Expert Opinions & Stories

Amid a sea of high-rises and blocks of concrete, taking a walk through Bangkok’s Lumphini park or New Delhi’s Sunder Nursery can give you a much-needed break to “touch the grass,” in the midst of…

The demand for adopting more inclusive value chains in the private sector is apparent on all fronts. Customers are more mindful of their purchases, with extensive access to product information…

Food system risk is increasing across most countries in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years according to the recently launched INFER Framework
INFER uses 95 indicators to produce food system…

Gulmira Kuzhagaliyeva, a former senior expert at Qaz-Trade, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Trade and Integration, has been exploring sustainable methods of food packaging and storage in her work  ̶…

It is undeniable that the world is rapidly approaching a climate change catastrophe. According to the  Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change …

As we celebrate the World Environment Day this year, it bears repeating that the world is in the midst of an extinction crisis. Asia and the Pacific sees the most rapid and serious decline in…

The Asia-Pacific region has the world’s highest estimated number of children and youth (ages 24 or younger), counting over 1.7 billion in 2020. This represents 1.7 billion distinct lives and,…

In a few days, global leaders will gather at UN headquarters in New York to make certain we recognize the value of water, appreciate its vitality to life and embrace a visionary Water Action Agenda…

As countries gathered at the United Nations’ biodiversity conference, or COP15, to agree on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, policymakers, scientists, and rights advocates reaffirmed…

To meet the ambitions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we will need a vibrant and innovative private sector able to seize opportunities to solving the problems that hamper progress and…

The recent climate talks in Egypt have left us with a sobering reality: The window for maintaining global warming to 1.5 degrees is closing fast and what is on the table currently is insufficient to…

Five years after the entry into force of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), many countries have made progress in implementing the agreement, much technical assistance has been provided, and…

Countries in the Asia-Pacific region continue to make progress in digitalizing trade procedures. When these procedures are digital, they can be made simpler, more accessible, and quicker to execute…

It is widely believed that the biggest contribution of trade to climate change is from transport-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Indeed, as reported in the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment…

The world’s topmost decision-making body on trade will meet in Geneva on 30 November, having only four days at the World Trade Organization 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) to deliver a…

On bikes and on foot, with trikes, pushcarts and more, informal waste pickers are an active and persistent feature of waste management systems across the Asia-Pacific region. Daily waste pickers make…

The adoption of the Paris Agreement (“PA”) in December 2015 created the opportunity to use legal instruments for climate action. To reach the strategic objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C,…

Throughout history, zoonotic diseases (diseases transmitted from animals to humans) have made their marks in human history. For example, the bubonic plague, which was transmitted from rodents, is…

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can significantly contribute to the sustainable development of both home and host countries in several important ways: through expanding access to…

Air pollution has become a serious environmental and health issue in Thailand. The pollution levels in the country follow predictable patterns, which highlight the presence of a peak pollution season…