Asia and the Pacific has made impressive progress towards achieving several sustainable development goals including poverty alleviation, education and economic growth. At the same time, the region needs to accelerate concerted efforts across all sectors to achieve the SDGs by 2030. In the face of transboundary challenges such as climate change and natural disasters, energy security and connectivity, ecosystem degradation on land and in our oceans, and promoting sustainable equitable trade, regional cooperation can support and complement the effectiveness of national mechanisms and be a link between global goals and country level commitments.

Water is the interconnector of all other sectors; Therefore, it is not possible to support sectors development without understanding the role of water as one of the important development foundation. As important as it is, water is still considered as social goods and do not have value by development actors. This condition has created a very complex challenge for the development of water sector itself. In Asia Pacific region, the complexities of water challenges then urged the establishment of The Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF) in Asia Pacific region.

Bangkok, Thailand (12/8/2017). Southeast Asia is particularly vulnerable to climate change for several reasons. First and foremost, in many of these countries large portions of the population live in poverty. The proportion of the population living below the poverty line ranges from the lowest in Thailand at 10.2% to 53% in Lao PDR (ADB 2008). The poor are particularly vulnerable to climate change, as they lack the resources necessary for many types of adaptive actions. With its extensive coastlines, Southeast Asia is also home to many millions of people living at low elevations that are at risk from sea level rise. Moreover, ongoing social and environmental challenges in the region – notably growing income inequality, rising food prices, and widespread deforestation – contribute to social vulnerability and make climate change more likely to bring significant harms.

Chairs, Regional Coordinators, Programme Managers of Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP), Senior Network Officers for Pan Asia met in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 12 and 13 September 2017 to develop the Pan Asia WACDEP Strategy document 2017-2019.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a sister to the “One Belt One Road” and also to the “south-south in Asia”. The year of 2017 arrives to the 50th year anniversary of ASEAN. On August 2 and 4, 2017, the anniversary was celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand. GWP China Regional Programme Manager & TEC member, Prof Jinjun YOU attended the event in Bangkok.

The second Country Consultation Meeting between Bangladesh and Myanmar under Learning Deltas Asia Initiative (LDAI) was held at Irrigation and Water Utilisation Management Department (IWUMD) Conference Hall, Yangon from 1 to 4 June 2017 together with a field visit to Ayeyarwady Delta in Myanmar.

A regional workshop on ‘Transboundary Water Cooperation in the context of the SDGs in South Asia and beyond’ was held in Pokhara, Nepal from 23 and 24 May 2017.

On May 23-25, 2017, the fourth south-south interregional water cooperation gathered GWP China, Central Asia and Caucasus, South Asia and South East Asia, four Regional Water Partnerships, in Pokhara, Nepal.

GWP South Asia, GWP and GWP Nepal in cooperation with the Geneva Water Hub and UNESCO-IHE are organising a regional workshop on Transboundary Water Cooperation in the context of the SDGs in South Asia and beyond in Pokhara, Nepal on 23 and 24 May 2017. Thereafter, an Inter-Regional Coordination Meeting will be held on the 25 May with the representation of the four Asian Regional Water Partnerships – Central Asia, China, South Asia and South-East Asia.

A consultation meeting on Learning Deltas Asia Initiatives (LDAI), an Inter-Regional Collaboration between Global Water Partnership (GWP) South Asia and South East Asia was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 26 to 28 February 2017 with the participation of delegations of Bangladesh and Myanmar.