Launch of the report “The Economic Costs and Socio-economic Impacts of Maritime Threats in the Gulf of Guinea” at the UN, New York
On 7 December 2021, CRIMSON presented the report “The Economic Costs and Socio-economic Impacts of Maritime Threats in the Gulf of Guinea” at the United Nations in New York, upon invitation of the UNODC. The report provides a clearer understanding of the trends in illicit activities at sea in the region and costs they impose, both financial and socioeconomic, looking specifically at three forms of maritime threats: piracy and armed robbery at sea, maritime trafficking of arms, wildlife, and drugs, and IUU fishing. In addition, it provides reflections on potential areas of operation to tackle theses challenges at sea. All three forms of maritime threats present significant challenges to the Gulf of Guinea states, and as such it is crucial to analyse their scope ad prevalence to appreciate their impacts and develop strategies to mitigate against them. The report was written in coordination with UNODC and Stable Seas, who were working on a similar report, approaching the problem from a different perspective. The full report is available here.
Organisation of the “Coordination Meeting for EU Maritime Projects in East Africa and Western Indian Ocean” In this meeting, organised in October 2021, CRIMSON has catalysed discussions between MASE and CRIMARIO on the interoperability of their platforms as well as on the importance of increasing discussions and connections. The meeting has also facilitated dialogue between the Red Sea Project and CRIMARIO to discuss the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) activities of the two projects in overlapping geographical areas of actions.
G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea CRIMSON was invited to Dakar, Senegal, to participate in the G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea (FoGG) on 24-26 November 2022, which this year was co-chaired by UK and Senegal. A G7++ Technical Meeting took place online in June 2022. The goal of the meeting in Senegal was to deepen relations and coordination between ongoing efforts with the mutual objective of enhancing maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. Both meetings were attended by Giulia Nicoloso (CRIMSON Project Coordinator), who had the opportunity to discuss current operability of the Yaoundé Architecture (YA), as well as the local stakeholder perception of two CMR Programme projects, namely GoGIN and WeCAPS. The event was structured to present and assess, in detail, the state of play of the Yaoundé Architecture, as well as the results of the five virtual working groups (legal, maritime domain awareness, training and education, finance, and blue economy).
