A Comparative Study of New Zealand and Japan's ODA Policy toward the Pacific Region

Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - Topic: International relations, grade: 3.6, University of Tokyo, course: International Relations, language: English, abstract: New Zealand and Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) Policy play an important role in assisting the Pacific Island Countries economically and socially, especially now as climate change has become a threat to economic and social growth. With climate change, low-lying atolls such as Kiribati face economic failure, unhealthy population, and poverty. In this thesis, I will discuss how New Zealand and Japan's ODA play an important role in the development of Kiribati, focusing on education, climate change, and economic development.It is widely known that the implications of climate change have been one of the major problems of this century. Small island nations suffered dramatically, in particular, those with limited resources like Kiribati. In today's politics, it is hard for countries like China and the United States to accept that climate change is being caused by human activities, especially when they are trying to boost their economy. However, New Zealand and Japan recognized that human act did indeed contribute to climate change and its impacts; therefore they agreed to extend some support through their Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy, especially to countries that are vulnerable to climate change and its impacts, such as Kiribati.With that perspective, New Zealand and Japan came to realize that focusing on education, economic development and climate change will be a productive way to assist Kiribati to tackle climate change issues. For instance, investing in education is a long-term strategy, which provides local governments and citizens with the skills and knowledge that needed for the development of their country. On the other hand, aid on climate change and other related matters often build resilience during the time of disasters, allowing the government and its population to recover and rebuild from sudden natural disasters such as cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and so forth.