Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) 2022: Building back better from COVID-19 while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific
The adverse impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the regional implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have placed the spotlight on the nexus between the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. Loss of livelihoods, together with the disruption of essential services, have exacerbated multidimensional poverty. Groups that were already vulnerable before the pandemic risk being left even further behind. Gender inequalities have increased, as have differences in educational outcomes owing to uneven access to remote learning during school closures. Countries are now increasingly being asked, as a result of the pandemic, to address these ever-widening gaps to ensure the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda by the end of the decade.
The Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) is an annual and inclusive intergovernmental forum and a regional platform for supporting countries, in particular those with special needs, in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development while serving as a regional preparatory meeting to the high-level political forum.
The Forum provides a regional perspective on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda by identifying regional trends and consolidating and sharing best practices and lessons learned. The Forum takes into consideration the contributions of United Nations system bodies (at the regional level), other regional and sub regional organizations, and relevant stakeholders. The APFSD also supports follow-up and review of progress on the 2030 Agenda at the regional level.
The theme of the 9th APFSD is “Building back better from COVID-19 while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific”. The 9th APFSD will play a unique role as a catalyzer of solutions and peer learning on how to accelerate transformations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda while recovering from COVID-19. Within this context, the forum will provide the space for an in-depth review of the following cluster of goals which will be reviewed by the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in 2022: SDG 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality), 14 (Life below water), 15 (Life on Land), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Participation is by invitation only.