Stratbase ADR Institute organized a roundtable discussion last June 7, Friday, held at the Manila Golf & Country Club in Makati City.

The guest speaker, Mr. Gregory Poling was in Manila. He is the Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative and Fellow of the Southeast Asia Program at the Washington D.C.-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.He oversees research on U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific, with a particular focus on the maritime domain and the countries of Southeast Asia. Mr. Poling’s writings have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Nikkei Asian Review, Journal of Political Risk, and YaleGlobal, among others. Mr. Poling received an M.A. in International Affairs from American University, a B.A. in History and Philosophy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and studied at Fudan University in Shanghai.

The South China Sea’s fisheries and marine environment are under dire threat. A series of environmental crises—overfishing, dredging and island building, and destructive clam harvesting practices—have been piled one atop the other, pushing one of the world’s most productive fishing zones to the brink of collapse. Fishers from the Philippines, China, and Vietnam are on the frontlines of disputes in these contested waters, and they will be the ones who suffer most if the claimant states fail to effectively manage fisheries and preserve the marine environment.

Mr. Poling’s presentation may be accessed here. Images courtesy of CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/Maxar/Vulcan Technologies.

Photos of the event may be viewed here.