In the Asia-Pacific region, access to sustainable water resources is increasingly threatened due to overuse and pollution, growing populations, increasing water demand, water scarcity, a changing climate, rapid urbanization, inadequate sanitation services and a lack of regional cooperation. The region is also witnessing unprecedented retreat of glaciers, decrease in snow cover, and thawing of permafrost which is already impacting water, energy and food security and driving water-related disasters such as Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs).
In this backdrop, in April 2025, at the 81st session of the Commission, ESCAP member States adopted resolution 81/3 on “Strengthening cooperation on water and climate change nexus” which calls for promoting regional cooperation for integrated water resource management, early warning systems, cost-effective technologies, increased capacity-building and multi-stakeholder dialogues to increase resilience.
ESCAP’s Environment and Development (EDD) undertakes a range of activities to address water-related issues including:
• Inter-agency collaboration including active membership of UN-Water and its Expert Groups (eg. on Regional-level Coordination).
• Follow up and review on the SDGs, through the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development and its preparatory sub-regional forums, and publishing the annual ‘Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Reports’ and goal profiles (including for SDG 6).
• Development of knowledge products, analytical papers, briefs and outreach material including regional assessments on issues pertaining to water related climate risks. Among other knowledge products, ESCAP annually contributes a section on perspectives from the Asia-Pacific region to the World Water Development Report.
• Organization/co-organization of key events, dialogues, forums and expert discussions related to water and glaciers to identify regional priorities, strengthen advocacy and build capacities. Among other activities, ESCAP organizes Asia-Pacific Regional Preparatory Meetings to contribute to the United Nations Water Conferences.
• Development of concept notes and/or new project proposals to mobilize resources to support implementation of ESCAP’s mandate on water and climate change nexus.
A Programme Associate (Individual Contractor) is required to support EDD’s information compilation, research, technical assistance and outreach work related to water and climate change nexus.