and Senegal, as well as members of coastal communities in the aforementioned states. Many experts gave their time to discuss their experiences in the region, which was key to providing an unbiased representation of the issues addressed. Specific informants are not named in order to protect their anonymity, but the list of organizations consulted in the creation of the report includes the following, in addition to others who wish not to be named. The authors extend sincere deepest thanks to those who contributed to the report.

Fortunately, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines are working independently, tri-laterally, and with international partners to provide stronger maritime governance in the Sulu and Celebes region. The establishment of the Trilateral Cooperative Agreement in 2016 was an important step toward overcoming regional tensions and instilling new efforts to address maritime crimes like piracy and armed robbery at sea. As of early 2019, these initiatives are being further strengthened with the establishment of a Contact Group on Maritime Crime in the Sulu and Celebes Seas. Drawing from experiences with the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, this new group, initiated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), brings in international partners to foster regional cooperation and advance the shared goal of securing these seas for the economic and physical welfare of coastal populations and the safe and sustainable development of the regional "blue economy."Stable Seas: Sulu and Celebes Seas is an effort to contribute to these positive developments through rigorous and politically impartial research on this complex maritime region. Stronger maritime governance requires enacting solutions to complicated and interrelated problems like poor coastal economic welfare, rooted shadow economies, human trafficking, and organized political violence against soft coastal and offshore targets. This report shows how such problems relate to each other and, importantly, how the improvement or worsening of any one issue area can have downstream consequences for seemingly unrelated maritime security threats. This holistic approach to the topic can facilitate stronger cooperation, both within and across governments, for the ultimate purpose of sustainable maritime security. In turn, this progress should hamper the illicit networks and violent political organizations that have used the poor security environment to finance and facilitate their efforts.This report adopts a holistic, rigorous, and politically impartial approach to analyze linkages between maritime governance and maritime security challenges.Stronger maritime governance requires enacting solutions to complicated and interrelated problems like poor coastal economic welfare, rooted shadow economies, human trafficking, and organized political violence against soft coastal and offshore targets.| Stable Seas: Sulu and Celebes Seas A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY Many names are given to the geographical features and political entities in this region. For example, the island group that spans the entire region has been called the "East Indian Archipelago," "Malay Archipelago," and "Maritime Southeast Asia."The "Celebes Sea" and "Sulawesi Sea" are two terms referring to a body of water that is one and the same. Additionally, the "South China Sea" and "West Philippine Sea" also refer to the same expanse of water north of the Celebes Sea. This report adopts the following language to be inclusive and to match the preferred terminology of international bodie...