On the frontlines of the battle to contain the public health and economic fallouts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Asia-Pacific region faces crucial policy choices as it tries to balance short-term responses with the long-term development vision enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has been causing cascading economic and social stress across the world. The production of goods and services has decreased in some countries, while an increasing number of economies are feared to go in recession, with rising unemployment rates.
The Asia-Pacific region is no stranger to extreme shocks and events, from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the 2018 Cyclone Gita , to the 2020 Taal volcano eruption. At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest and probably the most devastating in a long line of varied disasters impacting the region.
On 10 March 2020, the UN Secretary-General Mr. Antonio Guterres launched the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) State of the Climate 2019. The Report confirms that 2019 was the second-warmest year on record, and 2010 to 2019 was the warmest decade on record.
When I started working in the Population and Social Statistics Section at ESCAP, I was asked to support a programme of work on CRVS.
“What is it?” I asked myself. The UN always uses a lot of abbreviations, but this one was new to me.
A common saying has it that when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. However, with China’s economic rise, this phrase is yet to gain another spin.
As the world’s sixth largest economic market, the ASEAN bloc has significant potential to drive growth. By 2030, the bloc aims to become the fourth-largest economy, and with the world’s third-largest labour force, opportunities for innovation and higher prosperity are emerging.
Every year on 18 December, we celebrate International Migrants’ Day. This is an opportunity to reflect on the stories of the millions of migrants across the region moving in search of better lives and contributing to the welfare and sustainable development of their countries of origin and destination.
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