SDG13 Climate Action

Rapid rate of urbanization in Ulaanbaatar in recent decades has led to accelerated rates of deforestation within the city’s Green Zone. UNESCAP and UN-Habitat has been working closely with The Asia Foundation to tackle issues surrounding Sustainable Forestry Management in Ulaanbaatar on the Localizing the 2030 Agenda in Asian-Pacific Cities project via a Sustainable Urban Resource Management Approach. Check out this video to hear about Ulaanbaatar’s call to action to protect their forests and how the SDGs are at play in this effort.

What are ‘Nature-based solutions’, or NbS? How can they help build resilience to disasters and climate change impacts? Why is NbS relevant? How can I apply NbS in my work and everyday life?

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 studies that could be applied to their national circumstances and update of their NDCs during the review p

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. Today, this late-1990s dream of a top-down global design seems far away, if not impossible.

The Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS) 2021, 25-26 January, is an online global conference to accelerate, innovate and scale up the world’s efforts in adapting to the inevitable effects of climate change.

Bringing together a range of participants, CAS 2021 responds to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’s call for “more concrete plans, more ambition from more countries and more businesses” to make ore businesses” to make the world more climate-resilient.

Scientists, policymakers and diverse publics have begun to earnestly discuss the need to identify synergies in the implementation of the climate change agenda with the sustainable development and Global Goals 2030 agenda.  The implementation of these broad agendas requires the integration of the natural and social sciences with perspectives from politics, policymakers, and citizens.  Challenges of implementation take place on multiple-levels, from the household, neighborhood and local city levels, up to provincial and national

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 National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process offers an opportunity to better integrate these roles in national strategies and policies.

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? Have any countries in the region accelerated their plans and finance for acting on climate change, as part of a “green recovery”?

Asia and Pacific countries have made major commitments to implement the UN’s Paris Agreement of 2015, in particular through Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). However, while 8 countries in the region already have carbon neutral commitments, and others have begun to implement their NDC commitments, progress is highly uneven.