Sustainable Transport Key to Achieving Asia-Pacific Region’s Development Ambitions
Across the Asia-Pacific region, especially in urban centers, electric cars and buses are increasingly replacing gasoline-powered ones as a means of transportation. Aided by the ubiquity of smart devices, smart mobility and other transport innovations are significantly reshaping everyday life through ride-sharing apps, driver assistance technology and real-time traffic management. With new highways and railways…
It’s Time to Close Sustainable Energy Gaps in Asia and Pacific
This year we pass the halfway mark both on our journey towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Asian and Pacific countries have seen mixed progress on both. One of the most pressing challenges is the transition to…
Race to Zero in Asia and Pacific: Our Hopes in Climate Fight
The latest synthesis report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes for grim reading: Every fraction of a degree of warming comes with escalated threats, from deadly heat waves to severe hurricanes and droughts, affecting all economies and communities. It is a reality that the people of Asia and the Pacific know only too…
Persons with Disabilities Integral Players in Determining Innovative Solutions to Fully Inclusive Societies
Ten years ago, the Asia-Pacific region came together and designed the world’s first set of disability-specific development goals: the Incheon Strategy to “Make the Right Real” for Persons with Disabilities. This week, we meet again to assess how the governments have delivered on their commitments, to secure those gains and develop the innovative solutions needed…
Partnering with Persons with Disabilities Toward an Inclusive, Accessible and Sustainable Post-Covid-19 World
As the world observes the International Day of Persons with Disabilities today, we honour the leadership of persons with disabilities and their tireless efforts to build a more inclusive, accessible and sustainable world. At the same time, we resolve to work harder to ensure a society that is open and accommodating of all. An estimated…
Is Asia and the Pacific Ready for the Global Climate Stage?
As the leaders of Asia and the Pacific prepare to head to Glasgow for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), they can be sure that our region will be in the spotlight: many of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change are located here; the seven G20…
Digital Equity for All Ages
The growing number and share of older persons in Asia and the Pacific represent success stories of declining fertility and increasing longevity; the result of advances in social and economic development. This demographic transition is taking place against the backdrop of the accelerating Fourth Industrial Revolution. But COVID-19, with its epicentre now in Asia and…
Under-Secretary of UN Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana Outlines Case For Building Back Better Following the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
The past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have played out unevenly across Asia and the Pacific, the region has been spared many of the worst effects seen in other parts of the world. The pandemic has reminded us that a reliable and uninterrupted energy…
Forging Resilient Regional Supply Chains And Connectivity
Participation in global and regional supply chains has been one of the most reliable economic growth strategies, especially for developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. Smooth and efficient connectivity in both trade and transport has been indispensable to the region’s pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Yet, containment measures for the COVID-19…
Financing Economic Recovery
As the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the length and breadth of Asia and the Pacific, finance ministries are continuing their relentless efforts to inject trillions of dollars for emergency health responses and fiscal packages. With continued lockdown measures and restricted borders, economic rebound seems uncertain. Compared to 2019’s economic situation, over…
Disaster risk resilience: key to protecting vulnerable communities
The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heat waves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such as drought. Yet heat is only part of the picture. Tropical cyclones have struck new, unprepared parts of our region and devastatingly frequent floods have ensued.…
Economic integration: a driving force for sustainable development
Leading thinkers from the world over gather at the Astana Economic Forum this week. Their focus is on the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how it should shape long-term economic growth and social development strategies in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. As international best practice and practical solutions are considered, one longstanding objective…
