Science Diplomacy: A Crucible for Turning the Tide in the South China Sea

The South China Sea is a unique natural laboratory for ocean research and exploration and today faces a serious problem because of the mounting environmental degradation due to climate change, ocean acidification, plastics pollution, reclamations, fisheries collapse, coral reef destruction, and increased maritime traffic. The failure to resolve the South China Sea crisis is a harbinger of ecological disaster.

Environmental cooperation remains the only viable pathway for addressing marine environmental decline in the disputed South China Sea and science diplomacy can establish a starting point for regional cooperation and lead to a much-needed pause in rising tensions. This rifted basin, dotted with atolls, coral reefs, and islets, is mired in disputed territorial claims between China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

James Borton is an independent environmental policy writer and former (Hong Kong-based) foreign correspondent for The Washington Times. He contributes regularly to Asia Sentinel, Asia Times, East Asia Forum, Geopolitical Monitor, Nikkei Asian Review, The South China Morning Post, Project Syndicate and World Politics Review. Mr. Borton has edited four books, The South China Sea: Challenges and Promises, Islands and Rocks in the South China Sea: Post Hague Ruling, The Art of Medicine in Metaphors and Venture Japan.

Mr. Borton was a past National Endowment Humanities Fellow at Yale University and has a B.A. and a M.A. with honors in American Studies from the University of Maryland. He has been a non-resident fellow at the Stimson Center, the US-Asia Institute and Tufts University Science Diplomacy Center and has participated in numerous South China Sea conferences. Also, he co-founded the Mekong Environment Forum in Can Tho, Vietnam. Mr. Borton’s latest book is Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground. He is an avid sailor and waterman in South Carolina.