For a long time, ‘national security’ policy was the preserve of the uniformed services and government ministers who drew up their frameworks largely behind closed doors. However the rise of many ‘unconventional’ security threats such as climate change and non-communicable diseases, plus community tensions over resource projects, highlight the need for the wider community to have input into national security policy.

Many security professionals may worry about big-picture geopolitics involving China’s military ambitions or ISIS terrorism, but mamas selling produce in the local market have more day to day concerns: will raskol gangs steal my produce on the way to market? Will our neighbours want to fight us for a better split of royalty payments from a nearby mine? Is our police force trust-worthy?

It is essential to make security policy more inclusive of broader social aspirations so that communities have more input on the security issues that affect them most at the local level.

In this paper, PiPP suggests that while the basic regional security architecture is in place, with agreements such as the Biketawa Declaration providing a ‘trigger’ mechanism to build regional responses to crisis, more needs to be done at a national and local level to keep the peace in Pacific nations. Most important of these is to provide space (and budgets) for ongoing peace-building and reconciliation measures, rooted in kastom practices. This is particularly true in post-conflict places such as Timor Leste, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands. Fortunately, the Pacific has a wealth of kastom peace-building traditions that are effective and can even be used beyond the region.

There is also a wider understanding of security issues emerging, such as the nexus between peace and development, resource exploitation and what ensures ‘human security’ more broadly. As one commentator says, ‘it is not about the securitisation of development, rather it is about the humanisation of security.’

In its latest Discussion Starter, Unsure Refuge, the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) investigates the consequences of a rapid increase in concessional lending to Pacific Island governments. With many investment projects failing and some of our countries heading on the path towards debt distress we reflect on whether it is time to reconsider lending practices across the region. The paper explores how the management of public finances is steadily being undermined by a desire to rapidly push through ill-thought-out lending agreements. Development partners create little space for understanding the full consequences of adding to debt burdens or to providing adequate analysis of investment projects.

Yet, at the same time, the vulnerability of Pacific Island states and their limited ability to meet the increasing demand for public services – including health and education – means we cannot tolerate the same levels of debt or continue to passively commit more revenues towards repayment. It is for this reason that we ask, “are our development partners acting like true friends?” Key messages of Unsure Refuge:

• The Pacific has witnessed a sudden increase in borrowing to pay for ill-considered infrastructure projects.
• Much of the lending has been based on flawed analysis – we can’t afford to keep making these mistakes.
• Our tolerance for debt must be a lot lower – our economies are too small and fragile to continue taking on more loans
• The rising cost of servicing debts means governments have less money to spend on services such as health and education

‘Business as usual is not a viable option. We are no longer on the same development journey that we began at the start of the new millennium. We must build a framework for the next era of global development that is legitimate and relevant, truly reflecting the development aspirations and challenges of people everywhere.’ – The Dili Consensus

Around the world, the pace is quickening in the process to determine what comes after the Millennium Development Goals expire in 2015. As custodian of the world’s largest ocean and home to some of its most vulnerable countries, the Pacific has a significant stake in redefining the global approach to development.

In its latest Discussion Starter, the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) investigates the need for a new perspective on development, one which encompasses peace-building, state-building and well-being as fundamental prerequisites for development. It tracks the efforts of new and vulnerable developing nations to build a new vision to guide global development past 2015, when the Millennium Development Goals expire.

BLUE MARBLE’s key messages:

• The MDGs were useful, but lacked the scope and specificity to properly address the needs of all developing countries, especially young, small and vulnerable nations. They did not reflect emerging priorities such as climate change and post-conflict nation building, and they ignored the role of wealthy nations in global development.
• A new set of development priorities is needed. Looking beyond 2015, the inescapable truth is that we need a fundamental shift in development thinking. The Dili Consensus states: ‘We know that the well-being of our people depends upon the achievement of outcomes that were not adequately reflected in the MDGs, most notably in the areas of peace and justice and climate change. We know that we must shape our collective future, and that where factors impeding development are beyond our control we must speak with one voice in articulating our expectations of the global community.’
• New visions require new voices. A number of new and revitalised international groupings are making themselves heard as we begin to define the post-2015 development agenda. The g7+, for example, has built consensus and solidarity in its assertion that peace-building and state-building goals are particularly relevant for post-conflict nations, as well as to new and to vulnerable countries, such as those in the Pacific. These nations are still seeking to build a sense of national identity and harmony amidst a maelstrom of competing forces.
• – Part of the challenge in this process is to find ways to streamline and consolidate policy initiatives via various groupings, whether sub-regionally, regionally, or internationally. Ultimately, each nation will chart its own course and identify its own priority areas, but building solidarity and sharing expertise benefits everyone.

As climate change begins to bite, Pacific governments are moving to think more deeply about how to integrate climate change into national security and other development policies. How is it affecting water and food security, energy security and international diplomacy?

This paper looks at concerns over the potential for loss of sovereignty, mass migration, military confrontation and the way climate aid-for-influence can have geopolitical consequences. It also frames the situation in the post-MDG (Millenium Development Goals) world that we are rapidly approaching.

Although the challenge ahead is confronting, this paper suggests the global interest in the post 2015-MDG development agenda presents an opportunity for our leaders to press our concerns more robustly on the international stage. It is apparent that future security issues will be driven by climate change, and it is these issues that will drive the development agenda in our region.

As the strategic importance of the region grows in a new era of superpower contest, Pacific nations are in a better position to make stronger demands in global forums to address the challenges and help provide global leadership.

But are we missing something?

The creative economy – based on art, music, film, media etc – has often been overlooked as a driver of economic growth, but is known to have an important knock-on effect on tourism and broader investment.

PiPP’s latest discussion paper looks into the need for Pacific governments and development partners to prioritise arts and culture.

A healthy arts and culture environment is fundamental to nation building. There are opportunities to expand economic activity through tourism and providing opportunities to exhibit and market creative works in metropolitan countries. The internet has a role to play, but is no silver bullet. Information sharing is vital in order for economic realities of the creative sector to be realised.

Commercialisation comes with risks, however, better policies will be required to protect rights associated with ownership of cultural knowledge, particularly with respect to asserting authenticity.

‘We live in a world of change; change is unfamiliar, we ignore it, we avoid it; often we try to resist it. Today we are talking more about it.’

So said a Facebook user recently in response to the political turmoil in Papua New Guinea. Internet use is on the rise throughout the Pacific. From Fiji’s warring blogs, to new online businesses in Vanuatu, to Tonga’s inflows of cash and cultural influences from nationals living abroad. Across the Pacific the internet is ending the tyranny of distance and strengthening social bonds.

With increasing access to the internet, the latest discussion paper from the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PiPP) examines this shifting technology landscape.

Some of the key messages highlighted in PiPP’s latest discussion starter include:

» The internet is here to stay. Leaders who accept it and engage with an increasingly connected citizenry will benefit.

» Some may see this trend as a threat, but it’s manageable, especially by getting ahead of the game and helping, not hindering, this proliferation.

» Open competition and a strong independent regulatory environment generate the most benefit for everyone. Healthy competition also allows government to maintain balance in an economic sector whose value will only increase.

» Online social networks have a lot in common with traditional society, which gives Pacifc islanders a distinct edge as they learn to apply new tools to ageold tradition

When Cyclone Yasi hit the southern islands of Vanuatu earlier this year, it destroyed many of the gardens that people rely on. But people in the Pacific have long developed methods of preserving food and surviving when affected by drought and cyclones.

‘When cyclones knock over our banana and manioc, we use the leaves to cover them up until they are ripe’ says Mary from Tanna. ‘We also use black palm to scrape and pound the young bananas, which makes them soft and we can make laplap. Also, the young manioc can be buried and stored underground for up to three months so we have something to eat until our gardens start to grow back again.’ These remain important customs for survival, but Mary worries that some of this knowledge is being lost. ‘After Cyclone Yasi, everyone expected the government to come and help them. It took a long time and when finally the government did respond by bringing rice, there were disputes over whether distribution was fair. It is important that our community remembers our customs so we can rely on ourselves for food, especially during disasters’.

It is not only natural disasters that are impacting on food security. The Pacific has become a region of contradictions when it comes to food: once abundant, there are now increasing pockets of malnutrition and hunger, especially among rural and peri- urban children, while at the same time the Pacific has some of the highest levels of obesity and diabetes in the world.

The key messages of this paper are:

• There is a risk of increased malnutrition and hunger in the Pacific. Rapid urbanisation has left the urban poor without access to land and income opportunities, while climate change is putting pressure on the regions rural food producers.

• Agricultural productivity has declined in previous decades. In 2007, productivity in the Pacific was only 22% of the developing country average.

• Fisheries and agricultural led economic growth can improve food security. Growing a diverse range of high value crops, and getting a fairer deal on tuna, will help the Pacific realize its economic advantages. Long-term growth will also require increased investment and careful land reform.

• The use of traditional techniques to manage natural disasters has long proven successful in the Pacific. But there is room to improve these techniques with advanced research to build future resilience.

Most people thinking about the Pacific picture a tranquil rural setting, surrounded by coconut trees, the serene ocean and living an agricultural life that is plentiful in fruit and root crops with a sea teeming with fish. That postcard perfect landscape is changing. The population numbers are not as dramatic as the world’s mega cities, but the Pacific is facing simultaneously high population growth and rapidly accelerating urbanisation. In most cases we are simply not well enough prepared to cope with the challenges and opportunities that presents. Urbanisation needs to be managed, and urban management needs to be viewed as a national priority. It requires governments to give serious consideration to housing, health, education, investment and employment policies; it requires people to think about how they want to live – to define what it means to be a Pacific islander in the 21st century.

The Pacific’s population is booming, with estimates indicating it now exceeds 10 million and is expected to reach 15 million by 2035. According to a recent report of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community ‘the growth rate means that another 188,000 people – equivalent to the population of Samoa – are being added to the total each year’1. In every country of the Pacific, urban population growth is exceeding the national growth rate. Yet, with a few exceptions, urbanisation has been ignored or viewed as a negative trait to be stopped, as governments and development agencies have tended to focus their attention on rural development. Trying to keep people out of cities and towns is futile, and stands in the way of initiatives to ensure growing populations have access to the services and facilities required to sustain and improve people’s quality of life.

The key messages of this paper are:

• Urbanisation needs to be seen and managed as a national priority, and a new mindset is required that looks positively, not negatively, at the urban process.