United Nations ESCAP

Sep 17, 2020

Leveraging research for solution-driven policymaking in the era of COVID-19

By Sudip Ranjan Basu, Programme Officer, ESCAP; Monica Das, Associate Professor, Skidmore College; Alexandra Boakes Tracy, President, Hoi Ping Ventures; and Achim Wennmann Senior Researcher, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The United Nations has tasked the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Population and Public Health (CIHR-IPPH)…

Research

4 min read

Sep 17, 2020

The disaster and health nexus amid the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges of protecting at-risk communities

ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction — By Sanjay Srivastava, Madhurima Sarkar-Swaisgood and Dr Edmond Fernandes 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 small repair shop. Furthermore, the months…

Covid 19

4 min read

Sep 7, 2020

Technology is still one’s best friend

Trade, Investment and Innovation — By Tengfei Wang, Jonathan Wong and Mia Mikic Technology often has inherent limitations All sorts of frontier technologies have been widely used to fight against COVID-19. A good lesson learned by using various technologies during the pandemic is that technology can help the most only when we understand its limitations. An inter-governmental meeting at ESCAP…

Covid 19

4 min read

Sep 1, 2020

What we know from pushing for a healthy environment in Bhutan

Environment and Development — By Solene Le Doze and Acacia Jennings What’s the recipe for cooking up outstanding policies? Policy practitioners the world over have strived to get the right people in the room and stay abreast of the latest research. In Bhutan, an exercise to realize a healthier environment led ESCAP to learn…

Bhutan

4 min read

Aug 27, 2020

Economic statistics for the 2030 Agenda: Where does the Pacific stand?

Statistics — By Maria Fe Talento and Rikke Munk Hansen The success of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is measured using 231 globally agreed indicators, 46 of them require the calculation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a complex indicator calling for a long list of statistics. Measuring success in…

Pacific

4 min read

Aug 21, 2020

A cascade of COVID-19 and climate extremes call for new algorithms to protect at-risk communities

Disaster Risk Reduction — By Sanjay Srivastava, Madhurima Sarkar-Swaisgood and Dr. Edmond Fernandes 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 of critical socioeconomic vulnerabilities, the sub-region is now confronting the pandemic…

Covid 19

4 min read

Aug 18, 2020

Expanding infrastructure networks and leveraging on technology innovations to mitigate COVID-19 impacts

By Tiziana Bonapace, Sanjay Srivastava, Keran Wang, Siope Vakataki ‘Ofa, and Cristina Bernal Aparicio The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented changes to the way we lead our lives and our reliance on ICT connectivity has grown even faster than before. …

Internet

4 min read

Expanding infrastructure networks and leveraging on technology innovations to mitigate COVID-19…

Aug 4, 2020

The new poor post-pandemic: Time for cushioning the most vulnerable in Southeast Asia

Sustainable Development — By Kaveh Zahedi, Deputy Executive Secretary for Sustainable Development and Van Nguyen, Sustainable Development Officer 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 to reveal itself and years…

Southeast Asia

4 min read

Jul 17, 2020

Uncounted deaths could obscure COVID-19’s gendered impacts

Statistics — By Giordana Aragno, Petra Nahmias, Tanja Sejersen and Sharita Serrao from ESCAP; and Kate Richards and Amber Kiwan from the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the need for reliable and timely mortality statistics into sharp focus. Knowing how many people are dying and where…

Statistics

5 min read

Uncounted deaths could obscure COVID-19’s gendered impacts

Jul 13, 2020

COVID-19 Shapes a New Riskscape: Climate Resilience is the Way Forward

ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction — By Sanjay Srivastava, Sung Eun Kim and Maria Bernadet Karina Dewi 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, especially in multi-hazard risk hotspots such as South Asia. The recent ESCAP policy…

Covid 19

4 min read