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The projects major results achieved during the quarter include an increase in inter‐collaborative effort at the pilot level to carry out vulnerability and adaptation (V&A) assessments as a result of the project. The use of participatory community engagement consultations have seen an increase in number of women and children consulted in the assessment stage of the project in Tonga and Samoa. A significant number of women a real so members of national Steering Committees and Core Technical Teams of PACC spear heading work at the pilot sites. Through joint consultation with the communities, clear indications of activities and responsibilities have been mapped out.

This memo introduces a report that you may find useful and interesting. Focusing on preventing death and destruction from “natural” disasters, it concludes that governments can appreciably increase prevention. The good news is that prevention is often cost-effective. It requires many actions, and some important ones are under government control. But they are not always obvious. Improving the public delivery of some services, like reliable public transport, allows people to move from unsafe areas close to work to safer locations. Reducing deforestation prevents heavy rains from washing mud, rock, and debris into populated areas. This report suggests how such measures and related spending could be identifi ed and made effective.

Unless otherwise specified, in this Report the least developed countries (LDCs) are classified according to a combination of geographical and structural criteria, Therefore, some of the island LDCs that geographically are in Africa or Asia are grouped together with the Pacific islands, due to their structural similarities. Likewise, Haiti and Madagascar are grouped together with African LDCs.

The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data and information on which Member States of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities.

The concept of Sustainable Development is like a bridge. It seeks to bring together not only the three domains—economic, social, and environmental—but also developed and developing countries, governments, businesses, and civil society, scientific knowledge and public policy, the city and the country, and present and future generations. It also created the awareness that environment and development were not two separate agendas but two faces of the same agenda. Development is the midwife of sustainability, just as sustainability is the life support system for development. At its advent over two decades ago, this idea offered tremendous excitement and hope. The time has come not only to review and assess what has been achieved on the basis of this vision, but also to build upon it and revive its promise of integration, unity, and aspiration—the Spirit of Rio.

This is the third consecutive issue of the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific in its current format. The Yearbook is aimed at a non-specialized audience that is interested in the Asian and Pacific region – in its people, economies and environment. In an effort to keep the format user-friendly and readable, we have avoided some of the technical terms, complex charts and in-depth analysis that are a mainstay of some other ESCAP publications.