This report presents the results of a stocktake of national responses to Sustainable Development Goals 12, 14, and 15, and selected environment-related targets that have a direct relationship with responsible consumption and production, and sustainable marine and terrestrial ecosystems management, by 15 developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. The report was completed under the first phase of a technical assistance project by the Asian Development Bank, with the aim of understanding and helping its developing member countries address the issues and challenges behind effective integration of these goals and targets into national policies, plans, and programs.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), prepared this tool compendium to help address the issues, challenges, and barriers faced by developing countries from Asia and the Pacific in the successful implementation of the environmental dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The tools presented here can help policy makers gain a better understanding of SDG interlinkages, establish horizontal and vertical policy coherence, and select appropriate guidelines, indicators, and institutional arrangements for effective integration into national policies, plans, and programs. This publication reflects the high-level commitment of ADB and UN Environment to support efforts to accelerate progress in implementing the environmental dimensions of the SDGs.

This book takes the reader into some of the most intransigent social, economic, and political issues that impact achieving sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. Through meticulous analysis of the integrated relationships between population, development, and the environment, the chapters in this volume investigate the impacts of hydropower development on fragile ecosystems; mining, landslides and environmental degradation; deforestation; water and food security; rural-urban migration, poverty alleviation, civil society and community empowerment; and how disaster recovery requires multi-scalar and multi-disciplinary approaches that take into account governance, culture, and leadership. Legal frameworks may be legislated, but are often rarely implemented. The book will be valuable to students of sustainability, population and development, and governmental policy advising sectors as well as the NGO and humanitarian sectors. The distinctive characteristic of this book is that it encapsulates an integrated, multi-disciplinary focus which brings to the discussion both robust empirical research and challenging policy applications in the investigation of how the sustainable development goals may be achieved in Asia and the Pacific.

This publication presents a snapshot of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) environmental strategies, programs, initiatives, partnerships, and a range of activities that demonstrate ADB's commitment to support environmentally sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific---a strategic agenda of ADB's Strategy 2020. The report highlights innovations designed in selected ADB-supported projects with environmental sustainability as a theme that were approved in 2008–2010. It also discusses the emerging environmental challenges in the region, and previews ADB's strategies to strengthen its operational emphasis on the environment, including climate change, that would help realize green growth in Asia and the Pacific.

This volume studies the governance and implementation of the sustainable development goals in Southeast Asia, in particular the difficulties in the shift from the international to the national, the multi-level challenges of implementation, and the involvement of stakeholders, civil society, and citizens in the process.

This publication is the first Asia-Pacific report that comprehensively maps out the intersections between gender and environment at the levels of household, work, community and policy. It examines gender concerns in the spheres of food security, agriculture, energy, water, fisheries and forestry, and identifies strategic entry points for policy interventions. Based on a grounded study of the reality in the Asia-Pacific region, this report puts together good practices and policy lessons that could be capitalized by policymakers to advance the agenda of sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific.