Research in the Pacific

Science

By Ian Williams

SCIENTIFIC co-operation between the United States and Pacific island states has genuine potential, thinks American Stuart Schwartzstein. In March he completed a month long tour of the region for the US National Science Foundation and his report outlines several possibilities for co-operation.

“It may just look like a lot of water when you look at the globe but the Pacific is an important area when you consider how much of the world’s surface it covers”. Not surprisingly, he suggests marine science as one suitable subject for joint work. His other suggested topics include work on bio-diversity, the num ber and inter-relations of species. There is room for epidemiological studies how ever, where the change in island diets has produced many new health problems.

“It was not a series of tropical paradises”, he said of his tour, in which he visited Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, FSM and the Marshalls. In some countries he was dismayed by the “wholesale adoption of American pop and consumer culture, and the over crowding”, that he saw. He stresses the islands should not be treated as if they were all the same. “Each of them is different, with a separate set of problems and strengths”. But one over-riding theme he discovered was local resent ment. Far too many researchers had been thoroughly colonial in their attitudes.

They came, used local facilities and help, and then left without acknowledging the local contribution, let alone sharing the results with them. Perhaps that is one reason he does not consider anthropo logical research. “I have a visceral reaction against it, I suppose. You know the old joke about the typical Pacific family, a mother, father, two kids and the

live-in anthropologist”.

As a result, some governments now insist on a deposit from researchers to be returned on presentation of their results or to be waived if the researchers worked in collaboration with a local partner.

For example Tonga insists on a $2OOO deposit and the approval of the project by Cabinet while would-be researchers in Samoa need the permission of the prime minister’s office.

Indeed, an additional problem with the colonial past is that what research has been done on the area is not collected or codified in a way that makes it regionally accessible. “One of the things I gave

some thought to as one of the next steps, is the possibility of an integrated co-ordinating data-base of research a thorough inventory of work that has been done”, Schwartzstein told PIM, adding there was the intriguing possi bility there may be research papers lurking in the libraries and archives of former colonial powers like Japan and Germany which could be useful in assessing changes in biodiversity.

“You know,” he adds, “there might even be some material in Finland. The library is Helsinki was one of the copyright libraries of the old Tsarist Russian empire, and may contain works by Russian seafarers and scientists”. In fact, Perestroika may yet reveal research done by naval and scientific teams.

Joint scientific re search between the Pa cific and the United States is more than just appearing like the ant and the elephant trying to march in step. There is genuine

potential co-operation

in the region could increase in the future.

He was impressed with the breadth of regional co-operation in bodies like SPREP and SOPAC and suggests a key role would be played by the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

“It’s not going to rival Caltech, M.I.T. or Oxford or Cambridge, but I do see it as being highly respected, with great prospects of developing research relevant to the region.”

However, it is not just universities, and atom-smashing that make for science.

“There should be more education for the whole population of the region in basic scientific knowledge just like there should be in the United States”, he adds.

“Even without tourism, they need to preserve what resources they have, and that includes basic science, like that

dumping raw sewage in lagoons is going to have a deleterious effect on them. In many ways, Pacific islands are more vulnerable not just to global change, bui to self-inflicted environmental disasters.’?

Hence one of the report’s conclusion! is that not only should any research be collaborative with local institution! wherever possible, it should also include a training component.

Of course his expedition taught him the hard way one of the major problem! of the region the sheer logisth difficulty of traversing thousands of mile: with infrequent travel links. “Sometime: I had to make a choice between spending one day or five in a place depending on the next connection”. Th< lack of equipment and supplies in mam outlying islands, the shorter life-span o scientific equipment designed for th temperate zone, and even the lack o electricity on some islands, all conspire t( hinder many advanced forms of scientifu endeavour. But on the bright side, h< reports the use and understanding o computers is growing, and, combinec with satellite technology, opens up mam

possibilities.

How was his mission greeted? “Th( government officials I spoke to were, a you might expect, mostly interested ii economic development. But some were of course, concerned with the environ ment”. However, he came away with th< impression the threat of global warmini

and catastrophic potential consequence

had overshadowed the real stress placet on the islands’ eco-systems by th< growing populations and import o consumer goods like motor vehicles.

On the American side, he had equalk mixed responses. “I have to say, tha with the exception of the Americai charge d’affaires to Western Samoa, th U.S. State Department was not ver interested in what I was doing th ambassador in Ponphei did not hav time to see me”, he says with hea\r irony.

USAID in Washington, however, i interested. Its assistant administrator Fo research and development, Richarc Bissell, was much more positive, “Wi have been looking for ideas and Stuar Schwartzstein’s paper provides them. Wi have a program in the South Pacifu that’s grown from almost nothing bus we are under heavy fiscal pressure ii Congress. If we survive that, then we’l be looking forward to increasing oui work in the region.”