Most people don’t associate poverty with the Pacific. It is usually linked to the suffering of children
in Africa or the backbreaking labor of so many in Asia. Both are a far cry from the image of a Pacific
well know, the reality is not always as idyllic as the image.
The Pacific Islands are vulnerable to natural disasters, most have few resources, almost all are
remote, and many have small populations. Over the years, Pacific Islanders have learned to cope.
They have developed cultures based on both cooperation and sharing with strong support systems that oblige people to share what they have with their families and communities. And they have
developed production systems that are designed to cope with these risks.
Pacific Islanders are rightly proud of their cultures and, in particular, these reciprocity obligations.
So proud in fact that many have trouble accepting that poverty is, or can be, an issue in their
society.
One commonly held view is that Pacific Islanders live in a state of subsistence affluence. This is
certainly not true for all; and even when true, it is a narrow confine with few opportunities for
change and development. The standard of education and resources available; the remoteness
from the world economy; limits on participation and traditional land management systems combine
to restrict the opportunities available to most Pacific Islanders. There is little that is new in this; for
generations many Pacific Islanders have struggled to achieve a reasonable standard of living from
the available resources.
While poverty lines are not available for most to the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Pacific
Developing Member Countries (PDMCs), the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP)
Human Poverty Index (HPI)1 provides a guide to the number of disadvantaged in the Pacific. The
HPI analysis indicates that close to 43 percent of the total population of the PDMC are disadvantaged. Ninety-five percent of these disadvantaged live in the three Melanesian countries. While the
HPI provides a guide to those at risk, it is not a poverty line. It is important that further work be done
in the PDMCs to determine the number of poor and disadvantaged in each country so that appropriate intervention and support programs can be designed and implemented.
Traditionally, support from the extended family or community went a long way to alleviating poverty;
but for this system to work, it is necessary that the giver be able to improve the livelihood of the
receiver. If the whole family or community is poor, there may be little it can do to alleviate the
poverty of any member. There are communities, families, and individuals throughout the Pacific
who, despite the social support systems, live in hard-core poverty
Thus, poverty of opportunity persists and in some cases, is getting worse, despite a fairly widespread capacity to do something effective about it.
After 20 or more years of determined attempts by many agencies and governments to stimulate
growth, the majority of Pacific Islanders continue to rely on household production for their subsistence. Overall, the performance of the PDMCs remains disappointing. Poverty is a real issue in
many of the PDMCs and even the better-off countries struggle to provide productive employment
for their workforce.
In the past, the traditional support systems provided most with at least enough support to maintain
a basic life style. As the economies become increasingly monetized and come under the pressure
of continuing population growth, the traditional support systems are breaking down. One consequence is an increase in the incidence, depth, and severity of poverty throughout the Pacific.
As stated in the ADB’s Pacific Strategy for the New Millennium, the five key development challenges facing the PDMCs over the medium term are: (i) disappointing macroeconomic and growth
performance over the past decade; (ii) increasing poverty, particularly in Papua New Guinea,
Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu; (iii) continuing reliance on large government investments due to
inadequate private sector response; (iv) increasing environmental degradation; and (v) little progress
in strengthening the role of women in political, economic, and social spheres.
In its publication, Fighting Poverty in Asia and the Pacific: The Poverty Reduction Strategy, the
ADB outlines the objectives and issues that must be addressed if the goal of equitable growth is to
be achieved. The objectives are described as the Three Pillars of Growth: Good Governance,
Social Development, and Sustainable Growth. This analysis provides a useful guide to the suite of
issues that must be addressed.
Duncan and Pollard2 have extended the analysis to incorporate the hierarchy of institutional constraints that must be satisfied to achieve equitable growth.
