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Managing in-land water disasters in the Aral Sea : building a sub-regional co-operation mechanism for adaptation and resilience : summary of key results
Get PDFESCAP’s analytical work on managing in-land water disasters in the Aral Sea is organized in two parts. While Part I titled ‘Aral Sea, Central Asian Countries and Climate Change in the 21st Century’ deals with water management perspectives, it unfolds the processes that led to complete depletion of water resources, i.e. water use exceeding available resources. It also highlights that by 2030-2050, the countries of the region will also reach the limits of irrigated land expansion because of its limited availability. Despite the depletion of water and irrigation resources in the region, in their national strategies and programs, each country plans for further growth of water use for irrigation and hydropower in the future. Therefore, a coordinated regional water policy is needed to balance the water resources use and improve the ecological situation in the subregion.
Part II of the analytical work - ‘managing in-land water disasters in the Aral Sea: sub-regional pathways for adaptation and resilience’ capitalizes on state-of-the-art climate modelling, data science, geo-spatial tools, digital elevation models and analytics to present the risk in the region. Considering a transboundary hazard – the Aral Sea represents shared vulnerabilities and risks. It’s crucial for the adaptation and resilience priorities of transboundary Aral Sea hazard to be risk informed, especially on the sub-regional specificities. Multi-hazard risk assessment and early warning systems are highly useful in mitigating all types of cropland exposure to multi-hazard, particularly drought, and flood. Early warning monitoring is necessary to plan and reduce the impact of multi-hazard on agriculture, which is directly linked to food security, and the impact on the people. Analysis results show that adaptation measures like strengthening multi-hazard risk assessment and early warning systems as well as improving dryland agriculture crop production have the highest priority score in all 5 Central Asian countries in the various climate change scenarios.
Recognizing the context of the United Nations Special Programme for the Aral Sea basin, ESCAP’s comprehensive study using a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary disaster risk reduction approach aims to devise a regional mechanism involving all concerned countries of the Aral Sea.
Recommendations of the expert meeting
On 14th March 2022, ESCAP organized a regional meeting of experts on the Aral Sea to discuss the key findings of this study. Considering ESCAP’s mandate and comparative advantage, the experts recommended organizing a policy dialogue on managing the risk of in-land water disasters in the Aral Sea on the side-lines of sixth North and Central Asian Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. The objective would be to further shape and refine the proposed subregional cooperation framework with a suggested action plan. Accordingly, ESCAP plans to organize a policy dialogue at the upcoming forum in 2022. The proposed framework will help factor transboundary risks of the Aral Sea in national Adaptation Plans, Disaster Risk Reduction strategies, and Voluntary National Reviews.</p
Asia-Pacific sustainable development journal. Vol. 29, No. 2, November 2022
No full textThis issue contains an overview of the social outlook of the region,
with a focus on overcoming the challenges in building a healthy, protected and
productive workforce for achieving inclusive and sustainable development in the
face of global megatrends, such as climate change, digitalization and rapid ageing.
It suggests policies to improve access to decent work and extend universal social
protection and universal health coverageEditorial
Asia-Pacific Social Outlook 2022: strategies for building a healthy, protected and productive workforce in Asia and the Pacific
ESCAP secretariat
Special theme: from Labs to Jabs: ensuring access and equity in Covid-19 vaccination
Solidarity as a practical craft: cohesion and cooperation in leveraging access to medical technologies within and beyond the TRIPS Agreement
Antony Taubman
Trade measures on pharmaceutical products: can they promote local production and public health?
Padmashree Gehl Sampath
Trade in vaccines and related inputs: a study of the Asia-Pacific region
Pralok Gupta and Ayona Bhattacharjee
Strengthening the health system to address inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine access in the Asia-Pacific Region
Valerie Gilbert Ulep and Beverly Lorraine Ho
Financing research and development for new vaccines in developing Asia-Pacific countries
Gavin Yamey, Kaci Kennedy McDade, Wenhui Mao and Ekene Osakwe
Invited paper
Can Asia assure social insurance for all its informal workers?
Santosh Mehrotra
Policymakers' corner
Cooperating to overcome access inequities for COVID-19 and beyond
Mariângela Simão, Allison Colbert, Christophe Rerat and Deirdre Dimancesco
Ensuring supply chain connectivity and resiliency in the post-pandemic recovery: the case of ASEAN
Satvinder Singh
Book reviews
The World Trade Organization needs to prepare better for future pandemics
Xiankun Lu
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia (eds. Rico Isaacs and Erica Marat)
Zulfan Tadjoeddin
Obituary
Professor Clement Allan Tisdell (1939-2022): a tribute
Mohammad Alauddin</p
Acceleration of the VPoA achievement in 7 LLDCs of NCA region : review of national strategies
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of how the national development strategies and program documents of the seven SONCA LLDCs countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) correspond to the priority and action areas of the VPoA Roadmap. The basis for the research is formed by the “high-level strategic documents” of the SONCA LLDCs, such as long- and mid-term national development strategies, national development programmes and action plans for their implementation. The paper is organized as follows. In the second chapter a detailed comprehensive overview of the national development strategies is given, as well as correspondence of the national development goals and priorities to the VPoA Roadmap is analyzed. Chapter 3 contains analysis of the national development gaps in implementing the Roadmap in North and Central Asian LLDCs. The fourth chapter explores areas for cooperation with transit countries and support from development partners, based on the review of the multilateral and bilateral agreements of the SONCA LLDCs. </p
2022 : Leaving no one behind : Timor-Leste country brief
No full textLeaving No One Behind (LNOB) tool helps discover how different circumstances interact to create unequal access to basic opportunities in Asia and the Pacific. The LNOB country brief for Timor-Leste provides insights into which groups are further ahead and further behind in various SDG indicators and where the biggest gaps are found in terms of access to opportunities or prevalence of barriers between the furthest behind and the furthest ahead groups in Timor-Leste. </p
Energy transition pathways for the 2030 agenda : SDG 7 roadmap for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Get PDFThe key objective of the SDG 7 Road map for the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is to assist the Government of the Lao People’ s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) to develop enabling policy measures to achieve the SDG 7 targets. This road map contains a matrix of technological options and enabling policy measures for the Government of the Lao PDR to consider. It presents several scenarios that have been developed using national data, and which consider existing energy policies and strategies, and 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
Feasibility study on the legal and institutional context in the Pacific : towards the development of a sub-regional instrument on access rights
Get PDFThis document presents an outline feasibility study on the Pacific's legal and institutional context and capacities concerning the potential development of a sub-regional instrument on access rights. The first part of this study examines the international frameworks for the access rights elements. The second part analyses the regional mechanisms within the Pacific, and the third part looks at stakeholders in the Pacific and provides recommendations for the future.
This study is presented against the recognition that human rights and the environment are intertwined and interconnected. The growing discussion that a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a precondition to the exercise and enjoyment of human rights led to the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in October 2021 recognizing the right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.
In considering the developing international frameworks, the study also recognizes the work already being done by the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) on sustainable development and climate change in the Pacific.</p
Digital and sustainable trade facilitation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2021
Get PDFBased on the United Nations global survey on digital and sustainable trade facilitationThe report presents the results of the 2021 United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation for 10 ASEAN countries that reviewed the progress of trade facilitation reforms. It provides a detailed analysis based on 58 trade facilitation measures covering both binding and non-binding WTO TFA measures, as well as measures beyond the scope of WTO TFA.
The report suggests that most trade cost reductions are associated with paperless trade measures rather than conventional trade facilitation measures. Full Implementation of binding and non-binding WTO TFA measures could decrease trade costs by 2.6%. On the other hand, digital trade facilitation measures enabling the seamless electronic exchange of trade data and documents across borders will help to significantly reduce trade costs by more than 8% for ASEAN in a full implementation scenario. Adding to existing initiatives and collaboration among ASEAN Member States, the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific could provide ASEAN countries with opportunities to promote ASEAN initiatives and solutions as well as support further development of the ASEAN Single Window for interoperability with other paperless trade systems being developed in other parts of the region and world.</p
Summary assessment : Committee on Information and Communications Technology, Science, Technology and Innovation, Fourth Session, 30 August - 1 September 2022
No full textThe fourth session of the Committee on Information and Communications Technology, Science, Technology and Innovation took place from 30 August to 1 September 2022 in a hybrid mode due to the COVID-19 and related travel restrictions in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region.An online questionnaire assessing the relevance, effectiveness and quality of the meeting was conducted. The main purpose of this assessment is to support the secretariat’s ongoing efforts to improve its servicing of the session.</p
Small and medium-sized enterprises lending approaches : the role of banks in Asia
Get PDFSME Lending should never be confused with microfinance. At the other end of the lending spectrum, SME lending also differs from corporate lending - primarily for the additional risks it presents. This paper outlines the risks to the lender and offers practical approaches for their mitigation. At the centre of the “solution” is a firm reliance on sound credit analysis, and how lack of financial information may be rectified. In an age of alternative sources of finance, the paper explores algorithm-based platforms, describing both their strengths and their weaknesses. A “third way” is proposed, which combines traditional financial statement analysis with a semi-automated approach. Key to the proposal is retaining adequate analytical rigour while cutting costs to the lender and enabling fast turn-around time for SME loan applicants. The elements of a successful SME lending program are described in detail, including loan products, monitoring, regulatory issues, the role of loan guarantees, and marketing recommendations. The paper concludes by examining how three Asian banks, each a leader in its market, have made SME lending an integral part of their respective missions.