Expert Opinions & Stories

The rapid growth of digitalization has fundamentally altered commerce, impacting production and facilitating the movement of goods. The 2023 Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report (APTIR), has…

The Asia-Pacific region is faltering on decades of progress in reducing poverty and hunger. Increasingly, severe climate-related hazards are threatening food security and triggering human…

World Population Day on 11 July provides an excellent opportunity to take stock and look ahead regarding population issues that are affecting all aspects of society in Asia and the Pacific. This year…

For Ou Sokphanna, who lost her leg to a landmine explosion when she was young, opportunities for income generation have always been limited, with widespread discrimination preventing her from…

The development of sustainable and resilient infrastructure is necessary to achieve the development outcomes envisaged by the Sustainable Development Goals, such as access to clean water and energy…

33-year-old Rina Akhtar, hailing from Dhaka, Bangladesh, found herself grappling with adversity when her husband deserted her, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone.

Undeterred by the…

This year sees a rise in mandatory Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) reporting regulations and requirements, extending to not just listed companies but also non-listed smaller companies. KPMG…

Maternity protection is a human right enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Income security for newborn mothers ensures their mental and physical wellbeing and…

In the heart of India's agricultural landscape, smallholder farmers, comprising 70 per cent of the sector, face a significant barrier: limited access to formal financial institutions and resources…

Let’s call her Anita. Four years ago, her life took an unexpected turn when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everything she knew. As businesses closed and economic uncertainty loomed, Anita, like…

Selyn, a women-led handloom business, offers flexible employment and valuable income opportunities to about 1,000 women artisans and persons from marginalized groups in rural Sri Lanka. Selyn…

In the bustling financial hub of Singapore, Rhea See, an early-stage fund manager, leads an accelerator platform dedicated to empowering women in technology. She firmly believes that investing in…

The recently concluded Seventh Session of the Asian and Pacific Population Conference (APPC) highlighted the need for forward-looking policies that harness the demographic transition and place…

Quadrupling in size since 1950, the working age population in Asia and the Pacific now accounts for 67.2 per cent of the total population in the region and is set to peak at 3.3 billion by the…

Establishing comprehensive social protection and fulfilling the human right to social security for everyone is the foundation of a people-centric strategy for achieving social justice and inclusive…

“Climate change impacts everyone, but not equally,” says Shreya KC, a young climate activist from Solukhumbu, Nepal.

Shreya has seen firsthand how women and young girls in rural communities have…

The potential of e-commerce to drive inclusive development has been debated for decades. As far back as 2002, then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, in the publication titled E-Commerce…

In a world increasingly driven by information, the role of ‘data’ and ‘statistics’ is guiding decisions, including on population and sustainable development. In Asia and the Pacific, home to 60 per…

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  ̶…

In Asia and the Pacific, migration is again on the rise. In 2020, almost 109 million people lived in a country other than that of their birth. They represented 2.3 per cent of the region’s population…