People and Planet: Addressing the Interlinked Challenges of Climate Change, Poverty and Hunger in Asia and the Pacific

Introduction

The impacts of climate change in the Asia-Pacific region threaten to undo hard-won gains in sustainable development that countries have made in recent decades. Climate change is putting increasing strain on biophysical systems, including land, water, biodiversity, and ecosystems, and exacerbating food insecurity and poverty across the region. Poor and vulnerable people, who contribute little to global carbon emissions, are affected the most by climate change and are the least equipped to cope and adapt.

The year 2023 marked the halfway point for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progress towards the SDGs in the region has stalled, with only 15 per cent of the necessary progress made toward the Goals.1 On current trends, Asia and the Pacific will miss 90 per cent of the 116 measurable targets under the 17 Goals. Worryingly, the region is falling back on Goal 13 (Climate Action). Countries in special situations, including least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and Small island developing States, have made less progress on SDG 13 than on any other goal. Furthermore, the global stocktake, a five-yearly review by countries to assess progress towards the long-term climate goals of the Paris Agreement, shows that progress is lacking in all areas.

Following decades of inroads in reducing extreme poverty, progress on Goal 1 (No Poverty) and Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) has halted. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have been pushed back to living in extreme poverty and severe food insecurity. While climate change is not the sole reason for these trends, this report illustrates how it is making them worse. There is a clear overlap between the people living in poverty and those facing food insecurity. Both groups are also the most vulnerable to climate change impacts and face the most severe climate-related impacts on their livelihoods. Reducing these vulnerabilities, by fostering and securing livelihoods, will strengthen the resilience of resilience of poor and vulnerable groups to climate impacts and help reignite progress on SDG 1 and 2.

There is an urgent need for climate adaptation action to reduce these vulnerabilities. However, there is also a growing recognition of the limits to adaptation, especially given continuing and worsening climate impacts, meaning that some irretrievable losses may be inevitable. The ongoing global dialogue on loss and damage, most recently at the Conference of the Parties (COP) 28, is an expression of this growing awareness. It also highlights the need to map how compensation and funding can mitigate some of these losses and ensure that loss and damage do not lead to greater poverty and hunger.

This SDG Partnership report focuses on the interlinkages between climate change, poverty and hunger against the background of multiple crises and provides recommendations on how to integrate climate action, poverty and hunger alleviation with the ultimate goal of enabling transformative change in Asia and the Pacific.

The report is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 provides a stocktake of climate impacts on Goal 1 and 2 in the Asia-Pacific region, including the effects of sudden onset climate events such as storms, floods, and heat waves, as well as longer term impacts such as rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and sea level rise. An analysis of the impacts at the country, sub-regional and regional level shows that the burden of climate change affects communities and people across the region very differently.

Chapter 2 identifies innovative solutions and responses to the impacts of climate crisis in the region. It highlights good practices, policies, programmes and partnerships, that further knowledge and provide inspiration for more effective and stronger climate action that also makes meaningful advances in tackling poverty and hunger. The approach the chapter takes is aligned with the six key transition points that have been highlighted as one of the United Nations’ high-impact initiatives to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. These transition points centre on food systems; energy access and affordability; digital connectivity; education; jobs and social protection; and climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

The responses in Chapter 2 exemplify three of the above points – food systems, jobs and social protection and climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – and are organised under three focus areas:

I. sustainable agricultural production and food systems to ensure food security, nutrition and livelihoods,

II. decent work and just transition in the context of climate change and climate action, and

III. climate-resilient and adaptive social protection systems.

Transformative change is necessary to meet the global development goals amid the changing climate of the planet. It must occur in how resources are managed and allocated, and by pursuing SDGs and decarbonisation in a way that is inclusive, especially for the most vulnerable people in the region, namely women, older persons, children, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples.

Chapter 3 examines the key enablers of transformative change. These range from education and financing to regional cooperation and multi-stakeholder partnerships. The enablers require action from the public and private sectors, and various stakeholders, such as education and research institutions, financial institutions, civil society and international organisations. The action must be taken at the local, national, regional and global level. Finally, the chapter provides recommendations on how to ensure that policymakers and other stakeholders take action at the climate-poverty-hunger nexus.