UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, in her opening address said as we recover better together, the future of our region is fundamentally tied to the success or failure in stewardship of the environmental system and response to the climate change challenge.

ESCAP analysis showed that business as usual is likely to drive significant tensions between and within countries, climate mitigation, inequality, and hardship.

Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director, UN Environment Program said the destruction of the living world not only undermines our only support system, it makes pandemics more likely.

"Yet, as nations seek ways to recover from the pandemic, I see a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform our economies and societies at the scale and speed we need. It is vital countries get this right as the impacts will be felt in the decades to come.”

At the same time, outgoing Chair H.E. Mr. Sonam P. Wangdi, Secretary, Bhutan National Environment Commission, said we must keep this attention on the environment and continue to support countries as we move forward, including to ensure that recoveries from the pandemic place high priority on the environment and lead us to a green, resilient and inclusive future.

Asia-Pacific region

The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing enormous transformations, characterized by rapidly increasing resource consumption, energy use and CO2 emissions. These changes are negatively affecting biodiversity and the environment. 

While, recent commitments being made by countries across the region to significantly reduce emissions and achieve carbon neutrality are encouraging, they are still not enough.

The Committee highlighted four entry points critical to the region:

• Raising climate ambition,
• Safeguarding ecosystem health,
• Clean air for all, and
• Cities for a sustainable future.

Delegates shared that innovative solutions can be harnessed to address the climate crisis.  

These included more ambitious mitigation pathways such as increasing energy efficiency of industry and cities by 60 to 70 percent; decarbonization of electricity; deep reductions in agricultural emissions; and advancing carbon capture, carbon storage and sequestration measures.

Discussions also focused on realizing environmental benefits through policy convergence and enhanced regional cooperation. Countries considered opportunities to support and scale-up collective work on the environment by strengthening implementation of existing multilateral environmental agreements and processes, and mobilizing the region’s technical expertise.

To this end, the Committee endorsed the establishment of a technical expert group to facilitate the exchange of information among countries and various stakeholders in the region to address environmental issues through enhanced climate action, improve the efficiency of natural resources management, address air pollution and promote sustainable urban planning.