major obstacle

Population growth a major obstacle

On a per capita basis the small island states of the Pacific re ceive more aid than anyone else on earth, says the Jackson Report. And yet, in deve lopment terms, the South Paci fic is a region of contradictions.

Compared with other areas the need for aid is marginal for, even where poverty exists in statistical terms the quality of life is high. Land areas are small, but sea areas and dist ances enormous. Populations are also small, but population growth is a major obstacle to development, the report says.

All of these factors must be taken into account by Austra lian aid managers, it says, be cause, despite the present real prosperity and quality of life available generally in the re gion, there is “a danger that ’subsistence affluence’ could become ’subsistence poverty,’ at least in some island coun tries.”

Economically, the islands are not of major importance, although they provide modest, but useful, trading opportuni ties. Strategically, however, their location gives them special significance.

Freer movement “In the longer term the is lands may also benefit from closer association, a freer movement of goods, capital and labor, and some rationalisation of resources on a regional basis,” says the report.

“Australian aid policy should take account of the special characteristics of its small island neighbors. The Australian De velopment Assistance Bureau (ADAB), through which aid is channelled, should develop special expertise in this area.”

Within the 8 million square kilometres making up the land and sea area of the South Pacific there live only 2 million people formed into nine inde pendent nation states and two

self-governing states in free association with New Zealand.

All face critical development problems in the next ten years, the report says, because their populations are increasing rapidly, their economic growth and opportunities are limited, and there is prospect of di minishing-aid from former colo nial powers.

The aid burden on Australia and New Zealand was not likely to diminish, and could increase, as it seemed likely they would be called on for additional assistance when the French and U.S, territories became inde pendent.

Uneven growth

While all the South Pacific island countries shared com mon problems of smallness and remoteness, they had major differences in peoples, re sources and levels of deve lopment. Economic growth had been uneven, reflecting varia tions in natural and human resource.

The report briefly summed up its views of the island na tions, putting them into three broad categories. Fiji was in a class of its own, being, the report said, the traditional trade entrepot for the region, having a well-established system of trade and a work-force both larger and more skilled than its regional colleagues. Yet, it had problems, among them its par tial dependence upon donor technical assistance, its difficul ties with successful export promotion, and a large bureaucracy. (About 60 per cent of the wage-earning popu lation is on the government payroll).

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati, in the next group, were more aid dependent, and had more limited economic capa city. They lacked sufficient ex pertise in business and govern ment and did not have the economies of scale to over come skill deficiencies, said the report.

“Of the remaining states,

Tuvalu has a unique combina tion of minute size, tiny popula tion and almost total lack of resources. It is a state without internal economic viability, and it will have to remain depen dent on remittances and aid.”

The Cook Islands and Niue, it said, were only slightly better off, but drew substantial sup port from New Zealand.

The Micronesian islands were roughly in the same category but were likely to maintain close economic ties with the United States. However, there might be some role in South Pacific affairs for them, particularly through the Federated States of Micronesia.

Narrow base

The two French territories were not really included in the survey, since , technically speaking they are part of France, but, “New Caledonia might be important to Australia in the future, particularly if political independence were to bring a withdrawal of French economic support,” the report said.

In the long term natural and human resources would influ ence the living standards attain able in the islands. Most coun tries had a narrow resource base.

The fact that the region was

(a) Sea areas based on 200 mile exclusive economic zone. (b) Includes aid from industrial countries and multilateral sources.

Source: (i) South Pacific Commission, South Pacific Economies 1980, Statistical Summary, Noumea, 1982 (ii) Asian Development Bank, Key Indicators of Developing Country Members of the Asian Development Bank, Vol. XIV, April 1983. (iii) OECD, Development Co-operation, Paris, November, 1983. (iv) UNCTAD, Special action relating to the particular needs and problems of island developing countries. Document TD/279 (Part II), June, 1983.

(V) Adab.

Small is beautiful, but still small!

Box 11.2 Pacific island states and territories; basic indicators Land Sea area area ,a> Km 2 {'000 Km 2 ) Population ('000) Density

(people /

Km 2 ) 1980 1980 Total GNP per GNP capita (USfm) (US$) 1980 Adult literacy % 1982 Aid

flows""

<USfm) 1982 Aid Per capita (US$) 1982-83 Ausl. bilateral aid (SAm) 1982 Ausl. bilateral aid as % of total aid Cook Islands 240 1830 17.9 75 20 1360 91.8 10.4 581 0.69 5.0

Fiji

18 272 1290 634.1 35 1160 1850 75.0 35.4 56 12.04 44.0

French Polynesia

3265 5030 148.1 45 1004 6780 94.5 173.2 1169 0.01 — Kiribati 690 3550 58.6 86 50 770 95.0 15.1 258 2.03 18.0 Nauru 21 320 7.3 348 70 9091 0.0 0 (•) — New Caledonia 19 103 1740 139.4 7 1100 7830 91.3 158.7 1138 (•) — Niue 259 390 3.4 13 3 1080 100.0 4.4 1294 0.03 4.0 Solomon Islands 28 530 1340 225.2 8 110 460 51.0 28.4 126 8.08 25.0 Tokelau 10 290 1.6 160 1 560 97.2 1.9 1188 (•) —

Tonga

699 700 97.4 139 50 520 99.6 17.3 177 4.01 34.0 T uvalu 26 900 7.5 288 4 570 98.0 6.2 827 1.01 14.0 Vanuatu 11 880 680 117.5 10 60 531 26.0 221 5.09 18.0 Western Samoa 2935 120 156.4 53 119 770 97.8 22.9 146 7.02 25.0

divided into three distinct cultu ral groups, Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian, constrained development in a variety of ways, although each culture provided a degree of social cohesion. Yet each sys tem also held back such aspects of development as larger and more economic agriculture, as well as domestic and tourist investment because of custom ary land ownership and land transfer systems. Being small offered the islands some advan tages, among them the fact that only modest economic changes would be sufficient to solve some of the balance of pay ments, income and other prob lems. Traditional agriculture such as livestock, copra and fisheries, could be improved by

more economic holdings, small processing plants, better marketing and planning for bulk transport.

“Cash crops could increase export earnings, but careful planning is needed to obtain maximum returns in regional markets. Possibilities include coffee, cocoa, palm oil, tropical fruits, vegetables, pepper, vanil la and certain new crops such as tropical fruits and flowers,” the report said.

Tourism was underde veloped. Even Fiji had a long way to go in building up associ ated service industries such as local tours, handicrafts and lo cal foodstuffs.

“In some islands, recreational facilities are inadequate, and

small national airlines are com peting wastefully with each other,” said the report., “It is disappointing that Nauru with its significant financial resources has not done more to promote regional tourism.”

Artificial hopes

Many of the island communi ties suffered from artificially high expectations of standards of living, and public services.

Food consumption had be come heavily weighted towards processed foods, particularly canned fish. “Villagers often expect government to provide bridges and roads, when con struction is well within their own capability and local materials

are available.

“Colonial powers,and the major trading firms have en couraged the growth of high expectations which are now so firmly entrenched that it will be politically difficult to deny them.”

Australia also came in for some scrutiny in the report, at least so far as her image among the small island countries is concerned, and also the performance of her aid admi nistrators.

Both,the report concluded, needed some care and atten tion, largely because they had been allowed, like Topsy, just to grow without very much attention to their size, shape, education and general allure.