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Digital transformation landscape in Asia and the Pacific : aggravated digital divide and widening growth gap
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated mass digital adoption and expedited tech adoption across industries, advancing digital transformation at an unprecedented speed and scale. At the same time, the pandemic has widened and deepened the digital divide between and within countries, reinforcing a vicious cycleof economic inequalities.
As the benefits of digital transformation are not equally distributed, the widening digital gap between businesses and industries is magnified at country levels, worsening global development gaps and imbalances. Thus, there is an urgent need to create a country-level analytical model that goes beyond business-level analysis to understand the current digital transformation landscape and diagnose existing digital transformation gaps among member States of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
This working paper discusses a study that reviewed existing ICT-related analytical frameworks and indicators, and proposed 105 indicators used by international organizations to formulate a digital transformation framework and Digital Transformation Index (DTI version 1) to measure and analyse the status of country-level digital transformation.
Based on an in-depth pilot analysis of the DTI results, the study found that the Asia-Pacific region is the most digitally divided among five regions, showing the conspicuous digital transformation divides within and among the regions. The study also revealed the critical role of the government and business sectors in initiating and enhancing digital innovations.
This working paper suggests that the ESCAP member States take a more active role in narrowing the digital transformation gaps between advanced countries and late comers to achieve an inclusive digital future.
Ministry of Science and ICT of the Republic of Korea and the China-ESCAP Cooperation Programm
Frontier ICTs for sustainable development for digital leaders
Get PDFFrontier ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies)are recognized as an important means of achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
However, the use, adoption, and adaptation of these technologies are not the same across countries. Frontier ICTs refer to the digital technologies among Frontier technologies that have the potential to transform societies and economies and promote environmental sustainability.
Frontier ICTs such as Artificial intelligence (AI), Blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are expected to have great impacts on sustainable development and are also recognized as an important source of concerns for socio-economic development(especially policymaking) in developing countries.</p
Kyrgyz Republic climate change and disaster risk profile
Get PDFThe Kyrgyz Republic is a land-locked, lower-middle-income country with a population of approximately 6.5 million (World Food Program, 2020). Bishkek (the capital) and Osh are the major cities of the country. According to the National Statistics Committee, nearly 66% of the country’s population lives in rural areas and almost 1/4 of the population live below the poverty line. In 2019, worker remittances contributed to 28% of the country’s GDP and the single gold mine of Kumtor accounted for 8% of it. A widespread of small-scale family-based farms coupled with land degradation makes the agricultural sector rather inefficient (International Trade Administration, 2020). As a result, the country faces moderate to severe food insecurity touching nearly 24% of the total population and a high dependence on imports of basic food items (World Food Program, 2020).
Nearly 94% of the country is located at over 1,000 meters above the sea level and 40% of it is above 3,000 meters. The Kyrgyz Republic is highly susceptible to natural hazards such as mudslides, landslides, avalanches and earthquakes. Damages and losses from climate - related natural disasters cost the country nearly USD 6.7 million per year between 2000 and 2011 (UNDP, 2013). The World Bank assessment estimates that natural disasters and climate change stressors will impact environmental, social and economic sectors and cause an annual GDP loss of 0.5% to 1.3% (World Bank, 2019).</p
Enhancing global market competitiveness of textile and garment exports of South Asia
Get PDFThe textile and garment sector (T&G) is one of the major industries in most of the South Asian countries, contributing significantly to their economic growth, employment generation and export earnings. In recent times, South Asia’s competitiveness in T&G exports has been increasingly challenged by a multitude of factors including erosion of trade preferences enjoyed by the subregional countries in their major markets, emergence and consolidation of a number of new competitors, rising e-commerce and digital platform-based marketing, and disruption to global supply chains caused the COVID-19 outbreak. Graduating LDCs of the subregion with substantial stakes in T&G exports, such as Bangladesh and Nepal, are particularly threatened by impending loss of preferential market access and their inherent vulnerabilities and resource constraints.
Against this backdrop, this paper dives deep to uncover the underlying drivers of change and attempts to assess the impact and implications of the emerging challenges for the T&G sector of South Asian countries. It analyses the pressures on competitiveness of the sector due to factors such as rising market competition, weaknesses in product diversification, emerge of e-commerce and digital transformation and LDC graduation. Based on this assessment, the paper puts forward a set of recommendations to address both domestic and external challenges facing the sector, including measures to enhance cost efficiency, improve investment climate, nurture entrepreneurship, raise productivity, promote product diversification and facilitate greater value addition. The paper calls for shift in focus from preferential market access-based competitiveness towards productivity and efficiency-based competitiveness in the T&G sector of South Asia. </p
Energy transition pathways for the 2030 agenda : SDG7 road map for Kyrgyzstan
No full textTransitioning the energy sector to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the objectives of the Paris Agreement presents a complex and difficult task for policymakers. It needs to ensure sustained economic growth as well as respond to increasing energy demand, reduce emissions, and consider and capitalize on the interlinkages between Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) and other SDGs. To address this challenge, ESCAP has developed the National Expert SDG Tool for Energy Planning (NEXSTEP). This tool enables policymakers to make informed policy decisions to support the achievement of the SDG 7 targets as well as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
The key objective of the SDG 7 roadmap is to assist the Government of Kyrgyzstan in developing enabling policy measures to achieve the SDG 7 and NDC targets. This roadmap contains a matrix of technological options and enabling policy measures for the Government to consider. It presents several scenarios that have been developed using national data, and which consider existing energy policies and strategies as well as reflect on other development plans. These scenarios are expected to enable the Government to make an informed decision to develop and implement a set of policies to achieve SDG 7 by 2030, together with the NDC.</p
Building forward together : towards an inclusive and resilient Asia and the Pacific
No full textBuilding Forward Together: Towards an inclusive and resilient Asia and the Pacific is the theme report of the Asia-Pacific SDG partnership for 2022. Reflecting on the theme of the 9th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, it aims to support regional dialogue, in preparation for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and to inform implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report considers pandemic impacts on prospects for achieving the SDGs, and how countries have been responding to this complex and still evolving crisis. Efforts to cope with and contain the pandemic have exposed - and magnified- deeply rooted vulnerabilities and inequalities in the region's economies and societies. Across the region there already are signs of a K-shaped recovery marked by increasing divergence in economic and social outcomes within and between countries. When environmental degradation, increasing natural hazards and accelerating climate change are added to the mix, the risks to developing countries and poor and vulnerable populations are even greater. The report analyzes key factors that are shaping recovery prospects, including vaccination and access to diagnostics and therapeutics; social protection; digitalization; economic structure; environmental risks; and fiscal space. The region faces two intertwined challenges: making the recovery green, inclusive and just, while charting a new and transformative path toward building sustainable and resilient economies and societies that leaves no one behind.
View the report launch :
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Supporting the Countries with Special Needs in Asia-Pacific in meeting the challenge of resource mobilization for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Get PDFCommissioned by Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division, ESCAPThe Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA) of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (2015) noted that many countries in the Asia-Pacific areas have special needs, especially for enhanced financial support to overcome the many challenges they face if they are to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The United Nations (UN) Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific worked closely with countries with special needs (CSN) in the region and has identified that they could collectively need as much as US2.5 trillion per year to close their development gaps. This project, “Supporting the Countries with Special Needs in Asia-Pacific in Meeting the Challenge of Resource Mobilization for Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, was therefore designed to provide CSN in the region with workshops on financing for sustainable development and to provide them with opportunities for peer-learning and networking so they could learn about best practices in resource mobilization.Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................................2
List of acronyms......................................................................................................................................3
Executive summary.................................................................................................................................4
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................7
Description of the project...............................................................................................................8
Evaluation objectives, scope, and questions................................................................................12
Methodology.................................................................................................................................14
Evaluation findings........................................................................................................................17
Conclusions...................................................................................................................................29
Lessons learned and good practices.............................................................................................31
Recommendations........................................................................................................................32
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Sustainable urban transport index (SUTI) for twin cities Islamabad & Rawalpindi, Pakistan
No full textThe Islamic Republic of Pakistan like most other developing countries is facing the issue of rapid traffic growth in metropolitan cities. The capital city Islamabad and its neighboring city
Rawalpindi have seen an exponential increase in traffic demand in the last few years. The main reason for this growth is population outbursts due to the migration of people from other areas
for better living standards. Other than population, an increase in car ownership due to affordable car financing/leasing schemes, and a lack of a proper public transport system cause
an increase in the number of vehicles on the road. The main objective of this study is to review the exiting urban transport system of Islamabad and Rawalpindi City, the impact of COVID19 on urban mobility, and determine the Sustainable Urban Transport Index (SUTI) for both Cities. For additional reports or materials on Sustainable urban transport index, please click here
