South Asia has experienced significant progress in improving human and physical capital over the past few decades. Within the region, India has become a global economic powerhouse with enormous development potential ahead.

This report reviews the energy landscape in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka with the aim of supporting improved energy efficiency in these countries and the rest of South Asia. Key sectors with the potential for significant energy reduction are identified for Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

South Asia’s pace of progress towards the SDGs to date has been less than adequate. The COVID-19 outbreak, which has escalated into a global humanitarian crisis responsible for erasing developmental achievements attained over many years, places more hurdles along the subregion’s sustainable development pathways.

This book documents myriads of ways community-based climate change adaptation and resilience programs are being implemented in South Asian countries.

This book documents myriads of ways community-based climate change adaptation and resilience programs are being implemented in South Asian countries.

South Asia’s recovery continues as global demand rebounded and targeted containment measures helped minimize the economic impacts of the recent waves of COVID-19. But the recovery remains fragile and uneven, and most countries are far from pre-pandemic trend levels, says the World Bank in its twice-yearly regional update.

Water and sanitation are human rights, and countries have committed to a global goal of providing access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) to everyone, everywhere by 2030. This requires countries to invest in WASH to progressively realise those rights, for everyone equally.

The South Asia region is both a large contributor to climate change and also one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change. This paper provides an overview of the region’s vulnerabilities, national committments to mitigate emissions, and national policies to adapt to a changing climate.

South Asia is highly exposed and vulnerable to the impacts of natural hazards. It has been affected by several large-scale disasters over the past two decades, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has grouped all its member states into 12 sub-regional implementation support networks to facilitate the coordination, communication, and implementation of the agreed national priority actions and other commitments for achieving Aichi Target 11.