News agencies have upped their coverage on the tension between those countries surrounding the South and East China Seas as of late. The rising presence of China appears to be once again thrusting this region into the media spotlight.

In both the New York Times and CNN articles surfaced which pits China and Japan against eachother in a battle over the spattering of "islands" scattered throughout the area. Their attention to atolls, reefs and rocks, which have otherwise gone unnoticed sparks a fascinating discussion on the importance (for the fact that we are now reliant on them) of these small and sensitive landmasses.

The effort being expended in securing the political boundary of island groups like the Paracel's and Spratley's as well as their physical mass is impressive and soon occur on an industrial scale. What new forms of preservation will their future bring? Actions have ranged widely from the "ecological preserve" of the Dongsha Atoll to the titanium and concrete bunker of Okinotori-shima atoll. With the hope of protecting economic rights to a vast underground reserve of oil and natural gas,  we may see the South China Sea emerging as new testing ground for the preservation of this second hand industrial ecology.

ghost states

The South China Sea carries with it an increasingly critical array of islands and atolls whose seemingly insignificant landmass is emerging as a contentious player in the sino-global politic. Sea level rise and a growing environmental degradation of the region threaten an erasure of these small rocks and reefs. Their disappearance implies significant changes in economic zones and trade routes; for these reasons surrounding nation states have engaged in a massive military and political effort to secure these regions for their agency.

Structural fortifications have commenced to buffer against the growing threats of a rising sea level, taking forms ranging from titanium breakwaters and dams to tactical coral reef farms. The future of these projects will promise the fate of these new and possible ghost states. The advent of ecological infrastructure as a mode of practice provides a new and useful lens through which new possibilities might be hybridized securing the political and economic futures along with an ecological impetus.