This assessment highlights Myanmar’s energy sector performance, major development constraints, government plans, and future ADB support strategy.

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Water is an essential requirement for all life, and the most important global integrator connecting aquatic andterrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere in a continuing cycle of use and replenishment. Humans use freshwatersystems to address the widest range of human health and socioeconomic development needs. Lakes and reservoirsare especially important in this context, numbering in the millions and existing on every continent (the term ‘lakes’refers to both natural and artificial lakes [reservoirs]). The total number of lakes on our planet collectively coverapproximately 4.2 million km2 of land area, equivalent to half the land area of the contiguous United States. It isestimated that more than 90 per cent of all the liquid freshwater on the surface of our planet is located in lakes,reservoirs, wetlands and other lentic (standing) water systems.

With the continued anemic global economic recovery, trade growth in Asia and the Pacific decelerated in 2015, falling further behind growth in gross domestic product.

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UNDP's Energy Strategy, 2017-2021 

UNDP’s Sustainable Energy Strategy Note, 2017-2021: Delivering Sustainable Energy in a Changing Climate articulates – for the first time – UNDP’s vision, mission, approach, guiding principles, and focus in the area of sustainable energy. It also highlights the critical role that sustainable energy plays in advancing major outcomes from post-2015 global processes including the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the New Urban Agenda.

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The 2016 BIOFIN Workbook was developed based on the inputs and lessons generated from BIOFIN implementation in 30 countries: Belize, Brazil, Botswana, Bhutan, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.

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Since CIFOR last presented a 10-year strategy in 2008, we find ourselves in a world with continually evolving development and environment challenges. Millions of hectares of tropical forests have been converted to agriculture, degraded landscapes amount to nearly 2 billion hectares, and inequality has grown in countries around the world. Yet, there is reason to be optimistic: forest expansion and restoration are gaining ground, the rate of deforestation is slowing, and awareness of the importance of forests is spreading among governments, corporations and the global public.

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The first National Agro-Biodiversity Programme, running from 2005 to 2012, was designed to serve as the framework for the effective conservation and management of agro-biodiversity. Although it was successful in raising awareness on agro-biodiversity and was instrumental in developing a number of projects designed to address agro-biodiversity issues, it had a number of shortcomings. Most importantly, there was a lack of a broad stakeholder involvement, resulting in inadequate GoL and donor funding support for the programme. There was also insufficient coordination and information exchange, particularly with focal points of international treaties and among the different technical components of the programme. Implementation arrangements were weak and became outdated with the creation of MoNRE and the reorganization of MAF.

National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) are the principal instruments for implementing the Convention at the national level (Article 6 above). The Lao PDR’s first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) laid out an action plan to 2010 and strategy to 2020, which consisted of seven programmes; (1) Scientific Data and Biodiversity Knowledge Development; (2) Biodiversity Management; (3) Human Resource Development Institutional; (4) Public Awareness and Involvement; (5) Institutional and Legal Frameworks; (6) NBSAP Implementation and (7) International Cooperation. Under those 7 programs, 27 objectives are to be achieved by 2020 and 203 actions were also identified which were to be undertaken by 2010.

Green infrastructure can play a significant role in offsetting losses from climate-related disasters and contribute to building resilience through rehabilitation and expansion of natural ecosystems within built areas.

Urban populations are projected to increase from 54% to 66% of the global population by 2050, with close to 90% of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. Cities and towns—a growing source of greenhouse gas emissions—will need to address challenges posed by climate change. A nature-based approach in identifying climate change vulnerabilities and developing relevant adaptation options was conducted in three towns of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

Working with local governments, nongovernment organizations, women’s groups, and professional associations, town-wide adaptation measures were defined by overlaying climate change projections on town plans and zoning schemes for strategic infrastructure. This publication captures valuable experience and lessons from the project.

Forests and trees support sustainable agriculture. They stabilize soils and climate, regulate water flows, give shade and shelter, and provide a habitat for pollinators and the natural predators of agricultural pests. They also contribute to the food security of hundreds of millions of people, for whom they are important sources of food, energy and income. Yet, agriculture remains the major driver of deforestation globally, and agricultural, forestry and land policies are often at odds. The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) 2016 shows that it is possible to increase agricultural productivity and food security while halting or even reversing deforestation, highlighting the successful efforts of Costa Rica, Chile, the Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Tunisia and Viet Nam. Integrated land-use planning is the key to balancing land uses, underpinned by the right policy instruments to promote both sustainable forests and agriculture.