In 2008, four countries of South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Nepal) held significant elections. The paper highlights various pertinent issues in the political economy of these four countries and maps out the broad contours of the reforms they need to embark on.

The Energy Outlook for Asia and the Pacific (Energy Outlook) aims to estimate, for each of the regional members of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the future demand for energy, supply options to 2030 for a business-as-usual scenario, investment requirements for meeting this demand, and the resulting CO2 emissions potential associated with increasing energy demand.

Sanitation is central to the larger development agenda. Without the huge health and economic benefits from improved sanitation

Poor sanitation is responsible for the spread of a number of communicable diseases, resulting in lost productivity, reduced quality of life, and improvishment. Sanitation is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve public health.

The report makes suggestions for the rethinking of the relationships between transport and climate change. Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities Center team was engaged to identify the five "think-pieces" on how to address transport and climate change issues.

Building greater climate resilience into the agriculture sector in Asia and the Pacific must begin with an understanding of the likely added risks and vulnerabilities the sector will face from climate change.

No segment of the world

In this latest report ADB outlines a new paradigm for sustainable urban transport that gives Asian cities a workable, step-by-step blueprint for reversing the trend and moving towards safer, cleaner, more sustainable cities, and a better quality of urban life.

Climate change will influence patterns of migration and human settlements

In view of Asia's enormous untapped economic potential and the ongoing global economic crisis, the challenge now is to build efficient and seamless connections across Asia and to the rest of the world to foment a more competitive, prosperous, and integrated region.