Sustainable Development Asia Pacific Perspectives

The Asia-Pacific region has been experiencing rapid development in the past 30 years, and issues relating to sustainable development will become increasingly important in the coming decades. This comprehensive overview presents sustainable development from the perspectives of Asia and the Pacific, with contributions from more than 70 leading international experts. The first part focuses on the theories and practices of sustainable development, including national and regional perspectives, as well as international policies and law concerning climate change. The second part highlights the challenges and opportunities of sustainable development and poverty reduction amid the changing ecological, social, cultural, economic, and political environment in this region. These include issues such as the importance of science for sustainable development and related areas, including sustainable energy, stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change, land-use change, biodiversity, and disaster risk reduction. The volume is an invaluable reference for all researchers and policy makers with an interest in sustainable development.

This book advances the understanding of corporate sustainability and challenges and roles of sustainability accounting in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region has shown fast economic growth for several decades which is expected to continue. In this context, Asia has become the “production engine” of the global economy. At the same time scientific reports reveal that some planetary boundaries are crossed, for example relating to biodiversity and climate change. Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are therefore increasingly challenged to reduce their environmental impacts, to document their social contribution and to contribute to sustainable development. Key approaches to identify sustainability problems and challenges, to support improvement processes and to back up sustainability contributions include accounting and reporting. In contrast to the high relevance of accounting and reporting for corporate sustainability for the Asia-Pacific region, academic research has so far been dominated by Western researchers and pre-dominantly dealt with Western and Japanese cases and approaches. It is thus time to take account of Asian perspectives on accounting and reporting for sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region.

This book advances the understanding of corporate sustainability and challenges and roles of sustainability accounting in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asia-Pacific region has shown fast economic growth for several decades which is expected to continue. In this context, Asia has become the "production engine" of the global economy. At the same time scientific reports reveal that some planetary boundaries are crossed, for example relating to biodiversity and climate change. Companies in the Asia-Pacific region are therefore increasingly challenged to reduce their environmental impacts, to document their social contribution and to contribute to sustainable development. Key approaches to identify sustainability problems and challenges, to support improvement processes and to back up sustainability contributions include accounting and reporting. In contrast to the high relevance of accounting and reporting for corporate sustainability for the Asia-Pacific region, academic research has so far been dominated by Western researchers and pre-dominantly dealt with Western and Japanese cases and approaches. It is thus time to take account of Asian perspectives on accounting and reporting for sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region.

This report is an important resource to explore critical and emerging policy opportunities to realize urban sustainability for the Asian and Pacific region. It informs policies and actions from a sustainable development perspective, putting cities at the centre of development policy debates. It identifies future policy pathways for urban decision makers and stakeholders to reimagine the built and natural environments in Asian and Pacific cities and offers policy solutions across different types of cities to achieve the global development agendas. The solutions address four major development challenges – natural resource management, climate change, disaster risk and inequalities – through a focus on the key means of implementation to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

This book demonstrates that there are wide-ranging potential challenges in addressing issues associated with ageing populations in both developed and developing countries of the region. This book brings together local, national and regional perspectives on the ageing population and sustainable development nexus in selected countries in the Asia Pacific region. The countries selected in this book include a mix of developed and developing economies that all reflect strong trade, investment and migration linkages. While the Asia Pacific region is forecast to enjoy high growth in the coming decade, a recurring common policy challenge is addressing the ‘demographic time bomb’ posed by ageing populations and workforces (Montague et al., 2017). Consequently, this book focuses on strategic policies and practices of multiple stakeholders, primarily: governments, industry and education systems, together with, the range of aged care services providers – in more effectively addressing these key socio-economic challenges associated with the ageing population for sustainable development.

This report is a combined effort by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations University (UNU), and the Institute for Global and Environmental Strategies (IGES), and is being published as governments and other stakeholders prepare to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a plan for people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. While “transformation” has become a buzz-word during the formulation of this agenda, how to make it happen has not been addressed properly. This report underlines that the Sustainable Development Goals will only be achieved when key Asia-Pacific megatrends are managed in a way that creates opportunities for achieving sustainable development outcomes. It supports national and regional efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda. Regional megatrends such as urbanization, trade and economic integration and rising consumption and changing consumption patterns are already shaping the future patterns of resource use, and defining who will be the ‘winners’ and who will be the ‘losers’. The report examines the four critical determinants of the relationship between the economy, people and nature explored in this publication as targets for a fundamental transformation – social justice, resource efficiency, investment flows and economic structures.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals provide a common global agenda for development. However, the emerging policy issues vary greatly across the world. With 32 contributors, this volume provides a timely, research-based overview for the need for policy interventions to improve the sustainability and development models of the ten selected countries in Asia and the Pacific. The volume is firmly positioned at the cusp between research, policy and practice.