To be or not to be?

Opinion

SPC turns 50 years old

On February 6, 1997, the South Pacific Commission will cele brate 50 years of service to Pacific Island Countries and Territories.

The SPC’s role in the development of the region has remained constant since the Canberra Agreement established the organisation in 1947 and has reflected and shaped Island regionalism that has built today’s Pacific.

The heart of the SPC is its integrated work programme which focuses on tech nical assistance, education and training and is delivered through courses, work shops and seminars at in-country, sub

regional and regional levels.

Agriculture and fishing, whether com mercial or subsistence, are the main activities for most of the region’s popula tion and constitute the Commission’s largest programmes.

The Commission is continuing to refine its role as it looks towards its next 50 years of service to ensure it is particu larly responsive to the needs of atoll countries, territories and small Island States.

Per capita, the region is still one of the most heavily aid assisted in the world but economic growth has been marginal, giv

ing rise to the so-called “Pacific para dox”. Small physical size, remoteness from the main trading centres, lack of arable land in many countries and territo ries and a rapidly growing youth popula tion are some of the challenges.

The region is also environmentally fragile, with parts being vulnerable to natural disasters such as cyclones, earth quakes and volcanic eruptions, while global warming has the potential to com pletely submerge atoll countries such as the Marshall Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu.

Thus, regional co-operation, in the words of former SPC Secretary-General Dr Macu Salato, is a case of “unity in diversity”.

Addressing regional development needs requires an integrated and flexible approach which takes account of the dif ferences between Island Countries and Territories.

Dr Richard Herr, University of Tasmania academic and author of a book to mark the SPC’s 50th anniversary, shares a long association with the Commission initially coming into contact with the organisation 20 years ago.

Dr Herr says the days when the likes of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (now Fiji’s

president) and Albert Henry (Cook

Islands) attended SPC conferences are no more and describes the period of leader ship in the mid-1960s to late 1970 s as a time for change and one where the lead ership of the era had a far more exciting job as architects for change compared to their present-day counterparts.

“The present leaders do not have the same stage on which to perform,” Dr Herr says.

“They do not have the chance to write history in the same way.

“At the time, the tide was running for

the leadership.

“It is now running against the present leadership who do not have the same power to restructure the world today.

“In some ways, the current leaders have greater challenges to meet. Of course, economies are in dire straits, eth nic tensions exist but, on the whole, the region is more exemplary than some oth ers, although, if the region is paradise, one must bear in mind there is also a snake in paradise.

“But while the region may not be what it should be, it is, however, better than what it could be.

“The one complaint one could make is to say where the (SPC’s) leadership of 20 years ago saw co-operation as necessary and desirable, it is unfortunate that today’s leadership is embattled by finan cial defeat.

“Trying to paddle a regional canoe in different directions does not work. Today, the SPC has a robust and varied regional system and the challenge is to keep it that way.

“If the organisation cannot do this this would be weakness,” Dr Herr says.

“A genuinely critical challenge facing

the SPC is the need for good programme restructuring and focusing on more responsibility for small Island States.

“Therefore the organisation needs to give its members more than they put in.

“If the small Island States of the Pacific are to enjoy as full a part in the

international community, they will

always have to share some points of com mon purpose and they should not be crit icised for not being able to meet all their needs.”

Dr Herr feels a necessary weakness of the SPC is that its charter often means it is landed with what he describes as

The Spc

Debbie

Singh

“unwanted babies of the region” - or pro jects that don’t have homes.

When the SPC was founded in 1947 there were six full members - Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and the United States - those metropolitan countries who were signatories to the Canberra Agreement.

It was decided then that the expenses of the Commission would be covered by the six founding member countries and would be divided as such: • Australia 30 per cent; • the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom 15 per cent; and • France and the United States 12.5 per cent.

Today, the SPC draws its regular (core) budget from contributions of all its 26 member countries and territories, each of which is assessed on an agreed formu la.

The largest contributors are the

remaining metropolitan governments of

Australia, France, New Zealand and the United Sates.

Voluntary contributions (extra bud getary or non-core) are also provided by some member countries and territories, other governments, various aid agencies, international organisations and external sources.

The Commission’s 1996 budget totals 16,533,284 CFP units (approximately

SUSI 7 million).

Dr Herr says he does not see the SPC extra-budgetary funding as a “begging bowl” but rather as part of a global pro cess of responsibility on the part of the SPC and its donors.

“The SPC does not exist as a social welfare body - it is a catalytic organisa tion.

“I think it will survive the current belt-tightening period and will begin

sharing responsibility with other regional

organisations.”

On the SPC’s organisational review Dr Herr says he hopes the Commission does not go the way of the Forum fol lowing that organisation’s review last year and subsequent cost-saving mea sures which thereby reduced its opera tions by 40 per cent.

“If the SPC were to be reduced to this it would be disappointing.”

The Commission has changed shape considerably since 1947.

In 1943, William D Forsyth, then a research officer in the Australian External Affairs Department (and later the SPC’s first and fifth Secretary- General), in a report on the post-war Pacific, proposed the establishment of a South Seas Commission.

He envisaged a regional commission playing a similar role to the Caribbean Commission founded in 1942.

The story of the SPC’s evolution is best told through the development of its membership and that of the four sectors in its original structure: • The Commission proper; • the Research Council; • the South Pacific Conference; and • the Secretariat.

Only two of these bodies survive

today.

Temporary headquarters were set up in Sydney, Australia, after the signing of the Canberra Agreement.

At the Commission’s first formal meeting in May 1948 it was agreed a per manent headquarters needed to found and it was agreed that Noumea, New Caledonia, become the permanent site for the SPC.

The move was made almost immedi ately and without too much expense and, in 1949, a large wooden structure, face tiously named the Pentagon (former wartime headquarters of US Admiral Halsey) became the Commission’s new home.

But doubt existed about the life of the wooden buildings intended for tempo rary wartime occupation in a land where termites flourished and, despite constant renovation and maintenance, the state of the Pentagon deteriorated, maintenance costs climbed and the lack of office space to accommodate the Commission’s growing staff numbers became a pressing concern.

In 1992 it was decided a new site would be built at Anse Vata and funded by France, New Caledonia and Australia.

This has now been accomplished and the Commission’s 131 Noumea-based

staff have been moved into the new head quarters dubbed the “canoe” because its design evokes the importance of the ocean for Pacific Islanders and the curv ing roof of the conference building and library portray the hull of an upturned canoe while a reflecting pool symbolises the ocean.

The Commission’s 36th conference will be held in Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in October/November and among agenda items will be a proposed name change for the Commission.

But, says Dr Herr, while the title “South Pacific Commission” may not be fully descriptive of the region it is a brand that is well recognised.

“If the SPC were a commercial enter prise, there would be a need to reassure people - sort of like the analogy that Coke is still Coke.

“Brand recognition is a valuable asset,” he said.

“The SPC has its scars but sometimes these become trophies.

“They should not, however, be cov ered with the make-up of a new name.”

And will the SPC be around for another 50 years?

According to the vision of its Secretary-General Dr Bob Dun, the SPC is about serving the region well in the face of change.

“The established role of the SPC is not something that’s going to disappear for many, many years - and maybe not for a second 50.

“Priorities may change but the need is going to be there.

“The regional approach will still be cost-effective.

“There’s nothing power seeking and aggrandisement about it. And it’s all achievable.

“It deals in reality. It’s all about ser vice to the region and, particularly, about better service to the atoll countries and small Island States.

“The SPC is going to bat on and make a ton and then go for the bowling.

“What a pity I won’t be around to see it,”Dr Dun says. ■