Rt€@lll

-10
a sizeable informal economy operates throughout the Pacific. This is based on barter and
non-rnonetary currencies, s.rch as fine mats, home-grown produce or kinship obligations. The
statement usually made is that there are no old people's homes in the South Pacific. It would
be interesting to know m a statistical basis how many elderly people are in institutional care
in New Zealand compared to, say, Oregon. The cultural environnent is in other worde a
potent factor with far-reaching implications for the workability of developnent theories
imported from elsewhere.
The aspirations for higher material standards of living are often in conflict with the
traditional side of the culture, and this has created a set of unresolved tensiong - economic,
social and political. Although the option of reverting to self-sufficiency does exist in most
cases, ii can be ruled out as a realistic solution. It should however be reserved as a
contingency in development planning, to deal with emergency situations or global
catastrophes. It can also be a separate qlion for different individuals at different stages of
life or career. In New Zealand we do not take zufficient accounl of the real economy in use
of scarce resources (particularly overseas funds), represented by those who opt to work a
piece of land m a subsistence basis. In Pacific Island terms, their efforts would be seen as a
contribution to net national welfare.
However, this should not conceal the fact that development is going to be largely about
cash incomes and that an ever-increasing proportion of young people in the Pacific Islands
will be pursuing the material lifestyle they see on films, in tourist resorts and when they
travel to Auckland. Hmda and Sanyo have done more to chanqe Lhe modern Pacific than any
economic or political lheories. There is no turning back, and even in the mos! remote atolls
we now see cash stones operating, with remittances coming in to finance the trade. The
options for development put forward at election time throughout the self-governing Pacific,
bring out the simple fact that the voters wanL more cash in hand. There is no choice over
the inclusion of increased per capita income in any development plan. What does become
impontant is what else you add in.
This is where the philosophy of the "Pacific way" ean offer a clue. It seems that the
development thinkers of the region almost instinctively add in three components which are
impontant because of Lhe cultural conLext, These are:
a) the social impact of developmeni; where do people end up living, what does this rnean
for families, villages, whole islands?
b) the development of individual skills; in Lraditional lerms, the acquisition of skills was a
built-in process and most elders see no reason why the young should not carry on this
tradition in a Western-type economy.
c) the need t.o conserve resources and derive maximum welfare from a zustainable level of
nesource use.
These elements are very familiar to anyone dealing with environrnental assessmenl in
New Zealand. Indeed, the NZ Commission fon the f nvironment looks at particular projects in
an objective manner and in the totality of their effects on the New Zealand environnrent. If
there ane gaps in the planning of a venture, e.g. in the provision of adequate housing, these
will show up during the assessment process. Development theories for the Pacific Island
context must retain the habit of looking at all the consequences of a project before it is
endorsed by governments and other public authorities. The fullest involvement oTfFE local
communily in the implementation staqes is also essenLial. This is the best possible safeguard
against harmf ul environmental effects.
The theoretical framework will also go beyond Lraditional sector-by-sector plans, and
look aL the interacLion across sectors. Since the days of the National Development
Conference, New Zealand has itself moved in this direction. Mmt of the development plans
adopted in the Pacific have been "integrated" in this sense, and some of the work is
recognized as being very sophis[icated. The effectiveness of the theoreticel plan will
however come back to the three elements listed above, namely social impact, development of
human resources, and consenvation of natural resources. These elements will need to be
integrated not only in theory, but also in pnactice.