ADB’S POINT MAN IN THE PACIFIC
Greenwood is a different kind of banker

By Peter Wagner
HONOLULU (Pacific Islands Report, Jan. 26) – The Asian Development Bank in 2007 commissioned a study of major developments in Papua New Guinea, notably the huge Ok Tedi copper mine, and their impacts on island culture and ways of life. The study found that the mine, which began operating in a remote headwater of PNG’s Western Province in 1984, delivered both wealth and woe.

The project site, near a tributary of the Ok Tedi River, was bordered by two isolated tribes – the Wopkamins and the Upper Awins –totaling about 800 people. The rugged mountain people had an average life span of 25 to 30 years and had seen little of the outside world.

The study traced the upward arc of material wealth that the mine brought to the Wopkamins and the Upper Awins: the comforts of clean water and electricity, roads, cash and food. And, as the area’s population grew to nearly 3,000, modern health extended lives and reduced infant mortality.

But the mine, which dumped 80 million tons of toxic waste into the river each year, also brought environmental havoc. The river was diverted from its natural path and huge swaths of productive land went fallow.

The development arc then began its gradual descent, as calls for closure of the lucrative operation took effect and it was agreed the mine would shut down in 2012. The Wopkamins and Upper Awins today are facing the prospect of a return to a harsh lifestyle, one without the luxuries they learned to enjoy.

The ADB study found that heavy reliance on unsustainable developments like the Ok Tedi mine pose a threat to fragile communities in the developing Pacific and that proper direction and planning are critical from the start to avoid a painful fall.

This scenario, acted out in many variations across the Pacific, offers up the fundamental challenge of economic development in this vast region of countless islands, diverse cultures and hundreds of tongues. It is a challenge that for the past 54 years has been fielded by the Asian Development Bank – oldest of international development institutions in the region. And it falls squarely in the lap of C. Lawrence Greenwood, Jr.

The clear-eyed financial expert and former U.S. State Department official is vice president of ADB operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific and it’s his job to raise living standards from Nukualofa to Delhi.

Last year, the ADB put $300 million in loans, grants and technical assistance into Pacific island countries – from roads and infrastructure in the Solomon Islands to climate change adaptation in low-lying atolls of the North Pacific.

"It’s sometimes easy to overlook the Pacific islands when you compare them with places like India and China," he said "But even small economies have big problems."

Greenwood, who oversees operations amounting to $5.6 billion yearly and leads a staff of 249, is in Honolulu this week for meetings with U.S. State Department officials. He told Pacific Islands Report that studies of the Ok Tedi mine and similar initiatives have taught the ADB how to focus it’s efforts.

"We’ve tried to learn lessons from the past," said Greenwood. "One problem we’ve identified is the need to respect traditions and work with landowner groups at the local level."

The problem with PNG’s ambitious Ok Tedi project, Greenwood notes, was a lack of consideration of the region’s capacity for development –roads and infrastructure to transport goods, schools and public services, technical training and government oversight. The ADB today has brought these factors into sharp focus, seeking to lay the groundwork for economic development before it arrives. But, with foreign mining and oil companies jostling for position in richly-endowed Papua New Guinea, development has often come at a high cost to indigenous cultures and the environment.

"The choice to grow or not to grow is up to them," said Greenwood. Our job is to lay out these choices. It’s not our job to go in there and tell them that it’s a good thing or not a good thing."

But clean water and access to modern medical care are good things, he said, and the ADB has narrowed its effort to raise living standards among the region’s poor.

"We pay attention to problems we can solve," he said.

Far from discouraged by the political instability and logistical difficulty of operating among the Pacific’s the widely scattered islands, Greenwood believes it’s just a matter of time before the Melanesian nations learn to manage their natural resources, Polynesia finds balance in culture and economy and Micronesia accepts its migratory trend and the remittances it brings.

What worries Greenwood, however, is the rising sea that already is claiming precious real estate in low-lying nations like Tuvalu.

"It’s one of those things we have little control over," he said. "In very extreme cases where some islands may disappear, mass migration might be necessary. For Pacific islands, the issue is not really mitigation; it’s adaption. And that requires financing. We’ve been working with Pacific islands now for the past couple of years with climate change adaptation programs. But it’s not an easy time to get donor nations to do anything meaningful and funding has been hard to come by."

Meanwhile, the ADB has added "climate proofing" to its contracts in vulnerable Pacific countries.

"Bridges that used to be three meters above the water now are built with a clearance of four meters," he said. "River pilings must be more substantial. Hydro projects must have bigger sluiceways, to handle the additional runoff."

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