Pacific Region

Papers presented at a seminar "Emerging challenges to energy security in the Asia Pacific," held at Chennai during 16-17 March 2009; organized by Centre for Security Analysis, Chennai, and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

The Asia-Pacific is now the center of growth in global energy and commodity demand. Driven by rapid and sustained economic development across the region, this shift has triggered important changes in global energy flows. It has also posed major new energy security challenges for Asian governments and fundamentally altered the geopolitics of global energy. This special collection of essays from leading experts, selected from previous NBR publications, provides students with a strong foundation for understanding the trends and challenges shaping the energy security outlook for the Asia-Pacific and the world.

This edited book examines the contemporary regional security concerns in the Asia-Pacific recognizing the ‘Butterfly effect’, the concept that small causes can have large effects: ‘the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world’. For many Asia-Pacific states, domestic security challenges are at least as important as external security considerations. Recent events (both natural disasters and man-made disasters) have pointed to the inherent physical, economic, social and political vulnerabilities that exist in the region. Both black swan events and persistent threats to security characterize the challenges within the Asia-Pacific region. Transnational security challenges such as global climate change, environmental degradation, pandemics, energy security, supply chain security, resource scarcity, terrorism and organized crime are shaping the security landscape regionally and globally. The significance of emerging transnational security challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region impact globally and conversely, security developments in those other regions affect the Asia-Pacific region.

Traditional notions of security are premised on the primacy of state security. In relation to energy security, traditional policy thinking has focused on ensuring supply without much emphasis on socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Non-traditional security (NTS) scholars argue that threats to human security have become increasingly prominent since the end of the Cold War, and that it is thus critical to adopt a holistic and multidisciplinary approach in addressing rising energy needs. This volume represents the perspectives of scholars from across Asia, looking at diverse aspects of energy security through a non-traditional security lens. The issues covered include environmental and socioeconomic impacts, the role of the market, the role of civil society, energy sustainability and policy trends in the ASEAN region.

A new look at the different perspectives on energy security policies of European and Asian countries. The book explains the reasons for the failure of EU common energy policies and the deficiencies in the policies towards Central Asia. It examines Chinese energy diplomacy, and the possibility of energy competition and cooperation in Northeast Asia.

Leading scholars assess the transformations in energy security policy that flow from recognition of global climate change. They explore through case studies the key policy responses formulated in the Asia-Pacific and identify potential synergies between energy policy and climate mitigation efforts.

"It comprises papers based on the seminars delivered by speakers at the ISEAS Energy Forum"--Preface.

This book presents a critical review of the status of energy security in Asia and suggests how a country or a region collectively can achieve energy security in two broad aspects. First, it analyzes how regional cooperation and energy trade can enhance energy security in the region. Second, it reviews how energy security can be ensured in national and regional general contexts. From the reviews and analyses, this book asserts that diversification and integration are key to ensuring energy security. It presents policy implications for enhancing energy security, especially in resource-rich as well as resource-poor developing countries in Asia.