This
paper has reviewed policy in 14 Asian countries to assess policy content,
trends, and drivers. Under different sections on the use of targets, natural
resource management issues, financial/ economic and marketing issues, and
socio-economic and poverty issues, the extent to which particular issues are
included in policy has been reviewed to assess the extent to which different
issues are included in policy in the region. The analysis has allowed for a
regional synthesis to be presented, and for some key observations and
discussion points to be proposed in Section 2. In addition some more general
conclusions can be drawn as follows:
For most issues
considered, a surprisingly large number of national policies include them. Of
31 issues considered, 27 of them are included in 50 percent or more of policy
documents, and 19 in more than 70 percent of policies;
Most countries
have what might be termed “good policy content” or “best practice” contained
with policy. It is clear that donor projects and support, along with recent
international action on key issues, have been helpful in important issues
finding their way into policy. But this can only happen with governments being
receptive. Governments in the region have in their own right, and based on
their own initiatives, increasingly recognized and formulated ‘good’ policy.
Drivers for good policy come partly from internal national experience, but also
from the sharing between policy planners and managers of their experiences and
lessons learned, both within a regional context, and internationally;
Many policy
issues are inter-related, sometimes in a complementary way, and sometime in a
conflictual way. Few policies are very specific about potential trade-offs in
policy objectives and content e.g. policy may contain references to sustainable
management of capture fisheries as well as increasing production and
employment, or to maximizing exports and food security;
While policy content is crucial as the starting point for good planning
and management of the
sector, this paper has not reviewed the extent to which policy is being
implemented. Certainly within the region there are clear challenges and
constraints in terms of budgets, human and institutional capacity, political will, and
social and cultural constraints, many of which are likely to be raised by others during the APFIC
forum. What the policy review does suggest is that some policy objectives and content may be based
more on an ideal situation than on a
realistic assessment of potentials. Examples raised earlier include a) greater exploitation of offshore resources
when resources themselves may not be as significant as hoped, and b) plans to increase aquaculture production,
which may be more difficult than thought given issues of disease and
land availability;
The level of detail in policy documents varies considerably between
countries. This is not surprising as there is something of a gray line between
where policy stops and planning for implementation
begins. For policy to be implemented successfully, policy goals, objectives,
strategies and activities must be linked in a coherent manner, and where
possible planning for implementation should feature time-bound responsibilities
and indicators of success, not just for
high-level policy goals but for all proposed activities. Cambodia and
Pakistan are two countries that provide good examples of where such detailed
planning is taking place;
Finally, policy is reviewed relatively often in most countries,
typically every five years with an associated annual planning process. While legislation may take
longer to change, formal planning processes, as well as the ability to make
informal policy and planning decisions, provide considerable scope for countries to continue their
progress towards policy
containing ideas/issues representing best practice but which fit the specific
needs of the individual country
concerned.
