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Country Guide > Australia and South Pacific > Pacific | |
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Contact Addresses The Pacific Most of the countries in the Pacific have their own entries elsewhere; consult the Contents. Pacific Overview The vast, sparsely populated region of the Pacific Ocean, which covers one-quarter of the Earth’s surface, has been the subject of growing interest in the last few years. It is neither easy nor especially useful to make generalisations about the area and the myriad small islands peppered across it. All have unique features of geography, economy and, not least, political history. Some are genuinely independent, some are internally self-governing with foreign and security policies controlled elsewhere, while a handful remain simple colonies. There are, nevertheless, global political and economic trends that are certain to create a substantial impact throughout the Pacific. A notable feature of the 1970s and 1980s was the growing militarisation of the Pacific. This trend, while yet to be reversed, has at least halted. Its most obvious and damaging manifestation – the nuclear tests run by the French and the Americans – ended in the mid-1990s, at least for the time being. But the region still hosts a large number of airfields, storage depots, port complexes, intelligence-gathering, early-warning and other ‘support’ facilities. The host governments are often in two minds about their presence – the bases put these small nations in a diplomatic straitjacket, as well as offer a series of targets for hostile forces. On the other hand, they are guaranteed military protection and a steady rental income, plus essential economic aid. But the islands are well aware that they must develop their own economic systems in order to survive in the long term and have focused on three principal areas in which they hope to progress. One of these is tourism. Much of the region is currently within reach of the North American traveller but further exploitation of its tourism potential is dependent either on the development of cheaper, faster and perhaps less-polluting forms of long-distance transport to bring the Pacific within reach of Europe, or on a substantial increase in the disposable incomes of the populations of Asia and South America. Neither of these is likely to be realised in the short term. Another economic asset that might produce more immediate dividends is the Pacific’s awe-inspiring wealth of natural resources. Many Pacific nations are just a few score square kilometres of land, however, their boundaries enclose hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of ocean. Commercial fishing, notably by Japan, has long been carried out on a huge scale but has yet to make any real impact on the ocean’s deep-sea fish stocks. The region also has enormous mineral potential. Much attention has been given to developing commercially viable methods of harvesting the mineral-rich manganese nodules that cover much of the ocean’s abyssal plains, although there are believed to be other mineral deposits of great value. Additionally, the whole Pacific Rim has great potential as an energy source, initially from geothermal installations, later perhaps from deep-sea tidal and temperature gradient devices. Finally, the islands stand to benefit from the rapidly growing Pacific trade axis as Japan and the Pacific Rim countries link up with the west coast of the Americas. This offers opportunities for developing transit facilities for shipping and ‘offshore’ financial services of the type that have long been offered by, for example, Jersey and the Cayman Islands. The islands will need more than this type of business to sustain a healthy economy and it remains to be seen whether or not they are able to develop their undoubted assets without becoming excessively dominated by foreign commercial interests. On a darker note, one problem that has arisen in the last few years and is worrying several Pacific governments, concerns the possible consequences of global warming on sea levels. A number of islands face a serious threat to their land masses. Some, such as Nauru, could disappear altogether – it already has lost one, albeit uninhabited, island. The Pacific islands are consequently an increasingly vocal presence at international forums discussing global environmental questions. |