Publications

The Asia-Pacific region stands at a historic crossroads. Rapid economic growth and urbanization over recent decades have delivered major social gains, including higher living standards, reduced poverty and expanded access to education. Yet the resource intensive, linear production and consumption model that has underpinned this growth is now...

The previous chapters underscored that addressing climate, biodiversity and pollution crises together can generate synergies and accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Implementing synergistic solutions, however, require a range of strategies and mechanisms that can break down silos and facilitate interactions across...

Just as nature is the foundation of life on Earth, biodiversity provides the essential ‘ecosystem services’ required to sustain that foundation (e.g. food, water, medicines, fuel, water and climate regulation, pollination, aesthetic value, recreation, spirituality, education). Yet, globally that foundation is weakening as at least a million animal...

With more than 2.2 billion urban residents, cities in Asia and the Pacific are well placed to drive the urban transitions needed to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (ESCAP, 2025b). Their large and growing urban population gives them significant influence, but the real strength of cities is in their role as delivery...

The Asia-Pacific Synergies Report synthesizes experiences from the Asia-Pacific region on translating synergies into practical, policy-relevant lessons for national and subnational policymakers and other stakeholders. The report argues that synergies should be positioned as a core organizing principle in policies and actions toward 2030 and beyond...

Tourism is a key driver of economic growth in Thailand, but it also generates significant environmental and socio-economic pressures, particularly in coastal destinations such as Krabi. Increasing plastic pollution, resource stress, and socio-economic inequalities highlight the limitations of conventional tourism models and the need for more...

This presentation reflected on the experience of developing the ASEAN Climate Change Strategic Action Plan 2026–2030 (ACCSAP) to examine how evidence can move beyond assessment and analysis to influence policy and support implementation. The ACCSAP experience showed that evidence becomes policy-relevant not simply through technical quality, but...

Typhoon impacts in the Philippines exhibit strong neighbourhood-scale heterogeneity driven by interactions among hazard intensity, exposure, and vulnerability, yet most operational assessments remain hazard-centric. This study presents a grid-based machine-learning framework for neighbourhood-scale typhoon risk mapping integrating geophysical...

Typhoon impacts in the Philippines exhibit strong neighbour hood-scale heterogeneity driven by interactions among haz ard intensity, exposure, and vulnerability, yet most opera tional assessments remain hazard-centric. This study presents a grid-based machine-learning framework for neighbour hood-scale typhoon risk mapping integrating geophysical...

This paper examines the governance of agrivoltaics (AV) in the context of Japan’s rapid rural depopulation and farmland abandonment. While AV is traditionally framed as a solution to land-use competition, this study argues that in shrinking regions, the primary challenge is not land scarcity but a shortage of human capacity to manage...