oa Environmental Challenges of Japan`s Development Aid Framework in Southeast Asia

Environmental change issues have been the signifying elements of the global change agenda. International and regional/local processes of development have also taken towards a rather comprehensive form, including various aspects of environmental change and human-environment interaction. Japan has always been one of the development aid-friendly countries and has been contributing to the international development aid platforms via bilateral and multilateral/organizational linkages. At the same time, both Japan and its aid partners, especially in Southeast Asia, have been suffering from catastrophic impacts of natural-environmental disasters. Challenges coming with these natural and man-made disasters and the changing economic conditions have forced Japan to redefine its development aid strategies in recent years. This short paper is an attempt to understand how environment and environmental change issues have been included within Japan-involved Southeast Asian development aid agenda in the recent years. The first part of the paper looks at the changing direction of development and development aid frameworks with environmental emphasis in the 21st century. Then the paper focuses on Japan`s ODA policies and economic as well as environmental forces that transformed the ODA strategies in recent years. The last part examines critical points and potentials of Japan`s development aid agenda to reconfigure the country’s contribution to the global development aid programs under the impact of environmental changes issues.