Gavin Birrell, Programme Lead & National Strategic Coordinator Maritime Security, New Zealand

A short interview with Gavin Birrel, from the New Zealand Ministry of Transport. How do you see IORIS supporting the role of your organization? It helps us overcome our geographic challenge: New Zealand and our South Pacific neighbours are a long way from anywhere else, and with our low populations and large maritime areas, we co-operate with each other to prevent or respond to shared problems. IORIS gives us secure communications with each other to coordinate that support. What’s the biggest threat to maritime security in your region that can be addressed through cooperation? Our approach to security is regional – it’s centred in the Boe Declaration, which is an expansive concept of security, it puts humans and the environment at the heart of our region’s security, so we would say climate change is our biggest maritime security threat for our region. We are seeing larger and more impacts on mariners and on our coasts. Co-operation is key to getting to increase successful outcomes for mariners. What’s essential for maintaining strong regional partnerships ? I think it’s access to a quality information sharing tool, it makes it easy for our regional staffs to talk to each other. What’s one challenge you hope we address during this meeting? Can I choose geography again? New Zealand’s maritime area of interest is 1/12th of the globe and being able to engage with maritime security professionals from 40+ agencies from more than 25 countries at one meeting is invaluable for us. We get to contribute to, and benefit from collective experiences as we all step up to manage shared maritime challenges.