The Greening of US Foreign Aid
5/20/92
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** Topic: The Greening of USAID **
** Written 9:56 pm May 20, 1992 by cdp:infotropical in
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The following is from the Rainforest Alliance's Tropical
Conservation Newsbureau and may be used as is or edited, with or
without credit Conservation Newsbureau. For more information:
Diane Jukofsky or Chris Wille in Costa Rica (506/36-3073; fax:
40-2543).
THE GREENING OF US-AID
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA, May 11, 1992 -- Not so long ago, many
environmentalists laboring in the international arena considered
the U.S. Agency for International Development (US-AID) one of the
bad guys. The agency, operating around the globe with funds
appropriated by Congress, sponsored roads, which usually led to
deforestation. It lavished money on Third World government
agencies, whose grandiose projects frequently hastened environ-
mental deterioration. It helped big farmers get addicted to
pesticides and fertilizers, while, critics charged, ignoring
the growing multitudes of poor farmers. And it promoted cattle
ranching, which many conservationists consider the scourge of
the Earth.
Even government agencies can change their stripes. While
US-AID still has critics, many environmentalists are taking a
second look.
"AID is beginning to come around," says Jane Lyons, an
international projects coordinator for the National Audubon
Society. "And nowhere is the change more evident than in
Central America."
Jack Vaughn, a former director of the Peace Corps and now
US-AID's senior natural resources advisor for Central America,
recalls that, "The greening of AID has been an evolutionary
process, not a sudden or deliberate conversion."
Of course, this evolutionary process was pushed by Congress,
which, in turn, was prodded by environmental groups. The Foreign
Assistance Act was amended in 1986 to put an emphasis on saving
tropical forests and the diversity of life. Last year, a further
amendment was proposed to prohibit US-AID from funding activities
that "would result in the significant loss of primary tropical
forests."
William Baucom, head of US-AID's rural development office
in Costa Rica, says, "The change in AID reflects the changes in
society. Everybody -- teachers and taxi drivers -- is more
environmentally aware now."
From US-AID's regional office in Guatemala, Jack Vaughn says
that "green think came in the back door. We all just got wise to
the implications of ignoring ecological considerations."
Anne Lewandowski, a natural resources specialist with US-AID
in Costa Rica, says that there was "never a malicious attempt to
avoid environmental regulation. Since the mid 1970s, we've
always done environmental impact reviews for every project
...Final project designs include environmental recommendations."
The Costa Rican AID office is no longer funding new roads, and
one US-AID officer now warns, "Don't even mention cows around
here."
A principal US-AID planning document contains this
conclusion, which could have been written by the National Audubon
Society or the World Wildlife Fund: "Development plans for rural
Central America will fail unless they contain ambitious measures
to replant the region's forests, protect its critical watersheds,
rehabilitate its degraded lands, and help its desperately poor
small farmers to earn a decent living by sustainable farming
measures."
In Costa Rica, Lewandowski manages three projects that meet
these criteria. One campaign commits to spending $22.5 million
over seven years protecting a string of mountain parks and
developing "alternatives to deforestation" in surrounding areas.
The program helps small landowners break out of their
environmentally destructive and often profitless farming
traditions by using more efficient techniques, planting and
harvesting trees on a managed basis, and cultivating trees and
crops together in an integrated system.
There is a US-AID "mission" in every Central American
country. In addition, the agency has a regional office in
Guatemala with its own broad programs. One of these is the
Regional Environmental and Natural Resources Management Project,
a multifaceted, six year, $60 million campaign with various field
efforts in every country. Most of the on-the-ground projects are
managed by environmental groups, and this signals the greatest
change in the way US-AID does business. It is funding and
cooperation with citizen groups or "non-governmental
organizations" (NGOs).
Jack Vaughn says, "I think that this is the first time in
history where the U.S. government has gone to NGOs and said,
'we'll follow your lead.'"
Alfredo Nakatsuma, with the US-AID mission in Guatemala,
says, "AID has changed its attitude about NGOs and is using them
more and more. It makes sense, because the NGOs have proven
capability, dedication and reliability. Instead of charging
overhead like for-profit consulting groups, the NGOs are putting
in matching funds. This makes it their project as much as ours."
US-AID, Nakatsuma says, has found that NGOs often outlast
presidential administrations, and that assistance dollars go
farther when they are not absorbed by government bureaucracies.
Four years ago, Nakatsuma was working half-time as the
environment and natural resources officer in the Guatemalan US-
AID office, when the mission's portfolio in this area was limited
to about $2 million annually, mostly for watershed protection.
Now he works with a full-time staff of six overseeing a $60
million budget (over five years). About half of this funding
comes from the government of Guatemala and NGOs. The agency has
a full spectrum of environmental and natural resource programs
and partnerships with many local conservation groups.
With the support of Nakatsuma's office, the US-based group
Conservation International and local NGOs are looking for income-
generating products from Guatemala's tropical forest. The
program, centered in the Peten region bordering Mexico, aims to
slow deforestation by encouraging "slash and burn" farmers to,
instead, collect chicle for chewing gum, allspice (which grows
naturally in the forest), or ornamental plants for sale to U.S.
or European markets.
Nakatsuma, a young veteran in the rural development field,
says, "I think it's a privilege to work here, to be helping poor
people. If AID wasn't helping the poor, I wouldn't be here."
Unfortunately, just as US-AID is beginning to effectively
address environmental problems and just as world leaders are
beginning to understand the connection between ecological health
and political stability, the agency's budget is declining.
Foreign aid bills always stall in Congress, usually mired in the
rancorous politics of family planning assistance. And recession
bound Americans are not in a generous mood.
Budgets are especially tight in Latin America as money is
diverted to meet the urgent needs and opportunities developing
in Eastern Europe. One US-AID officer said, "We're beginning to
feel the pinch already. We're down to the funding levels we had
15 years ago."
# # #
Contacts: In Guatemala -- Jack H. Vaughn; 502/2-32-0202.
Alfredo Nakatsuma-Vaca; 502/2-32-0202. In Costa Rica -- Anne
Lewandowski; 506/20-4545. Gary Keith or Tony Prez, USIS,