No Poverty
Special theme: From Labs to Jabs: Ensuring access and equity in COVID-19 vaccination: Solidarity as a practical craft: Cohesion and cooperation in leveraging access to medical technologies within and beyond the TRIPS Agreement
The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented call for global solidarity, which has included a proposal to waive key obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The governance of intellectual property in a global health crisis entails consideration of the effective and coordinated agency of domestic governments to foster solidarity through practical action. This paper presents the context for solidarity while taking in consideration its practical operation by focusing on the mechanism of interaction between the intellectual property system and access to medicines, historically and during the pandemic: authorization of the use of patented subject matter without right holders' consent.
Asia-Pacific Social Outlook 2022: Strategies for building a healthy, protected and productive workforce in Asia and the Pacific
The present paper gives an assessment of the challenges faced by the workforce in Asia and the Pacific and how they can be overcome. For this assessment, the impact of global megatrends, such as climate change, digitalization and rapid ageing, is anticipated, and a multisectoral approach required to build the workforce to achieve inclusive and sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific is laid out. This approach is based on measures to improve access to decent work and extend universal social protection and universal health coverage, and concrete recommendations are provided to guide policy implementation.
Ensuring supply chain connectivity and resiliency in the post-pandemic recovery: The case of ASEAN
The integration of ASEAN into the global, and especially regional, supply chains has been a major driver of economic growth, job creation and industrialization in the region. Given the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing conflict in Eastern Europe, restoring supply chain connectivity and its resilience is of paramount importance to the Association. Apart from being agile, responsive and adaptive in this evolving environment, the strengthening of internal coordination to keep markets open and active engagement, in the spirit of open regionalism and multilateralism, with external partners is critical to ensure supply chains connectivity and resilience in the region.
Invited paper: Can Asia assure social insurance for all its informal workers?
This paper provides analyses on social security systems data from seven Asian countries as per ILO Convention 102 of 1952, which merges social insurance and social assistance. The former covers the basic elements – unemployment, employment, injury, old age pension and maternity benefits –, the focus of this paper. Despite high levels of per capita income and rapid growth in a majority of Asian economies, the lack of social insurance (and hence the scale of informality in the workforce) is a matter of concern. Topics discussed in this paper are barriers to social insurance schemes for informal workers, as well as the way forward.
Strengthening the health system to address inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine access in the Asia-Pacific region
The economic and health recovery of countries in the Asia-Pacific region from the pandemic is hinged on the rapid and equitable deployment of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. However, in the initial years of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, highly unequal distribution of vaccines occurred across and within countries. Even though tight global supply was indeed an issue, health system challenges, particularly in terms of financing, service delivery, human resources, regulatory capacity and governance, played an important role in the inequitable deployment of vaccines. Recommendations given in this paper revolve around the importance of strengthening the health system to enable the equitable allocation and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Book review: The World Trade Organization needs to prepare better for future pandemics
Trade in vaccines and related inputs: A study of the Asia-Pacific region
This study contains an analysis on trade and trade barriers related to vaccines and vaccine inputs in the Asia-Pacific region. The results indicate that that there was significant intraregional trade in vaccine inputs during the period 2000–2020. While vaccines remained duty free or at low tariffs in many countries within this region, several non-tariff measures from the pre-COVID-19 period still continued. The secondary data research is supplemented with the findings from a survey of stakeholders concerned with vaccine production and trade in India. The following are recommendations based on the study: diversification of import sources of vaccines and vaccine inputs; lowering of tariffs; reduction in export restrictions; and the use of trade agreements to ease trade restrictions.
Policymakers’ corner: Cooperating to overcome access inequities for COVID-19 and beyond
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how fragile the global health product value chain truly is to respond effectively to public health emergencies, making it necessary to invest in research and the development of new technologies, scale up production of them and enable their rapid dissemination. Investing in local production has shown promise towards alleviating market concentration, which is putting global health security at risk. Efficient regulation is needed to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of health products. Pricing policies and procurement strategies should align with principles of equitable access and affordability. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic must be applied and greater cooperation is required to strengthen health systems and improve interventions affecting all citizens.
Editorial
I am pleased to present the first issue of the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Journal (APSDJ, vol. 30, No.1) for 2023. The issue comes out at a critical juncture when the region is confronted with the challenges of changed global circumstances while still recovering from the devastations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic amid ongoing climate change-induced existential threats.
Growth, yield and environmental sustainability of cotton production in India: Performance and policy measures
This paper reviews the growth performance, potential and environmental sustainability of cotton production in India. Using a decomposition analysis, it provides a comprehensive picture of growth in the production of cotton from 1947 to 2021 and during various development phases. It also discusses the environmental sustainability of Bt cotton and the potential of organic cotton farming in addressing the challenges faced by cotton growers. The results from this study can be used to inform policymakers in framing policies to exploit the potential of this sector, to generate additional employment and preserve the sustainability in cotton production.
Identification and prioritization of barriers to access international climate finance for Nepal
This study covers perceived and prioritized barriers to access climate funds, using Nepal as a case for least developed countries. A comprehensive picture of the climate finance flow in Nepal is presented and barriers to access international climate finance are identified. These barriers are prioritized based on their importance and potentials to be removed. Out of the 63 identified barriers, most prominent ones are inadequate ministerial coordination, limited evidence-based research and limited understanding of public–private partnerships. Despite some successes in accessing climate finance, key challenges remain. Among them are low disbursement, inadequate information-base and limited choice of financial instruments.
Accelerating climate action in Asia and the Pacific for Sustainable Development
The Asia-Pacific region is in urgent need for enhanced climate ambition and action. Climate change-induced disasters, e.g., heatwaves, droughts, typhoons and floods, are increasingly undermining hard-won development gains. This paper provides a brief assessment of the region’s vulnerability and sets out the transformations needed for a net-zero carbon future in support of sustainable development. It recommends building regional frameworks or partnerships to support decarbonizing key sectors – energy, transport and industry – and improve enabling conditions, such as financing and monitoring. Multistakeholder cooperation on broad national policies and long-term strategies is also needed for the low-carbon and climateresilient transition.
Early Career Researcher: Development of Asia-Pacific countries: Does Belt and Road Initiative make any difference?
Using annual data for the period 2000−2019, the paper reviews economic progress in Asia-Pacific countries and assesses whether the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) contributes to this trend. Based on selected development indicators and their trends before and after the announcement of the Initiative, the findings confirm significant trade expansion associated with growing connectivity achieved through infrastructure finance from China to BRI economies vis-à-vis their non-BRI counterparts. The rising trade ties are associated with output growth, contributing to the development trajectories of BRI countries and bringing some modest positive spillover effects to non-BRI members. Policy implications are proposed accordingly.
The transition of China to a low-emission future: The role of clean coal technologies
The “30-60” catchphrase in China refers to the commitment of China to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after the peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. The 30-60 goal is a challenge, but it offers opportunities for the country’s sustainable future. By using Integrated energy and environment policy assessment modelling, an assessment of the energy strategies and policy regimes for the country’s energy transition by 2050 is conducted. Based on the results, it can be argued that coal will remain an important part of the transition pathway, and hence clean coal technology development is critical.
What to focus on in order to accelerate access to modern energy services and energy use efficiency in Bangladesh
How can a rapidly growing country, such as Bangladesh, overcome the barriers to realizing Sustainable Development Goal 7? The present study includes an analysis of the barriers to achieving 24x7 access to modern energy and the required improvements to make energy more efficient to overcome them in Bangladesh. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is applied to identify the interactions among the barriers as laid out in context-relevant scientific literature. The Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) is applied to classify the barriers. The results indicate that the barriers can be addressed through a systematic packaging and prioritization approach.
Submitted papers: How successful were the least developed countries in attaining the Millennium Development Goals? An assessment based on a synthetic approach
The present paper used a synthetic approach to create a composite of two indices to measure countries’ progress toward attaining global development goals. The technique assesses the performance of least developed countries (LDCs) in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The results indicate that by the end of 2015, progress was uneven across indicators, with Asian countries performing better. The LDCs that performed better based on the assessment, progressed closer towards graduating from the LDC group. The synthetic, analytical approach proposed for this paper can be applied to measure countries' comparative progress towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Thematic Section: Green Transition and National Efforts towards Net-Zero Target: Analysis of the 2030 emissions reduction targets of the previous and current nationally determined contributions of Japan, and a comparison between countries using energy-technology and energy-economic models
The Paris Agreement requires each participating country to prepare its nationally determined contributions (NDCs). In 2020, Japan submitted a 26 per cent emissions reduction target for 2030, and resubmitted a 46 per cent target (relative to 2013) in 2021. This paper provides an assessment of the Japanese emissions reduction efforts vis-à-vis other NDCs and international comparisons among countries using several different indicators. The carbon dioxide marginal abatement costs in Japan are expected to be approximately $450/tCO2 eq in 2030, which is consistent with the 1.5°C pathways. Costs in the European and North American countries are at similar levels.
Policy paper: Aligning critical mineral development in the Asia-Pacific region with the Sustainable Development Goals
The low-carbon energy transition will create significant demand for critical minerals. The extraction and processing of these minerals creates challenges for sustainable development, particularly in Asia and the Pacific, a major supplier and consumer of these inputs. Diverse supply chains in the world trade of critical raw materials mean fragmented and sometime insufficient approaches to align the extraction of critical raw materials with the Sustainable Development Goals, and accordingly, international cooperation must increase. This presents opportunities for the United Nations to do more to align the development of critical raw materials with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Assessment of the enhanced nationally determined contributions of the Republic of Korea and the strategies for the 2050 net-zero target
The Republic of Korea has made a net-zero pledge and submitted enhanced nationally determined contributions (NDCs), targeting a 40 per cent reduction in gashouse emissions by 2030 compared to 2018 levels. This article provides a review of the country’s mitigation progress by evaluating its NDCs and 2050 net-zero commitments. Three key challenges are identified: limited time window to meet the targets; energy transition difficulties; transforming carbon-intensive industries. A SWOT analysis informs strategic directions in four areas: accelerating low-carbon transitions in key sectors; enhancing mitigation policy effectiveness in building stakeholder consensus on transition costs; bolstering international cooperation for carbon neutrality.
Guidelines for the Formalization of Informal Constructions
This publication is a brief, practical and easy-to-read guide, explaining how to structure a programme for the formalization of informal constructions. It shows how to do this in an affordable, reliable, inclusive and timely manner so that governments can meet the Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and implement the New Urban Agenda. The focus is on the formalization process itself, but there are also descriptions of the preparatory work needed to analyze problem magnitude, as well as how to find political acceptance, identify post-formalization factors, and identify the root problems that cause future informality. The causes of informal development include rapid urbanization, lack of affordable housing, poverty, internal migration, conflicts, marginalization, natural disasters, cumbersome authorization processes, serious weaknesses in the private sector, and corruption. Sometimes society’s most vulnerable groups use it “move-up” from poverty, sometimes people desiring better housing use extra-legal processes to avoid flaws in existing land-market legal systems. These factors often lead to more inspections, bureaucracy, penalties, fees and sometimes even imprisonment. When the causes are systemic, these measures are more likely to exacerbate than resolve the problem. This guide will assist in all aspects of the informal construction formalization process, to the benefit of inhabitants, governments and stake holders.