| While funding of coastal management projects by international aid organizations has increased dramatically since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in various regions of the world, there have been few efforts to ascertain trends and patterns of foreign assistance at the regional level. This dissertation seeks to redress this gap in the context of foreign assistance for coastal management in the Latin American and Caribbean region. In this area, international organization assistance for coastal management has been especially important in getting coastal management started and implemented in various countries.; Results of this research show that there are at least thirty-six international organizations that are actually funding or conveying funds for coastal management projects in the study region. Six of the 36 are considered by this study as the major donors for the region: Global Environment Facility, Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Environment Programme, Organization of American States, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the World Bank. There are four major categories of the most critical coastal issues facing the region: social issues, institutional issues, conflicts among coastal activities, and environmental issues. Of these, donor funding focuses primarily on the last category—environmental issues. All of these issues, together with culture, historical background, and social, political and economic instability, affect the underlying processes that ultimately are shaping the allocation of foreign aid. These underlying processes are contributing to make Latin America and the Caribbean highly aid-dependent. One funding pattern shows that the international donors are investing in projects addressing global issues—such as adaptation to climate change—or in regional-level issues involving transboundary environmental impacts. Another pattern is the growing collaboration among international organizations in funding projects. Trend data show a constant increase in the funding of coastal projects through time, reflecting the increased interest of governments to address coastal issues. |
