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The pandemic further widened existing inequalities and vulnerabilities. Evidence also shows the reversal of hard-won gains in poverty reduction in several countries in the region. All this is happening alongside intensifying environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and te continued onslaught of natural hazards and climate change.

Port Vila is the capital of Vanuatu. The Port Vila Urban Area (PVUA), defined as the Port Vila Municipality (PVM) and adjoining peri-urban areas, has a population of about 70,000. About 49,300 of these people live in PVM. Per capita gross national income in Vanuatu was approximately 279,402 vatu (Vt) (around $3,073) in 2011.

Asia’s robust economic growth in the past decades has lifted millions out of poverty. From an estimated 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty in 1990 the number had gone down to about 903.4 million by 2005.1 Still, rapid economic growth and pervasive poverty have continuously degraded the region’s natural resources. The quality of the environment has deteriorated, and climate change has had an impact, threatening the productivity and integrity of natural systems as well as people’s health, safety, and livelihoods.