Expert Opinions & Stories

In 2020, Asia-Pacific saw the collision of climate extremes and COVID-19 transmission create cascading disasters with wide-ranging impacts on sectors, economies, and populations.

The year…

Why are cities vital to support a green recovery from COVID-19? Urban areas are critical for both the global and local environment. They constitute the most significant source of GHG emissions,…

The COVID-19 pandemic is imposing economic and broader development challenges as never before. Job losses, reduced income and lack of access to social protection will push millions back into extreme…

Asif Ali (name changed) and his wife live with three children in a rural township bordering India and Bangladesh. Asif lost his job as a mechanic when the COVID-19 lockdown forced the closure of a…

The United Nations has tasked the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR-IPPH) to lead the research roadmap to identify priorities that will support an…

COVID-19 challenges the very fabric of human possibilities, survival and needs while amplifying the impacts of any ongoing crisis, especially the one faced currently by South Asia. Against a backdrop…

After decades of impressive growth, for the first time, Southeast Asia is experiencing a drop in measured human development. The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic will likely take months…

As lockdowns ease in countries across Asia and the Pacific in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is clear—a return to business as usual is unimaginable in a region that was already off…

The last few months have seen the collisions of COVID-19 with climate extremes. Its impact is potentially inter-generational where poverty, disaster risks and environmental degradation converge,…

Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countless devastated. Yet, we must look at…

“We have a rare and short window of opportunity to rebuild our world for the better”
- António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General

Not undermining the challenges posed by COVID-19, there…

There is no doubt the current COVID-19 pandemic is a defining moment in our lifetime. How do we support the world after the pandemic to be better than what we will leave behind? This is the key…

Last week saw a ‘crisis on top of a crisis’ in South Asia – the unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region was followed by the most powerful cyclone to strike India and Bangladesh…

Worldwide, many countries continue to experience an extended period of COVID-19 risks. There are no off-the-shelf solutions for managing such a complex crisis, in which measures to prevent…

COVID-19 has brought major socioeconomic disruptions globally. In North and Central Asia countries, the effects of measures taken to contain the pandemic along with fall in resource prices are…

“Migration powers economic growth, reduces inequalities, and connects diverse societies. Yet it is also a source of political tensions and human tragedies”
- Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of…

COVID-19 is turning our world upside down, especially for those at the end of the age spectrum. The virus and its rapid spread are challenging science, economy and society—as well as how we care for…

The year 2020 has witnessed an unprecedented COVID-19 crisis where many human lives have been lost. We have also witnessed the tremendous magnitude and speed of collapse in economic activity–…

As the world is struggling with the rapid-onset COVID-19 crisis, and while it is early to conclude which response strategies were the most successful, we can already start drawing some lessons to…

Around the world, the lockdown measures to contain COVID-19 have led to economic contraction and a significant drop in energy consumption including electricity, gas and oil. CEOs, experts and…