Kaveh Zahedi and Van Nguyen “The 2030 Agenda is coming to life”, declared the Secretary General at the opening of the first SDG Summit, a quadrennial event for the follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As leaders from Asia – Pacific took the floor, theyhighlightedcountry progress of SDG implementation and […]
Catalysing change for gender equality
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Great strides have been taken to empower women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing adopted an ambitious global agenda to achieve gender equality twenty-five years ago.Gender parity has been achieved in primary education.Maternal mortality has been halved. Today, the region’s […]
Equality beyond reach for many women and girls in Asia-Pacific
UN Ministerial Conference opens with urgent call for change to make gender equality a reality Bangkok – Over 500 Ministers, senior policymakers, UN officials, civil society, youth and private sector representatives from across Asia and the Pacific region today gathered in Bangkok to chart out priority actions to support accelerated progress on gender equality and […]
Learning from a half-century of economic development in Asia
Deepak Nayyar In 1968 renowned economist Gunnar Mydral publishedAsian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, a highly pessimistic work on Asia’s development prospects. The fifty years since witnessed a remarkable economic transformation with Asia emerging as a global economic powerhouse. Like so many, it was hard for Mydral to imagine Asia undergoing such […]
Disaster risk resilience: key to protecting vulnerable communities
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana 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 […]
Growing disaster risks exceeding Asia-Pacific’s capacity to respond
New UN report warns of a new climate reality where economic losses are set to quadruple Bangkok (ESCAP news) – The relentless sequence of natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific the past two years was beyond what the region had previously experienced or was able to predict – and this is a sign of […]
More dry years ahead for South-East Asia
New UN-ASEAN study reveals slow but devastating impacts of drought in the region Mandalay (ESCAP news) – Future scenarios of drought in many parts of South-East Asia may become even more frequent and intense if actions are not taken now to build resilience, according to the latest joint study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission […]
Ambitions are affordable for Asia and the Pacific
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do. Despite much progress, the region is not on track to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goalsset out in the United Nations2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We […]
Put People and Planet First, says UN report for Asia and the Pacific
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 is within reach, but more strategic investments are needed Hong Kong, China (ESCAP News) – In its annual report, Survey 2019: Ambitions beyond growth, launched today, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) – the UN’s regional arm – says that an additional annual investment of $1.5 […]
Lapis Lazuli Corridor – Part 6
UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) plays an active role in Central Asia. Ms. Azthar Djaymurrina, the head of the transport facilitation and logistics section of UNESCAP delivered an important speech at the conference dedicated to the Lapis Lazuli Corridor. Here is the text of her speech: Your excellency, […]