ESCAP Repository (United Nations ESCAP)
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Global toolkit on regulatory sandbox for central bank digital currency and FinTech
Get PDFThe Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), together with the Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division (IDD) of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is collaborating with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, and the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) to develop a regulatory sandbox framework for testing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and FinTech in the Maldives.
A regulatory sandbox is established by a regulator to facilitate small-scale testing of innovative products and services under special conditions. These conditions often include exemptions from specific regulatory requirements, while the regulator closely supervises the testing process. Sandboxes function as regulatory laboratories that enable regulatory authorities to observe and evaluate the outcomes of small-scale tests, allowing them to make data-and evidence-informed decisions when developing relevant legislation.
The objective of this global guidance toolkit is to map out the necessary steps and key elements for the designing and operationalizing policy regulatory sandbox on CBDC and FinTech. The global toolkit builds on the previous studies conducted by ESCAP and UNDESA on this area as well as lessons learned from other countries who have adopted a Sandbox approach for their digital currency and FinTech experiments.
The global toolkit starts with background analysis on FinTechs and regulations, Central Banks as innovation facilitators, potential stakeholders for CBDC, and digital payment trends. The next section discusses the nature of sandboxes, including implementation and operation of such a Sandbox. The document ends with a conclusion suggesting how Central Banks could consider adopting a Sandbox approach for digital currency development. </p
Enhancing inclusive transport in Asia and the Pacific : a perspective from Lao People's Democratic Republic and Nepal
Get PDFInclusive transport remains a largely overlooked aspect of transport development in most Asia-Pacific countries. A review of national transport plans across the region reveals that only 20 of them currently have established strategies aimed at enhancing the inclusivity of transport systems. This highlights the need for a more concerted effort to prioritize and implement inclusive policies in the realm of transport planning and development. This policy brief provides travel demand analysis for different social groups in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) and Nepal, including low-income households, women, persons with disabilities, and older persons. It evaluates how social factors, such as age, gender, income, health, and rural or urban residence influence transport mode choice to examine the gap between the current transport system and the travel demand of different user groups. The findings will inform policymakers to design more accessible and inclusive transport systems, services, and infrastructure.</p
ESCAP Regional Trade Agreement Text Analyzer: User Guide
Get PDFThe ESCAP REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENT TEXT ANALYZER, available at [https://tiid.shinyapps.io/text-analysis-tool/] provides a tool for automated mapping of provisions or topics addressed in articles of trade agreements, and for generating customized datasets. The algorithm is based on detection of keyword combinations in article texts. It is set up to accommodate for the flexibility of the natural language and allows for simultaneous mapping of multiple categorized provision types or topics. The algorithm works with the texts of over 460 trade agreements parsed from the structured and regularly updated global ESCAP RTA Text Database. </p
Asia-Pacific trade and investment trends brief 2022/2023 : Cambodia
No full textThis brief covers recent trends and developments in trade and investment. It has been produced as an accompaniment to the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Trends 2022/2023
User guide for Legal TINA
Get PDFThe purpose of this guide is to narrate how to use Legal TINA (Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser), developed by the Trade Policy and Facilitation Section of Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Legal TINA is an extension of the original TINA, providing guidance and analytical capabilities to develop the text and legal provisions of trade agreements. It allows users to explore the basic legal framework of trade agreements through questions on specific trade-related issues, helping negotiators to narrow down formulation of provisions based on priorities and needs. It also enables users to easily search and compare texts of existing trade agreements, making it easier to understand what text may be most acceptable to negotiating parties involved and what more ambitious provisions may be proposed.
Please note as Legal TINA is continuingly being developed and updated, some discrepancies with the look/available features may occur. For any queries, please contact us.
Access to Legal TINA: LEGAL TINA: Trade Intelligence and Negotiation Adviser</p
Greenhouse gas emissions embedded in agricultural trade : implications and potential opportunities for Asia-Pacific
Get PDFGreenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are the main driving force of climate change, and all economic sectors need to internalize their costs. Food systems (including land use, production, refrigeration, food processing) account for a quarter of global GHG emissions. Agricultural exports in Asia-Pacific account for 18% of total exports, twice as much as in the rest of the world. Pacific Island Developing States (PIDS) and New Zealand, are particularly reliant on trade in agriculture. Agricultural export shares of many PIDS significantly exceed the global average of 9%, while New Zealand agricultural exports account for 31% of its total exports. This study sought to estimate the CO2-equivalent content of agricultural trade in Asia and the Pacific, and examine the ramifications of potential carbon tariffs, such as the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism as well as global carbon tariffs, using partial equilibrium analysis. We find that half of emissions embedded in agricultural trade in the region are due to farming (such as methane emissions from ruminant stock), and a quarter is due to land use change (deforestation), while only 4% of emissions in agricultural trade in the region is due to transport. The findings imply that carbon taxing transport alone may be counterproductive to climate action as lower cost/bulkier food products would be taxed at a relatively higher price due to their lower carbon content to weight ratio. Asia-Pacific is a net importer of GHG emissions embedded in the agricultural products considered. The emissions intensity is lower for exports than for imports (3.3 CO2 kg per 1 for imports), indicating that regional demand is more CO2 intensive than foreign demand. Economies that rely on carbon intensive agricultural products, such as beef, are found to be at the greatest risk from potential carbon tariffs: the meat sector would bear the brunt of global charges, followed by animal oils given the high amount of CO2 embedded in these products. Even relatively small surcharges may have a large effect on mean exports for such products. However, in the scenario of European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (due to data limitations, applied externally only), if it were to include agricultural products in the future, overall Asia-Pacific agricultural exports would only be reduced by 3%, though decreases would be significantly more pronounced for the Pacific subregion. Interestingly, the Asia-Pacific region as a whole is a net importer of CO2 equivalent emissions embedded in agricultural products. As such, for most of the economies in the region, implementing some form of carbon tariffs on foods with high emission-to-calorie ratios, such as beef, may be worth considering as part of trade-related climate action, subject to further detailed studies of socio-economic impacts
Integrated straw management in Nepal
Get PDFThe burning of crop residue generates severe air pollution in the Indo-Gangetic plain area of South Asia. Crop residue burning affects people's health, degrades soil health that impacts agricultural production and food security and emits greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. Crop straw yield has kept growing and maintained a high level with increases in agriculture production in South Asia. The lack of suitable agricultural technology and machinery to sustainably utilize the straw or promote its recycled usage has led to straw burning, causing a high level of air pollution, including through transboundary sources.
This paper undertakes an analysis of the status of crop residue generation for three major crops (rice, maize and wheat), incidences of burning, factors that influences farmers’ decisions to burn crop residue. The study finds that incidences of residue burning has increased particularly since the use of combine harvesters came into practice and that changes in livestock rearing practices through commercial rearing and use of alternative feed has also reduced demand for straw and market value of crop residues, particularly in the Terai region. Access to suitable techniques for integrated straw management is also lacking which leaves farmers with limited options for using crop residues. Various in-situ and ex-situ methods for managing crop residues as well as the agricultural machinery and equipment used in Nepal are documented.
The paper analyses various gaps and challenges that exist to ensure a more sustainable management of straw. Various recommendations are made on policy, research, mechanization and agriculture practice issues that can be considered to tap unrealized opportunities that alternative uses of crop residues can have to improve farmers’ livelihoods and the environment. Some short, medium and long-term action plans, along with returning 75% of crop residue back to the field either by in-situ or ex-situ straw management are also proposed for the implementation of a “no-burn” campaign in Nepal.
JEL Codes(s): O13, Q16, Q53, Q55</p
