International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP2022) Summary Report

The International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP) is held annually to share information and facilitate diverse discussions on sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific, with the participation of front-line experts and diverse stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business and NGOs. The Forum has been providing venues for up-to-date discussions with experts and diverse stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business and NGOs and knowledge/information sharing with a wide range of practitioners.

The main theme of ISAP in 2022 was "Strengthening Synergies between Climate Change and Biodiversity: From Science to Policy to Action". Both climate change and biodiversity loss result from the expansion of an unsustainable relationship between nature and humans, posing a major threat to human society. How can we deal with these two deeply interconnected challenges? It is clear that individual policies and measures are not enough - we also need to make some fundamental changes in the structure of our societies and our economies. At ISAP2022, we discussed how to address these two global challenges in a more integrated manner. An integrated approach will also have implications for human security, particularly in light of recent major geopolitical changes, triggered by the war in Ukraine. Discussions at ISAP 2022 looked at how these changes would impact future global environmental policies and what direction to take to meet the challenges we now face.