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1. No Poverty
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2. Zero Hunger
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3. Good Health and Well-Being
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4. Quality Education
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5. Gender Equality
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6. Clean Water and Sanitation
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7. Affordable and Clean Energy
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8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
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9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
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10. Reduced Inequalities
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11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
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12. Responsible Consumption and Production
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13. Climate Action
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14. Life Below Water
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15. Life on Land
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16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
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17. Partnerships for the Goals
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Countries in Special Situations
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Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development
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Trade, Investment & Innovation
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Transport
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Environment and Development
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ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction
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Social Development
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Statistics
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Energy
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Strategy and Programme Management Division
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Subregional Office for the Pacific
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Subregional Office for South-East Asia
Expert Opinions & Stories
Tshering Wangchuk is no stranger to the challenges of living in a rural community in the mountainous parts of Bhutan. “My place is far away from the capital city Thimphu. There is no road access. We…
On this World Meteorological Day, WMO and ESCAP unpack the 2023 theme: Weather, Climate and Water across Generations – through a series of three opinion pieces focused on the Asia-Pacific region,…
Vanuatu twin cyclones underscore the Pacific’s vulnerability to compounding climate-disaster risks
Two destructive Category 4 tropical cyclones, Judy and Kevin, and an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude impacted over 80 per cent of the Vanuatu population from 1 to 3 March 2023. To address this emergency…
As we inch closer to the 1.5°C target and beyond in this century, the sixth generation of CIMP6 climate models (known as Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6) and the Shared Socio-economic…
The Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) are among the most vulnerable countries in the world to the impacts of climate change. The World Risk Index 2021 ranks several Pacific Island…
On January 14, 2022, the South Pacific experienced the incredible force of the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai. The plume reached 30 kilometers into the stratosphere, and the eruption was…
Strengthening resilience and raising climate ambition key for Asian and Pacific countries at COP26
A person in the Asia-Pacific region is four times more at risk of natural hazards than a person in Africa and sixteen times more than someone in North America or Europe. The “riskscape” of the region…
Recent research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown that the world is likely to reach or exceed 1.5°C of warming much earlier than previously anticipated. The United in…
As the world enters its second year of living with the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus has shifted from containing the spread of the disease towards recovering from socio-economic disruptions. COVID-19…
Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countless devastated. Yet, we must look at…
Time and tide wait for no man
“We have to learn from COVID… We can’t wish away systemic risk. It’s much much cheaper, much more effective to invest upfront in order to avoid disaster and so it is with climate change – a crisis…
“We have a rare and short window of opportunity to rebuild our world for the better”
- António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Not undermining the challenges posed by COVID-19, there…
The current COVID-19 crisis has shown that governments can act quickly and decisively if needed and collaborate to work collectively. So, why are governments not acting as quickly and decisively in…
The destruction caused by natural disasters, which is becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, is graphic and frightening. However, there is a significant impact on the financial…
On the frontlines of the battle to contain the public health and economic fallouts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Asia-Pacific region faces crucial policy choices as it tries to balance short…
The planet is the only limit
Is the current economic growth ‘purposeful”? And how do we define ‘purposefulness’?
While this may seem a profound philosophical query, there is no questioning that growth that undermines…
The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heatwaves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such as drought. Yet heat is…
Why can’t dynamic Asia-Pacific beat poverty?
Asia and the Pacific is lauded globally for its rapid economic growth over recent decades and has lifted 1.1 billion people out of extreme poverty since 1990. Nevertheless, the region continues to…
Fiscal policy – the use of government spending and taxation – is a prominent policy tool for national development. Since the 1980s, its role somewhat diminished as laissez-faire, an approach of…
Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do.
Despite much progress, the…