At the fifth Responsible Business Forum, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today called on business leaders to take a greater role in the new development era in order to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This Forum, opened in Singapore by UNDP and Global Initiatives, aims to address a sea change in the nature of development funding by creating a new partnership for sustainable development.

While foreign funding (Official Development Assistance) is still essential for the development system, it now accounts for 0.7 percent of total financial flows in Asia-Pacific (down from 13.5 percent in 1990), while domestic public and private finance accounts for 89 percent, according to a UNDP report launched last month.

It is one year since every country in the world signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals. They form a blueprint for addressing the most significant challenges facing our planet and its people. Challenges like climate change. This is likely to be the hottest year on record and here in Asia, climate change is a cause of the natural disasters that have claimed half a million lives in the last decade. Challenges like inequality, which has been growing for four-fifths of Asia-Pacific’s population over the last 20 years. Challenges brought on by the accelerating process of ageing, which will make it harder for many Asian states to provide basic services to their people. The 17 SDGs will address these challenges and other interlinked issues, including education, hunger and security. But governments cannot implement this blueprint on their own. Nor can the UN and other development organizations.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Asia-Pacific Development Effectiveness Facility (AP-DEF) opened a two-day meeting on aid ahead of the upcoming Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. More than 100 government delegates and development experts are exploring how to design integrated national financing frameworks for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia-Pacific. “Domestic sources of finance are emerging as a key driving force for sustainable development in Asia-Pacific,” said Haoliang Xu, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director for Asia and the Pacific. “These new sources of finance allow us to expand the existing development cooperation and partnership.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, following consultations with the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), wrote to the President of the General Assembly requesting the General Assembly to confirm Achim Steiner of Germany as the new Administrator of UNDP for a term...

In 2011, three co-operative seed farms were selected for pilot projects on seed production, with the technical assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the financial support of UNDP. This initiative has started to bear fruit: these farms are now fully engaged in quality seed production.

In most farms in the country, the loss of grain in the post-harvest period accounts for more than 15 percent of total crop production on average. Due to a lack of proper farming machinery, farmers cut crops by hand using a sickle and pile them in stacks. Limited transportation capacity means that the stacks...

In Myongchon farm in Jangyon county, South Hwanghae province, as part of the resumption of the Sustainable Rural Energy Development Programme (SRED) in 2010, a mini (600 kW) hydropower turbine and generator was supplied to the local community. The local people themselves provided significant in-kind contributions...

Because of the severely cold climate and the lack of fuel to heat houses and prepare food, people in rural areas tend to deplete nearby forests.