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Assessing e-resilience in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia
Get PDFThis working paper is prepared under the framework of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway initiative (AP-IS) and provides an overview of policy responses and recommendations to enable the e-resilience of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and the use of ICT for societal resilience, which is a key component of crisis preparedness and instrumental in deciding on response.
This Working Paper is prepared to support policymakers of three countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia - target countries of the Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration (RECI) - Development Account 11th Tranche project. The paper serves as an example of harnessing the E-resilience monitoring dashboard, developed by ESCAP in 2021, for analysis and a way forward recommendations, responding to the necessity and aspiration of enhancing e-resilience, focusing on the cases of the above three countries.
In this paper, policymakers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia may discover key entry points for improvement of e-resilience capacity, or indicate the areas for collaboration, and decide on future direction of ICT policy to grow into a full-fledged e-resilient society through regional cooperation.
This Working Paper and the online e-resilience monitoring dashboard provide scoping of opportunities for countries’ cooperation and highlight the importance of e-resilience along with vital contributions to policy design and reforms that will enable sustainable growth.
The visuals are drawn from the interactive on-line e-resilience monitoring dashboard, available at the ESCAP website with the data sourced from official data for the period covering 2018-2020.</p
Guideline on monitoring and reporting the impact of sand and dust storms through the Sendai framework monitoring
Get PDFThe purpose of the Guideline on monitoring and reporting the impact of sand and dust storms through the Sendai Framework Monitoring developed by the UNESCAP Asia and Pacific Centre for Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) is to support the Member States’ in their efforts to monitor and report the impacts of sand and dust storms (SDS) through the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) monitoring process. As such, the Guideline aims to enhance Member States’ capacities to collect and gather historical data on the impacts of SDS and build an evidence base that can be used for policy and decision-making.
The target audience includes government officials working on sand and dust storms and on the monitoring of the Sendai Framework in Asia and the Pacific. Furthermore, the Guideline may provide useful inputs for implementing partners in the region and other actors supporting data collection and monitoring and reporting of the impact of SDS. While the Guideline focuses specifically on the Asia-Pacific region, it can be used by all countries affected by SDS who wish to report their impact through the Sendai Framework monitoring.
The document adopts a hazard-specific approach to the Sendai Framework monitoring and should be used as a complementary resource to the comprehensive UNDRR Technical Guidance for monitoring and reporting against global targets of the Sendai Framework (2018). The Guideline is divided in four chapters. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the Sendai Framework monitoring process and its linkages with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chapter 2 puts forth key elements for organizing the monitoring and reporting of SDS impacts. The section addresses practical aspects for collecting and collating data on SDS impact and suggests a four-step approach for reporting SDS impact using the Sendai monitoring process. Chapter 3 comprises an overview and specific guidance notes for each of the seven Sendai Framework targets. It provides information on the key issues to take into account in the collection of SDS data, the types of data that should be collated, and potential stakeholders to engage with. Finally, Chapter 4 proposes five complementary custom targets and indicators for monitoring and reporting additional SDS impact, using the SFM ‘custom target’ feature. </p
Mending the broken relationship with nature : tackling the biodiversity, ecosystems, health and climate change nexus post-COVID-19
Get PDFThis policy brief highlights how human health is directly linked to the state of biodiversity and climate change in the Asia-Pacific region. Improving human health and mitigating against future health disasters requires simultaneously addressing these causative factors in an integrated fashion.
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) is a zoonotic disease, transmitted by animals to humans. Zoonotic diseases are driven by many environmental factors that enhance the interface between wild animals, domestic animals and humans. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the region’s environmental health was already under enormous pressure. The COVID-19 pandemic is therefore a call to urgently restore and reconnect a sustainable relationship between nature and human societies.
This poses the following questions:
What are the environmental issues that pose threats to human health and how are environmental and human health related?
What are the approaches that can be used to understand these interactions?
What are the concrete policy actions that can be implemented to mend the broken relationship between human societies and the environment and address, at the same time, the global biodiversity, climate and health crises?
It is critical to generate knowledge to bring about change that emphasizes a shift away from current development trajectories characterized by biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, unsustainable production and consumption patterns, pollution, and climate change. A framework to address the nexus between the health of the natural world and human health within the limits of what nature can provide, in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is imperative.
A combination of institutional weaknesses, structural economic weaknesses and behavioural weaknesses in the way we manage our environment led to the degradation of environmental health in the region and are linked to the environmental drivers of zoonoses:
Institutional weaknesses reflect weak governance and institutional capacities. They include a lack of political commitment, despite the available science, to address critical environmental issues such as the biodiversity and climate crises, and siloed approaches to the management of environmental and human health.
Structural weaknesses, arising from the prevalence of an unsustainable economic paradigm include land use change, unsustainable urbanization, all types of pollution, and issues in the way the economic, financial and business sectors take into account the environment.
Behavioural weaknesses are linked to unsustainable lifestyle and consumption patterns. They encompass illegal wildlife hunting, trade and increase in international live animal exports, unsustainable agro-food systems and the unsustainable impacts of population growth.
With a framework addressing these linkages, specific institutional, structural economic, and behavioural change solutions are offered to ensure that environmental health and human health are protected, and offers perspectives on how to simultaneously address the causative factors of zoonoses in an integrated manner, focusing on the nexus between biodiversity, ecosystems, human health and climate change.
Key institutional solutions include the adoption of a regional agenda that would bring in all relevant actors, strengthen environmental laws, regulations and their enforcement, and enhance monitoring capacity, with a focus on addressing the biodiversity and climate crises. Structural economic solutions look at how to render land management and urbanization more sustainable, at reducing and managing pollution appropriately and at how putting nature at the economic paradigm can improve both human and environmental health. Finally, behavioural change solutions focus on better managing wildlife and wildlife trade, at promoting sustainable agri-food systems as well as overall sustainable consumption and production
National strategic development plan based on national logistics blueprint of Indonesia : a study in populated regency, cross-border and remote area
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In order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of transport and logistics connectivity within the ESCAP region, ESCAP Transport Division continuously undertakes initiatives, notably in the form of undertaking research and study projects as well as conducting trainings notably through Training-of-Trainers (TOT) program; to improve technical knowledge of the transport and logistics sector and to support human resource capacity-building notably among developing countries in the ESCAP region.
Within the context of the Southeast Asia subregion, Indonesia, the most populous country with the biggest economy in the subregion, faces particular transport and logistics challenges as an archipelagic country formed by thousands of islands. In this connection, ESCAP undertook a study project to collect data and information on the transport and logistics sector in Indonesia and assess logistics performance and identify challenges. It covers the strategic national development plans, including the National Logistics Blueprint; and various initiatives undertaken were analyzed, including target achievements and implementation gaps. Furthermore, examples of national experiences by means of “case studies style analysis” were also undertaken to ensure actual and practical approach of the study project. Outcome of the study project is compiled in this Working Paper
Transport and communications bulletin for Asia and the Pacific. No. 47
No full textTransport and communications bulletin for Asia and the Far East. (0041-1396
Toward sustainable e-waste management in Asia and the Pacific
Get PDFProsperity and technical progress and innovation have made our lives very convenient, lightning up the world, and connecting people worldwide. However, the production of vast amounts of electronic devices also presents a grave threat to the environment and human health. Technological innovations in the electronic industry are usually very fast, resulting in rapid obsolescence and a decreasing lifetime of products. Recently produced goods may become electronic waste (e-waste) or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) before the technical end-of-life. The current waste management frameworks in the region are not fully prepared to respond to the increasing amounts of e-waste. Even more, the consideration of the unique composition and context of e-waste is not fully explored.</p
Inequality in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in East and North-East Asia and South-East Asia
Get PDFThis report examines inequalities in the access to and use of ICTs in ESCAP member States of East and North-East Asia as well as South-East Asia. It uses the classification and regression tree analysis to explore the ICT gaps between population groups and determine the characteristics and circumstances of individuals most likely to be left behind.
The report begins by setting the context of ICTs as an enabler for achieving the SDGs, and highlights trends in ICT access and use the countries covered. The next section examines why inequality in ICTs matters, particularly in four closely interrelated areas - poverty, gender, education and work - and in this new reality brought about by COVID-19. This is followed by a summary of findings from the classification and regression tree analysis that identifies key characteristics of the population groups that are left behind due to their lack of access to and use of ICTs. The fourth section considers future ICT-related challenges that may increase inequalities, and presents some lessons learned and good practices to address these challenges. The report concludes with policy recommendations on ways to leverage ICTs to reduce inequalities and ensure they become essential tools for inclusive sustainable development, rather than forces that widen inequality gaps
South and South-West Asia Development Monitor No. 5
No full textSouth and South-West Asia Development Monitor Number Number 5, 15 June 2012.
The Development Monitor is a bimonthly electronic newsletter, launched in early 2012 (issued on a monthly basis initially), which provides an overview of the work and activities undertaken by the ESCAP South and South-West Asia Office and conferences and knowledge products of relevance to the subregion. The newsletter also provides a compilation of news and articles on themes covered by the ESCAP SSWA work programme.
The 68th Session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 17 to 23 May. The Commission session agenda offered an opportunity for ESCAP subregional offices to present their work programmes and welcomed comments from member states on their activities. Several delegations made statements of support for the existence of subregional offices and ESCAP’s active implementation of its subregional work programme
