Listening to Pacific Security Practitioners: Determination, skills and diversity

The Boe Declaration provides an important catalyst for
Pacific Island conversations on key security issues. This
paper provides an example of a collaborative conversation
that encouraged frank discussion on the priority security
challenges across the region including how Pacific people
prefer to address their security risks and how they perceive
future security in the Pacific.

The Pacific practitioners expressed a shared determination
to take agency over their own security risks and build their
capacity to respond – regardless of the threat. As a result,
there was high interest in having the right human capital and
skills mix available, whether that was within the national
and regional institutions or through the relationship
between formal and customary governance structures.