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PICs: Donors' preferences for sustainable development policies

Pacific Island Countries are heavily dependent on bilateral and multilateral aid donors and lenders. This has had a significant effect on its national environmental management activities. Most, if not all these donors and lenders now require environmental assessments of proposed projects as a pre-condition of granting aid or loans for development.

In recent years environmental sustainability has been a high priority area for donors and international agencies. While overall aid allocations to the region have been decreasing in real terms, the share going to environmental programs and projects has increased. As a consequence PICs environmental initiatives have to a significant degree been donor-driven. This has brought with it advantages in terms of start-up funding and technical assistance. However there has been a down side with respect to government's willingness to commit its own long-term resources to environmental issues and initiatives.

Aid donors play a leading role in environmental awareness and concerns in PICs. The largest bilateral donors in the Pacific Region are the Governments of Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The New Zealand Bilateral Framework Paper which guides New Zealand Overseas Development Assistance (NZODA) highlights "human resources and private sector development as corner stones of economic growth, while emphasising the sustainable development of natural resources". The environment is one of their listed priority areas for NZODA. New Zealand has translated this into an annual Environment Allocation under their aid programme for 1997/98.

The Government of Australia has placed strong emphasis on the sustainable use of natural resources. For example for its aid relationship with Tonga, Australian has produced a paper: "Australia's Aid with Tonga for 1995-99: Policy Direction". The aim of the Australian programme is "to support efforts by the Government of Tonga to enhance the management of the economy to achieve economic and social improvements through public sector reform, promotion of private sector development and the more sustainable use of the country's resources".

Japan has also expressed its desire for environmental concerns in the formulation of projects it funds. Japan, for example, recently advised the Tongan Government that one of three areas under which they consider giving grant aid to Tonga is establishing "environmental" programmes.

The concept of Environmental Impact Assessment in PICs remains driven by donor agencies. It is of note in Tonga, despite a Cabinet Decision in 1985 which directed EIA's to be undertaken on all major developmental activities, EIA's are usually not undertaken unless required by the donor or funding agency.

The invaluable contribution made to PIC environment programs and agencies by donors and international communities is acknowledged. However there is a concern that environmental policy and programmes are being dominated by donors. There is an over dependency of the various environmental agencies on donor funding. Governments have been able to evade to some extent financial responsibility for addressing environmental concerns. This in part may explain the low priority still being afforded the environment.

(reference: Synthesis paper on institutional arrangements and mechanisms in Pacific islands, ESCAP, 1999, unpublished)