Global development agenda: Older persons key players
As the proportion of the older persons across the Asia-Pacific region increases exponentially, we must seek out new and innovative approaches to turn this demographic trend into an opportunity to…
Towards a resource efficient and pollution-free Asia-Pacific
Senior government officials from across Asia and the Pacific are meeting in Bangkok for the first-ever Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment. The high-level meeting is co-convened by the United…
Turning point in Thailand: Queen’s brush with protest
A defining moment in Thailand’s growing protest movement started with the unannounced arrival of a champagne-coloured Rolls Royce stretch limousine on a Bangkok street. When Queen Suthida’s motorcade slowed as…
A new kind of cold war in the offing?
The world is likely to witness a boom in physical infrastructure development activity as the Blue Dot Network (BDN), a multi-stakeholder initiative formed by the United States, Japan and Australia…
Ghost kitchens’ boom in Asia as pandemic sparks huge demand
In an industrial unit on the outskirts of Taipei chefs are plating meals that will never be served in a restaurant: welcome to the world of “ghost kitchens”. Even before…
Disaster risk resilience: key to protecting vulnerable communities
The past five years have been the hottest on record in Asia and the Pacific. Unprecedented heatwaves have swept across our region, cascading into slow onset disasters such as drought.…
Land and violence
There is much outrage over the Supreme Court’s decision of June 14 in which the bench declared the leases of more than 10,000 houses fake with a stroke of a…
Public transport
A REPORT recently cited by Bloomberg informs us that Karachi fares the worst out of 100 cities worldwide in terms of public transport. This comes as no surprise. Consider the…
Gavel and gun in Thailand
The government of Thailand has once again imposed a state of emergency to quell the ongoing demonstrations in the country. The prime minister of Thailand has put a ban on…
CPEC holds promise
Interestingly, the 70th anniversary of Pakistan's independence has coincided with the 70th anniversary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, ESCAP. This is an…
