The Environment and Development Policy Section focuses on developing the enabling conditions for green growth as a path to sustainable development. The section monitors and analyzes policy trends, advocates innovative policy approaches, implements pilot projects, builds national capacity, supports mechanisms for regional and inter-regional cooperation and contributes and coordinates Asian and Pacific perspectives on the global sustainable development agenda.
Sustainable development challenges...
Unsustainable patterns of natural resource use and climate change have brought economic and environmental challenges together with dramatic impacts on millions of people. Gains on poverty reduction are in danger of being reversed, and many people are more vulnerable than ever before. A new economic reality of increasingly evident resource constraints and rising resource prices has emerged. Conventional economic growth strategies no longer fit this reality - economic growth patterns that overexploit natural capital are now shown to be economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable.
Recalibration of the economy so that economic growth trajectories that are more closely aligned with sustainable development objectives is therefore the most important long-term challenge facing the Asian and Pacific region. At the same time, action must be appropriate to each country’s specific conditions and requirements.
Recent impacts …
The section emphasizes integrated approaches to transforming the “visible” and “invisible” infrastructure of the economic as a basis for systemic, rather than incremental improvements in the eco-efficiency of economic growth. In recent years the section has influenced the development of green growth strategies and road maps at the regional and national levels - including in Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea and Viet Nam among other countries.
Pilot projects have provided financing for pro-poor community based renewable energy use, supported the development of payments for ecosystem services policy, improved the eco-efficiency of urban environments across the region and raised awareness of the use of eco-efficiency indicators at the national level. Over 1000 regional policymakers have attended national green growth and related regional capacity building events in recent years. Partnerships have been built though cooperation mechanisms such as the Seoul Initiative Network on Green Growth and the fledgling Astana Green Bridge Initiative. In an effort to monitor changes in the policy landscape, the section has also issued major reports on sustainable development and also developed eco-efficiency indicators as part of its work on green growth indicators. It is playing a key role in regional preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in June 2010.
Sustainable development challenges...
Unsustainable patterns of natural resource use and climate change have brought economic and environmental challenges together with dramatic impacts on millions of people. Gains on poverty reduction are in danger of being reversed, and many people are more vulnerable than ever before. A new economic reality of increasingly evident resource constraints and rising resource prices has emerged. Conventional economic growth strategies no longer fit this reality - economic growth patterns that overexploit natural capital are now shown to be economically, socially and environmentally unsustainable.
Recalibration of the economy so that economic growth trajectories that are more closely aligned with sustainable development objectives is therefore the most important long-term challenge facing the Asian and Pacific region. At the same time, action must be appropriate to each country’s specific conditions and requirements.
Recent impacts …
The section emphasizes integrated approaches to transforming the “visible” and “invisible” infrastructure of the economic as a basis for systemic, rather than incremental improvements in the eco-efficiency of economic growth. In recent years the section has influenced the development of green growth strategies and road maps at the regional and national levels - including in Cambodia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea and Viet Nam among other countries.
Pilot projects have provided financing for pro-poor community based renewable energy use, supported the development of payments for ecosystem services policy, improved the eco-efficiency of urban environments across the region and raised awareness of the use of eco-efficiency indicators at the national level. Over 1000 regional policymakers have attended national green growth and related regional capacity building events in recent years. Partnerships have been built though cooperation mechanisms such as the Seoul Initiative Network on Green Growth and the fledgling Astana Green Bridge Initiative. In an effort to monitor changes in the policy landscape, the section has also issued major reports on sustainable development and also developed eco-efficiency indicators as part of its work on green growth indicators. It is playing a key role in regional preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in June 2010.
Executive summary for mayors
Complete version for planners
Bahasa Indonesia version