Wave Makers: Youth Voices for Ocean Futures
30 young leaders share their perspectives on shaping the future of our shared oceans across ASEAN and Australia.
The AASYP Annual Review 2025 brings together youth voices exploring ocean governance, maritime security, the blue economy, and marine conservation – highlighting how young leaders are contributing practical, inclusive solutions to regional challenges.
What’s Inside the AASYP Review 2025
The Review explores ocean governance through three interconnected focus areas:
Maritime Security and Stability
Youth perspectives on freedom of navigation, piracy, transnational crime, and regional cooperation to support peace, trust, and stability at sea.
The Blue Economy
Innovative ideas on sustainable fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, finance, and blue carbon – balancing economic growth with ecological integrity and social inclusion.
Marine Conservation and Climate Resilience
Community-led and youth-driven approaches to climate adaptation, marine biodiversity protection, pollution reduction, and equitable ocean governance.
Together, these contributions highlight how ASEAN-Australia cooperation can move beyond dialogue and toward meaningful, youth informed action.
The AASYP Annual Review
The AASYP Review 2025 is the sixth edition of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership’s annual flagship publication. Written by 30 youth leaders from ASEAN and Australia, this year’s Review is themed “Wave Makers: Youth Voices for Ocean Futures.”
The ocean plays a central role in ASEAN-Australia relations. It connects economies and communities, sustains food systems and livelihoods, enables trade and mobility, and shapes regional security. At the same time, it faces growing pressure from climate change, environmental degradation, unsustainable extraction, and geopolitical tension.
This publication demonstrates that young people understand the complexity of ocean governance. Contributors speak to the ocean not only as a resource, but as a shared responsibility, offering grounded, thoughtful, and actionable ideas across policy, research, business, and community engagement.
About the Contributors
The AASYP Annual Review 2025 was written by participants of the ASEAN–Australia Young Leaders Forum 2025, representing a wide range of countries, disciplines, and lived experiences. Together, they offer insights grounded in local realities while engaging with regional and global policy debates.
Explore the AASYP Annual Review 2025
The AASYP Review 2025 is available as a free publication.
Acknowledgements
The AASYP Review 2025 is produced by the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership (AASYP) as part of the ASEAN–Australia Young Leaders Forum 2025.
© 2025 ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership
Copyright in individual articles is retained by the respective authors.
