Drawing on data systems and analytical tools to strengthen synergistic policymaking

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Asia-Pacific region requires understanding the deeply interconnected nature of the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, while advancing socioeconomic development. Progress depends not only on sectoral achievements, but on the ability of policymakers and other stakeholders to manage interactions among goals, sectors and systems. These interactions can generate both synergies and trade-offs across multiple scales, shaped by complex feedbacks within socioecological systems (Pradhan, 2017). Explicitly addressing such complexity requires moving beyond fragmented approaches toward integrated, systems-oriented policymaking. This transition, in turn, necessitates effective means of implementation. Among the means of implementation covered in this report, data systems and analytical tools play a critical role in supporting evidence-based decision-making, identifying interlinkages and informing synergistic policy responses.