Comparing South Korea and Germany’s official development assistance projects in climate protection in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam

Author(s):  
Donata Bessey ◽  
Michelle Palumbarit

Purpose This explorative study aims to compare and analyze the behavior of a traditional and an emerging donor, namely, Germany and South Korea, in the field of climate change-related official development assistance (ODA). It analyzes their ODA projects in 2013 in four Southeast Asian countries severely affected by climate change, namely, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. It also adapts the existing framework to categorize ODA allocation according to receiving countries’ need and merit and donors’ self-interest. Design/methodology/approach The paper first describes both countries’ policies and activities. It then uses a country’s vulnerability to climate change as a measure of its need, its climate change readiness as a measure of its merit and its bilateral trade volume in environmental goods with donor countries as a measure of donors’ self-interest to analyze the allocation of climate-related ODA. Findings Results suggest that Korean ODA in the field of climate protection is driven more by receiving countries’ need and merit, but self-interest seems to be important for both donors. In addition, many projects labeled as adaptation or mitigation projects only have a weak link to these goals. There are limitations to the present paper. First, it could only analyze projects in 2013 because there are no earlier project data available in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Creditor Reporting System. Second, because of the simplifying assumptions of the need–merit–self-interest framework, possible other determinants of aid allocation were deliberately ignored. Finally, this explorative study is restricted to four vulnerable countries in Southeast Asia. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to compare a traditional and an emerging donor’s behavior and to explore the allocation of climate-related ODA using the need–merit–self-interest framework.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amna Zardoub ◽  
Faouzi Sboui

PurposeGlobalization occupies a central research activity and remains an increasingly controversial phenomenon in economics. This phenomenon corresponds to a subject that can be criticized through its impact on national economies. On the other hand, the world economy is evolving in a liberalized environment in which foreign direct investment plays a fundamental role in the economic development of each country. The advent of financial flows – FDI, remittances and official development assistance – can be a key factor in the development of the economy. The subject of this article is to analyses the effect of financial flows on economic growth in developing countries. Empirically, different approaches have been employed. As part of this work, an attempt was made to use a panel data approach. The results indicate ambiguous effects and confirm the results of previous work.Design/methodology/approachThe authors seek to study the effect of foreign direct investment, remittances and official development assistance (ODA) and some control variables i.e. domestic credit, life expectancy, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), inflation and three institutional factors on economic growth in developing countries by adopting the panel data methodology. Then, the authors will discuss empirical tests to assess the econometric relevance of the model specification before presenting the analysis of the results and their interpretations that lead to economic policy implications. As part of this work, the authors have rolled panel data for developing countries at an annual frequency during the period from 1990 to 2016. In a first stage of empirical analysis, the authors will carry out a technical study of the heterogeneity test of the individual fixed effects of the countries. This kind of analysis makes it possible to identify the problems retained in the specific choice of econometric modeling to be undertaken in the specificities of the panel data.FindingsThe empirical results validate the hypotheses put forward and indicate the evidence of an ambiguous effect of financial flows on economic growth. The empirical findings from this analysis suggest the use of economic-type solutions to resolve some of the shortcomings encountered in terms of unexpected effects. Governments in these countries should improve the business environment by establishing a framework that further encourages domestic and foreign investment.Originality/valueIn this article, the authors adopt the panel data to study the links between financial flows and economic growth. The authors considered four groups of countries by income.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4269
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rosenberg

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre was launched in 2005, culminating a process that included three precursor projects: Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change (1997–2001); Adapting to Climate Change in the Caribbean (2001–2004); and Mainstreaming Climate Change (2003–2009). Each benefited from multiple sources of official development assistance (ODA), clearly defined tasks, and leadership from the region’s scientific and technical communities. Shared goals and principles across the projects included: use of bottom-up participatory methods; building the technical capacity of national and regional institutions; mainstreaming adaptation in economic development programs; and partnering with governmental, non-governmental, and private sector organizations. This article applies concepts from the global environmental politics literature on interplay, environmental policy integration, and regional governance to trace the institutionalization of the Centre. Fifteen semi-structured interviews and reviews of project documents reveal how the Centre built capacity to plan and manage projects, act as a regional hub for technical support and data, participate in the multi-level political interplay required to secure ODA, while exploring other funding sources; and the extent to which it has been able to maintain its commitment to bottom-up, participatory methods, effective internal and external communications, social assessment, and monitoring and evaluation of projects.


Significance The senior leadership seeks to defend its position within China, first and foremost by preserving and strengthening the power of the Party through which it rules. China’s growing wealth and power create new opportunities for the Party to bolster its power -- and give rise to new threats that could undermine it. Impacts China’s ambitions centre on itself; they do not involve remaking the world in China’s image. China’s interests converge with other states' on climate change and economic cooperation; disputes concern how gains and costs are shared. China’s pursuit of its self-interest may sometimes have positive spill-overs, such as when it shares innovations, freely or otherwise. Despite controversies and setbacks, the Belt and Road will provide infrastructure critical for economic development globally. Beijing, long a practitioner of commercial espionage, is becoming bolder in its use of cyber operations to pursue its foreign policy agenda.


Subject Corruption in the aid industry. Significance The publication of the Aid Transparency Index on April 13 has drawn attention to weaknesses in the governance of aid organisations. Official development assistance reached 90 billion pounds (135 billion dollars) in 2014 and was supplemented by large amounts of voluntary donations. Much of this aid is distributed in contexts where corruption is rife, raising risks for agencies that they will become involved in damaging scandals. Impacts The public will pressure aid agencies to demonstrate that funds are well-spent and cannot be siphoned off by local elites for private gain. Corruption scandals are making it more difficult for charities and NGOs to raise money from the public. Clear governance structures for mitigating corruption risk would help reduce the potential for fraud in NGOs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-264
Author(s):  
Dennis Patterson ◽  
Jangsup Choi

AbstractSouth Korea is the only nation to become an important donor nation after being a recipient of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for several decades. In 2010, it became a member of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, and while it has continued to use its experience as a former ODA recipient to inform its distribution practices, it also has evolved its ODA policies in response to changes in international norms and the imperatives associated with being a DAC-member nation. We know that, while policies may change, actual ODA disbursements—which nations are selected as recipients and receive ODA in what amounts—may lag or even remain unchanged. In this paper, we use the case of South Korea to determine how actual ODA disbursements change in response to policy changes. To accomplish this, we use a selection model to conduct a statistical analysis of South Korea's ODA disbursements using dyadic data from 1987 to 2016. Our results indicate that, while there has been continuity in terms of which nations receive South Korean ODA, there were also notable changes in its disbursements. Specifically, the ODA policy changes the South Korean government enacted did result in an altered profile of nations that were targeted by South Korea as ODA recipients.


Author(s):  
Paul Chinowsky ◽  
Amy Schweikert ◽  
Gordon Hughes ◽  
Carolyn S. Hayles ◽  
Niko Strzepek ◽  
...  

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the potential impact of climate change on the built environment in four Northern Asian countries. The impact on roads and buildings infrastructure in China, Japan, South Korea and Mongolia were considered during the decades 2030, 2050 and 2090. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a stressor-response approach, where using the analysis of 17 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approved Global Circulation Model (GCM) scenarios, projections for impacts from flooding events, precipitation amounts and temperature were determined. The cost of the impacts, based on both maintenance and new construction considerations, were then determined. “Adapt” and “No Adapt” scenarios were incorporated to predict potential costs in each era. Findings – Mongolia is vulnerable under the majority of scenarios and faces the greatest opportunity cost in terms of potential loss to enhancing the road stock. China is also vulnerable, but the extent of this vulnerability varies widely based on the climate scenarios. Japan is primarily vulnerable to road stock impacts, although some scenarios indicate buildings vulnerability. South Korea appears to have the least vulnerability but could still face $1 billion annual costs from climate change impacts. Practical implications – Results indicate the need for proactive policy planning to avoid costly impacts later in the century. Originality/value – The study illustrates the diverse affects that may occur under climate change scenarios and the potential benefit gained from understanding and planning for the projected climate impacts on the built environment.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaliappa P. Kalirajan ◽  
Kanhaiya Singh ◽  
Shandre M. Thangavelu ◽  
Venkatachalam Anbumozhi ◽  
Kumidini Perera

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 258-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Ahamer

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how learning technology could be applied to the development of educational tools for global climate change. The task to be performed in an informed dialogue is to assess the causes and drivers for global climate change and to produce an improved basis of scientific understanding for the implementation of the climate protection targets suggested for each country. By character, this approach integrates the political and the scientific level. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies learning theories and options for educational technologies to socio-economic, technological, biospheric, political and scientific themes relevant to present climate change. Findings – Drivers, effects and subsequent measures are subject to highly nonlinear effects. Thus, the combination of a (scientific, fact based) “Global Change Data Base” and a (dialogic, communication based) discourse (in the spirit of “Surfing Global Change”) seems best suitable to produce solutions for the seemingly unresolvable issues of climate protection. This combination of approaches is entitled “Tackle the Task of a Transition through Technological Targets (T5)” and allows the application of hypotheses generated by students in a scaffolded setting of discursive learning. Social implications – Suggestions for CO2 abatement measures are currently passing the process of political negotiation in all countries in the world. The different views and patterns of ethical values are harmonised during the T5 learning process and symbolise the required political process of consensus finding among and between different ministries, countries and global interest groups. Originality/value – This approach includes social and natural driving factors such as population, land use, economics, politics, energy systems, the global carbon cycle, biosphere and climate, and thus offers a more comprehensive learning endeavour than many other approaches.


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