What drives Japanese and South Korean Environmental Aid?

Environmental aid has become a major component of development aid. In this article the historically contingent trajectories of Japanese and South Korean environmental aid is traced using an autobiography approach. Both Japan and South Korea consider environmental aid as an important tool of their diplomacy. A combination of a moral obligation and domestic, international, political, and economic interests underpin both countries’ environmental aid policy. Seen from the stated policies and practices, both countries use accounts of their past as once-developing countries trying to catch up in their aid narrative. In this manner, the environmental aid of Japan and South Korea is autobiographic, reflecting particular interpretations of their own development history and position in global politics.


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