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The overarching principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – “leave no one behind” – calls for more granular and disaggregated data than are currently available in most countries, in order to inform the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) monitoring process.

In 2015, 17 Sustainable Development Goals were agreed by 193 UN Member States to shape the global agenda for sustainable development in the next fifteen years and beyond. 

Achieving these goals will require an unprecedented mobilization of the energy and skills of young people, and recognition of their significant role in promoting them. 

Human rights are the only set of internationally agreed standards that set out how people should be treated, and what they should expect from wider society and from organisations and institutions. They can help to navigate complex issues with competing viewpoints, in ways that treat all people fairly and impartially.

The year 2020 has been the year of COVID-19. The fallout of the pandemic is expected to significantly influence the ability of countries to plan for, finance and implement adaptation actions in response to current and future climate impacts, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable countries and population groups.

This year marks the start of the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It is a critical period to advance a shared vision and accelerate responses to the world’s gravest challenges – from eliminating poverty and hunger to reversing climate change.

Five years after the adoption of the Paris Agreement, it is time for countries to step up their commitments to combat the climate crisis. Accelerating Implementation of the Paris Agreement in Asia-Pacific: A Guide for Policymakers is developed to support policy- and decisionmakers in understanding the need and identifying opportunities to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and to provide tools, measures, policies, actions, and case studie

More than 2 decades ago, the public debate focused largely on how to design a single global market for trading carbon units as the key instrument for addressing global climate change. The argument emphasized that since 1 ton of a greenhouse gas emitted anywhere in the world has the same climate change consequences for everyone, a single global market would be an economically desirable outcome, equalizing incentives to reduce emissions everywhere.

Asia has achieved impressive growth in economic and social welfare during the last decades. Good water management and human capital development remain vital to support economic growth and increase overall social wellbeing in Asia and the Pacific, especially after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Climate change discussions about forests and trees have for a long time focused mainly on their mitigation potential. However, the mitigation potential of forests and trees also depends on their capacity to adapt to a changing climate as well as to increased human pressure. Moreover, forests and trees play a crucial role in the resilience of landscapes and people as well as in their capacity to adapt to climate change.

The direct and indirect impacts of the “COVID-19 shock” on the Asia-Pacific region have unfolded rapidly, varied widely by country and continue to affect economies. In response, the majority of Asia-Pacific governments have taken strong and innovative COVID-19 response measures to support their poorest, especially in job creation. But how “green” have these measures been?