"East Asia is undergoing a remarkable transformation, but at the same time it faces an increasing number of potentially destabilizing security challenges. While there has been growing attention to the need for governmental cooperation to make the region more secure, much less attention has been paid to what is happening outside of official circles. Yet nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the region have, in fact, quietly been playing a greater role in responding to security threats. In this volume, authors from the region explore how NGOs are becoming a growing force in five areas - piracy, disaster relief, human trafficking, health, and climate change - to shed light on how they are helping to make East Asia more secure and on the potential for civil society to serve as a catalyst for deeper regional cooperation"--P. [4] of cover.