The Aichi 2030 Declaration and the Asian Transport Outlook: Linking Regional Policy Approaches and Knowledge Management in Asia

Since 2005, the annual Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forums in Asia have been a venue for the high-level governmental decision makers from Asian countries to meet and discuss how to address transport challenges in an environmentally and socially sustainable way. The Forum uniquely brings together multiple line Ministries and agencies such as the transport, environment, health, urban development and energy to discuss multi-sectoral policy issues concerning the transport sector. The members of the EST Forum adopted the Aichi 2030 Declaration (2021-2030) on Environmentally Sustainable Transport at the 14th Regional EST Forum in Asia in October 2021. Aligned with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change as well other international and regional agreements on sustainable development, the Aichi 2030 Declaration, demonstrates a continued regional commitment to achieving safe, secure, reliable, affordable, efficient, people-centric and environmentally friendly and low carbon transport (both passenger and freight) in Asia. The Aichi 2030 Declaration has six goals (whereby the environmental goal has 3 subgoals) and is accompanied by 25 strategies to realize these goals.

The objective of this side event is to share the Aichi 2030 Declaration with the wider global transport community as an example of a regional and sectoral approach to implement global agreements on sustainable development and climate change. Information will be presented on the 15th Regional EST Forum (24-26th October, 2023), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Asia Pacific Rail Summit on October, 23rd, the day before the 15th EST Forum. There is a symbiotic partnership between the EST Forum and the Aichi 2030 Declaration and the Asian Transport Outlook (ATO) initiated by the ADB. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the transport sector in Asia carried out as part of the ATO has helped to shape the goals and strategies of the Aichi 2030 Declaration. In addition, the ATO is also used to help track the implementation of the ATO. This partnership between knowledge management and policy making developed by ADB and UNCRD can serve as an example for other developing regions in the world.