New research grant on anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Guinea

What are the effects of the current anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Guinea? This is the object of study in a new two-year research project under the Centre for Military Studies. The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has granted nearly 5 mio. DKK for the project.

Senior Researcher at CMS Katja Lindskov Jacobsen will lead a new research project on the effects of anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Guinea. In recent years, the Gulf of Guinea has become a hotspot for pirates targeting international shipping, and several countries – including Denmark – are engaged in anti-piracy efforts in the region. This new research project will investigate how well these anti-piracy efforts work. Do they reduce piracy or do they push pirates into other types of maritime crime in the region? What structural factors are determining for the high level of maritime crime around the Niger Delta?

The research project will address these questions through fieldwork and interviews with civilian and military actors in the region. The project is conducted in collaboration with researchers from Ghana, Nigeria and Denmark as well as local NGOs in the region.