Tetra Tech’s Defence and Human Security practice identifies, designs and delivers solutions at the nexus of defence and international development investments, working with Australian and regional partners to enable and help build a more peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
Australia and its Indo-Pacific neighbours operate within an increasingly complex regional security environment, underpinned by multi-faceted and dynamic development challenges. Yet, we cannot let these challenges undermine and undo hard-earned development gains. By listening to and learning from local voices, using data-informed best practice and Leading with Science®, Tetra Tech is working to strengthen the peace and security essential to effective development outcomes and prosperous communities across our region.
Defence and security cooperation
Complex regional security challenges require collaborative solutions, and all the tools of statecraft are necessary to build regional resilience. This makes regional defence and security forces essential partners in implementing effective whole-of-government, bilateral and multilateral solutions that strengthen Australian and regional security.
Drawing on over 40 years’ experience working across the Indo-Pacific, Tetra Tech leverages cultural and contextual understanding and regional relationships to enhance defence and security cooperation. We support the capacity strengthening of national security capabilities in coordination with defence and Australian Government partners. Our expertise is demonstrated through our ongoing support to the Papua New Guinea – Australia Policing Partnership (PNG-APP) in partnership with the Australian Federal Police and delivery of Law of the Sea training to Southeast Asian partner senior government and security officials. Through these efforts Tetra Tech is contributing to stronger regional defence and security cooperation, and the maintenance of the rules-based order.
Humanitarian preparedness and response
The Indo-Pacific is home to some of the most remote communities in the world. This remoteness serves to exacerbate the human impacts of natural disasters. Tropical cyclones, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and floods all have the power to devastate communities in an instant, with the frequency and intensity of these events being accelerated by climate change. Additionally, slow onset disasters – including diseases and droughts – pose longer term challenges and require comprehensive structural solutions.
Tetra Tech is committed to supporting the safety and security of our regional neighbours in times of crisis. Together we are working to reduce the human impacts of natural disasters by strengthening national and international humanitarian preparedness and response capability. At the same time, we are supporting local communities to rebuild for resilience, engaging industry to identify and implement fit-for-purpose and cost-effective solutions that future-proof new social infrastructure. From providing advice to Pacific National Disaster Management Offices, to managing long-term recovery programs, and building-back better together, Tetra Tech is a proven Indo-Pacific partner when disasters strike.
Civil maritime safety and security
Our region’s prosperity is tied to the oceans that connect and sustain us. These oceans enable global trade and supply chains that feed local communities and drive national economies. While all nations rely on the sustainable, secure and lawful use of the seas, maritime safety and security is an ongoing challenge. These threats range from safety of life at sea, through to human trafficking, piracy, and illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing (IUU).
Tetra Tech understands the increasing importance of the maritime domain to national safety and security and are working closely with regional donors and partners to develop localised solutions that strengthen organisational capacities, safety, and security of maritime communities. Through the Sustainable Fish Asia Technical Support (SuFiA TS) for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), we are partnering with local institutions and the private sector to advance fisheries sustainability, combat illegal fishing and promote gender equality and social inclusion in fisheries across the Indo-Pacific. Our regional experience and capacity strengthening expertise make Tetra Tech the partner of choice in securing a sustainable Blue Pacific Continent and Indo-Pacific maritime domain.
Stable and sustainable societies
The Indo-Pacific faces both old and emerging threats to human security. The legacies of past conflicts are still felt in the presence of unexploded ordnance and structural disadvantage, such as poor access to health and education, resource scarcity, and identity-based violence. At the same time, a growing reliance on technology presents new challenges in cyber security, environmental waste and marine debris is placing an increasing burden on small island states, and climate change is compounding the disadvantage experienced by minority groups, particularly women and people with disability.
Tetra Tech is committed to supporting the creation and maintenance of secure, safe, and just societies where all people and communities can thrive. We work with local governments, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, community leaders, and the private sector to actively address the causes of conflict and disadvantage through a focus on good governance, capacity strengthening, transformation and advancement. Through collaboration we help create people-centred solutions that are locally informed and led, contextually relevant and implementable, and ultimately enable measurable, sustainable change. Our approach ensures we provide our Indo-Pacific partners and clients – including DFAT, MFAT, SPC, and FFA – with culturally-informed, localised approaches that are effective in supporting more inclusive, connected, and peaceful societies and a stable, resilient Indo-Pacific region.
