The world is facing a series of multiple and interlinked crises; a perfect storm that is testing the limits of current development paradigms. As countries and cities across Asia and the Pacific struggle to recover from the socioeconomic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis continues to ravage the region.

Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) targets universal access to energy, an increased share of renewable energy in the global energy mix, and doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the cracks in the current health sector. From 2019 to 2020, investment in the health-care sector dropped by 45 per cent and continued to decline in 2021 to 34 per cent in the first three quarters of 2022.

People in Asia and the Pacific were displaced more than 225 million times due to disasters triggered by natural hazards from 2010 to 2021, accounting for more than three-quarters of the global number, according to this report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

Pathways to Adaptation and Resilience in the South-east Asia takes forward analysis of the Asia Pacific Disaster Report 2021 and demonstrates how the subregion is being affected by various climatological risk parameters, and where new hotspots of exposure and vulnerability to climate-induced, cascading multi-hazard scenarios are being created.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally as well as in the South-East Asia Region.

Decent work entails equality of opportunity and treatment at work, dignity and safety in the workplace, a fair income and the freedom for workers to organize and participate in decisions related to their work and lives.

The agriculture sector in Asia and the Pacific region contributes massively to climate change, as the region has the largest share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture. The region is the largest producer of rice, a major source of methane emissions.

The regional flagship report analyses the gendered impacts of climate change in Southeast Asia and suggests ways to enhance and mainstream gender equality into climate-relevant sectoral policies and actions.

People in the urban informal sector have suffered disproportionately during the COVID-19 pandemic and face a highly uncertain future. While supporting the livelihoods of most of the developing world’s urban poor, the informal sector also deprives them of basic services and social protection.