ADB, in partnership with Bhutan's Royal Court of Justice, convened the Second South Asia Judicial Roundtable on Environmental Justice to discuss shared environmental challenges, common experiences, and ways to further cooperation.

A majority of people living in Asian cities are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution every day. Seven out of 10 cities in developing Asian countries have unhealthy levels of air pollution, when measured as annual levels of particulate matter with size range of not greater than 10 microns (PM10).

Investments in agricultural research and extension have consistently demonstrated high rates of return in Asia and the Pacific. However, the recent global food crisis exposed the vulnerability of food supply systems and reversed many past achievements in the fight against hunger and malnutrition.

Asia and the Pacific region is expected to be hit hard by the impacts of climate change. Developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are among the most vulnerable, with seven of the top ten vulnerable countries being in the region.

Assigning a monetary value for air quality reduction and associated health outcomes of electricity generation is both difficult and essential; it is difficult because methods are cumbersome, data intensive and costly, however dollar value of cost of air pollution is imperative for formulating pollution control policy.

The urban metabolism framework maps the activities of cities from their consumption of materials, the different activities associated with those processes, and the wastes produced.

This paper illustrates the consequences of the search for energy security and its relationship to regional trade and cooperation.

The changing structure of agricultural trade in a globalizing world has become an integral part of effective rural development. In this context, contract farming has emerged as a promising rural development strategy that has gained momentum in the region, providing technical training, production inputs, and market linkages to smallholders.

The paper finds that energy efficiency policies in Asia are expected to have a positive impact on private consumption, government expenditures, and investment. Such policies would also lead to a significant rise in trade within the region while reducing trade outside.

Asian countries have a unique opportunity to transform themselves and leapfrog older technologies to lead the global knowledge-based economy of the future, says a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Asia has a youthful population and large middle-class market.