SDG13 Climate Action

The second issue of the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development’s (APCICT) ICTD Case Study Series, ICT for Disaster Risk Reduction, discusses the ways in which ICT has positively impacted the various phases of disaster management. Noting the use of ICT during and in the immediate aftermath of disasters like the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and most recently the Haiti Earthquake, the case studies examine the important role ICTs play in disaster preparedness, response and mitigation.

The importance of transport to the global economy cannot be overemphasized. Mobility of people and goods remains vital for economic development and personal well-being of communities and nations. As the global human population increases, increased need for mobility

South-East Asia is regularly hit by droughts. Ready for the Dry Years offers a clear analysis of this subject, assessing prospects for the decades ahead and highlighting the principal risks. Though starting slowly, droughts can have devastating cumulative impacts – striking hardest at the poor and heightening inequality, as well as degrading land and increasing the prospects of conflict. The study shows that there will be many more dry years ahead, and the area affected by drought is likely to shift and expand.

To help countries benchmark and reduce the time and cost of trading across border, the UN Regional Commissions jointly conduct the UN Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade. The Survey currently covers 120 countries around the globe, and 47 measures related to the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), as well as emerging regional and global initiatives on paperless trade or e-trade, such as the recent Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (FA-CPT).

The 2030 Agenda, based on 17 goals and 169 targets, is a bold and inspirational new agenda addressing the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, to meet our present needs without risking the wellbeing of future generations. Agricultural mechanization is a cross cutting issue particularly valuable to the attainment of the SDGs in the Asia Pacific region.

Thanks to its deep engagement with local authorities across LDCs, UNCDF directly witnessed the early impacts of climate change at the local level on local economic development, across sectors. The LoCAL Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) has been designed to address this challenge, building on over two decades of UNCDF experience in fiscal decentralization, performance-based grants, local public financial management, and local investments and procurement around the world.

The Asia-Pacific Urban Forum is the largest and most diverse multi-stakeholder urban forum in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 1993, the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum has gathered urban stakeholders, engaged policymakers from local and national governments, financial institutions, NGOs and the private sector to debate and promote innovative solutions to the region’s most critical urban development challenges.

The Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) is the most inclusive regional platform on sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.