ESCAP Repository (United Nations ESCAP)
Not a member yet
8868 research outputs found
Sort by
Managing marine plastic debris in Asia and the Pacific
Get PDFPlastics were first developed in 1907 with the discovery of Bakelite, a synthetic polymer that could be easily massproduced. This invention led to countless innovations and new products as plastics became an essential material of the global economy. In 1989 the world produced about 100 million tonnes (Mt) of plastic every year. By 2015 that number had grown exponentially to 322 Mt (McIlgorm et al., 2020). Since 1907 over 8.3 billion tonnes of virgin plastics have been manufactured. But, as supply and demand continues to grow, global recycling capacity has been unable to keep up. As a result, only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled – a small quantity remains in use in society, while the vast majority sits in landfills, has been openly incinerated or now pollutes the land, forests and oceans of our natural environment.</p
Social media based online businesses : exploring challenges to start and scale for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh
Get PDFThis research conducted by Dnet explores the situation, challenges and support requirements for social media-based women entrepreneurs (SMBWE) in Bangladesh. The findings are intended to aid relevant stakeholders in formulating strategic decisions to support potential and existing SMBWE to achieve the sustainable growth of their online businesses.
This research was commissioned by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific’s (ESCAP) Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) programme under its Research Challenge. The CWE Programme is funded by the Government of Canada, through Global Affairs Canada, and is a five-year initiative aimed at addressing three key overarching barriers faced by women entrepreneurs: (1) enabling policy environment and regulatory challenges, (2) access to finance, and (3) the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by women entrepreneurs. The CWE research agenda is centered around exploring the nuanced challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing and using financing at different stages of their enterprise journey. The research findings are designed to be applied towards identifying innovative financial solutions that can be developed or tailored to best address the needs and demands of different groups of women entrepreneurs.
This research conducted by Dnet explores the situation, challenges and support requirements for social media-based women entrepreneurs (SMBWE) in Bangladesh. The findings are intended to aid relevant stakeholders in formulating strategic decisions to support potential and existing SMBWE to achieve the sustainable growth of their online businesses. This research aims to explore the situation, challenges, and support requirements of social media-based women entrepreneurs (SMBWE) for their business success and growth. The three main research questions explored were:
i. What is the profile of social media-based women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, and emerging business situation among this economic segment?ii. What are the barriers and challenges faced by social-media based women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh to start and scale up their businesses?iii. What are the knowledge and skills support needs for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh to establish and expand social media-based businesses?
This study applied a random sampling methodology to survey 150 social media-based women entrepreneurs (SMBWE) during January-February 2021 (the COVID-19 pandemic period). In total, 47 active and inactive SMBWE, women-run offline businesses, and relevant stakeholders were consulted
Assessment of the progress in implementing the Vienna Programme of Action in NCA Landlocked Developing Countries
Get PDFConference paper prepared for the Euro-Asian final review of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024The Vienna Programme of Action (VPoA) for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) was adopted in 2014 and its main objective is to address the challenges faced by the LLDCs in overcoming their structural weaknesses during the decade 2014-2024. The High-level Midterm Review on the Implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action held in 2019, concluded that the progress in implementing Programme’s objectives had been limited in several areas, including poverty reduction, achievement of full structural economic transformation, enhancing participation in global trade and diversification of exports.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought additional challenges on North and Central Asian (NCA) LLDCs and has threatened to put a hold on progress for the full achievement of the VPoA’s objectives. Vulnerabilities in the economic structure, especially for the countries depending on commodity exports and labour remittances, have caused major recession in economic growth. Trade and transport connectivity, which are essential for the landlocked countries, were greatly affected by enforced measures. The Ukrainian crisis has further challenged the recovery process, which barely started after the curb of COVID-19 pandemic. Given the VPoA’ approaching deadline, it has become necessary to review the progress made under the Programme’s priority areas and suggest policy actions for North and Central Asian LLDCs for the next decade 2024-2034.
Similar to other LLDCs, the North and Central Asian LLDCs have achieved mixed progress in implementing the VPoA since 2014. The progress has been made in fundamental transit policy issues, including the reduced time and costs for crossing the borders and improved logistics. The countries have invested in building and modernization of new transport corridors, implementing a significant number of road infrastructure projects. The North and Central Asian LLDCs have achieved a notable progress in enacting the trade facilitation measures, joining and enforcing regional trade cooperation agreements. Furthermore, the efforts have been made to shift the NCA economies from commodity and agricultural production towards manufacturing and service sectors and export diversification.
With that, however, considerable challenges still persist in all of the VPoA’s priority areas that impediment the progress of its implementation. The transport connectivity, heavy dependence on road transport, insufficient rail density and infrastructure still result in high operational costs. Despite the implemented policy towards digitalization, the digital divide remains high in many of the NCA LLDCs. Lack of economic and export diversification, reliance on commodities production and trade impose further challenges for inclusive and sustainable growth of the countries in the region. In order to speed up the process of overcoming the countries’ inherited structural weaknesses, this paper recommends to pay special attention to the following issues when designing the next decade Programme of action:
In Priority 1 “Fundamental transit policy issues” it is recommended to provide additional assistance for the implementation of international conventions. In Priority 2 “Infrastructure development and maintenance” it is advised to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy sources and reduction of the digital divide. In Priority 3 “International trade and trade facilitation” and in Priority 5 “Structural economic transformation” further actions should be sustained to economic and export diversification. In Priority 6 “Means of implementation” the efficiency of official development assistance should be increased. Furthermore, it is recommended to include two additional priority areas, such as achievement of gender equality and ensuring proper data collection and monitoring for successful implementation of the next Programme of action. </p
Model subregional agreement on transport facilitation : updated 2022
Get PDFThe Model Subregional Agreement on Transport Facilitation has been elaborated on the basis of findings of comparative studies between major subregional agreements on transport facilitation to which various ESCAP member States are parties, conducted in 2014-2015. It has been subsequently reviewed by two regional expert meetings held in 2015 and finalized with incorporation of ESCAP member States’ comments.
The Model Subregional Agreement is intended to serve as a common framework for subregional agreements on transport facilitation. The Model can be used for drafting and negotiating new subregional agreements as well as for bringing amendments to existing agreements. This will help to expedite the negotiation process of a subregional agreement and to facilitate its subsequent practical implementation.
The Model Subregional Agreement provides a checklist of issues that are typically contained in subregional agreements on transport facilitation. The focus of the Model has been on international road transport; hence the checklist of issues to be covered is related to a larger extent to road transport than to other modes.
The Model proposes a structure and a brief description of the main elements and specific substantive issues that would be covered by a subregional agreement. It does not contain uniform wording to be used for all the issues that are supposed to be covered by the agreement.
The Model also includes a list of issues recommended to be settled through additional subregional agreements, due to their complexity or specific nature.
The Model Subregional Agreement on Transport Facilitation has been adopted by the Third Ministerial Conference on Transport in December 2016 as an annex to the Ministerial Declaration on Sustainable Transport Connectivity in Asia and the Pacific.
In 2020-2021, as part of the United Nations’ rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the UNDA project “Transport and trade connectivity in the age of pandemics: Contactless, seamless and collaborative UN solutions”, the secretariat conducted a study on proposals for crisis-response provisions in regional, subregional and bilateral transport agreements that could be incorporated in the existing and future transport agreements of ESCAP member States.
The recommendations, based on the feedback from the regional webinar, namely the proposed Model Annex on force majeure clause, are also included into this study report. </p
Presentation. UNECE carbon neutrality toolkit. 2022 SPECA Economic Forum
No full textTheme: Greener and Safer FutureSession 4: Sustainable Energy Transitio
Leadership is a peloton effect.
No full textTheme: Greener and Safer FutureSession 6: Gender equality and women’s empowermen
Presentation. Digital maturity in change management prospective. 2022 SPECA Economic Forum
No full textTheme: Greener and Safer FutureSession 5: Digital Transformation – Leveraging digital opportunitie
Development of renewable energy sources in Kazakhstan
No full textTheme: Greener and Safer FutureSession 4: Sustainable Energy Transitio
Presentation. Productive capacities and economic transformation. 2022 SPECA Economic Forum
No full textTheme: Greener and Safer FutureSession 3: Sustainable economic transformati
