Ninth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia

EST for Resiliency -Building Safe, Smart, Low-carbon and Resilient Cities in Asia

The Ninth Regional Enviromentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia will be organized on November 17 – 20, 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Forum will be hosted by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MOPIT) of the Government of Nepal, and was co-organized by the Ministry of the Environment of the Government of Japan (MOE-Japan), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(UN ESCAP), and the United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD).

The Nepal EST Forum and associated events will provide a meaningful opportunity to discuss and chalk out the sustainable path towards resiliency through better transport policy, planning, and infrastructure development, including sustained investments in disaster and climate resilient infrastructures and services to cope up with the rising impacts and threats from the natural disasters and climate change.

Under the theme of “EST for Resiliency – Building Safe, Smart, Low Carbon and Resilient Cities in Asia”, the 9th Regional EST Forum in Asia will focus on innovative and smart solutions that make cities and human settlements more safe, inclusive, resilient, liveable and sustainable by accelerating the shift towards more environmentally sustainable transport (EST) system in Asia. The Forum will provide ample opportunity not only to take stock of the progress and achievements made by the countries towards achieving the goals underlined in the Bangkok 2020 Declaration (2010-2020) but also aims to address integrated transport policies, planning and development solutions towards resiliency. The Forum further provides an important opportunity to generate Asia-wide regional consensus on how Asia’s transportation sector could be reformed to consider more low-carbon, sustainable and resilient transport solutions which can help achieve both development and climate agendas.

The EST Forum in Asia also afforded the SLoCaT Partnership an opportunity to organize a session on present a background paper on Accelerated Action on Rural Transport in the Asia-Pacific Region. SLoCaT highlighted that rural access is best provided through the provision of infrastructure in a cost efficient manner, using local resources, knowledge and funding to ensure equity and sustainability. Furthermore, SLoCaT called for the creation of a global community of rural transport stakeholders —including the UN system, multilateral and bilateral institutions, national governments, local governments and communities in addition to civil society and the business sector— to share best practices.  The Chair’s Summary endorsed the continued integration of rural transport in the EST Forum, recognizing that improved rural transport systems and connectivity will not only improve climate and disaster resilience but also socio-economic resilience, by limiting the extent of damages and losses from extreme weather events.

Two background papers released by the SLoCaT Partnership for the Plenary Session 6 (rural transport)and 7 (Adaptation):

• Accelerated Action on Rural Transportin Asia-Pacific Region
• Adaptation in the Transport Sector inAsia–Recommendations for COP21

For more information on the 9th EST Forum, please refer to the Final Program here.

Event Contact:

Choudhury Rudra Charan Mohanty: mohantyc@uncrd.or.jp