Examining the internal features of Korea’s Green Commitment in Mongolia.

With global environmental challenges rapidly growing, governments and international agencies have increased environment-related aid toward developing nations. In this context, South Korea has become a leading nation, providing various types of aid to its less-privileged neighbors. This study analyzes the ‘Green Mongolia’ project carried out by a Korean institution, exploring the way in which different stakeholders view green official development assistance (ODA) programs and the constituencies such policies are designed to help. We focus particularly on three dimensions of sustainability: the environment, the economy, and society. The Q-method used in this paper provides deeper insights into the awareness and belief systems of groups with different perspectives, helping to recognize the issues they actually face. Our analysis identified four contrasting types of views: ‘society-oriented,’ ‘environment-oriented,’ ‘economy/environment-balanced,’ and ‘environment/society-balanced.’ Although limited in their perspectives, most local respondents took environmental issues seriously, and were willing to listen to and work with their government to advance the program in question. We suggest that ‘green ODA’ works better when policies are based on a consensus and take into account the interests of all participating entities and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]