Final Statement from Asia-Pacific Civil Society Forum

Chapeau We, participants of the Asia Pacific Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development from 150 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) met in Bangkok from March 26-28, 2017 to further the regional recommendations of CSOs for consideration and action at the Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development and UN Environment Assembly. Sustainable development remains a major concern for the people of Asia Pacific. Two years into the implementation of the Agenda 2030, CSOs still remain strongly concerned about the system that allows a few elite to amass wealth at the expense of the wider population. This region continues to be characterized by growth on one hand, but widening inequalities in wealth, power and resources between and within countries, between rich and poor, and between men, women, LGBTIQ, across different age groups and disabilities, among others. The 2016 year-end update report of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific released by ESCAP acknowledged that while the region has indeed experienced growth, it “has not translated into commensurate increases in decent jobs, which has also contributed to heightened income inequality”.