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Features and Insights

Explore insights on solutions, case studies, best practices, and innovations addressing development challenges facing countries across Southeast Asia.  

High-value horticulture in Viet Nam
Indonesia is reported to be fighting its worst wildfires in 11 years, with 202,000 hectares gutted between January and July and an additional 600,000 hectares in the succeeding months. Photo credit: iStock/Didindan Bintang.
Fighting Southeast Asia’s Wildfires

Containing the fires entails connecting prevention, land management, rapid response, and regional cooperation.

A total of 1,656 children have so far participated in empowerment sessions under the program. Photo credit: Courtesy of Save the Children.
Child-Friendly Spaces as Incubators of Girls-Led Change

A project focused on peer support, play, and community action empowers girls in the People’s Republic of China.

The AI divide is already visible: unequal access to AI systems, unequal ability to use them, and unequal outcomes from engagement. Photo credit: iStock/natasaadzic.
AI’s Real Inequality Risk: The Trust Divide in Southeast Asia

Without full confidence in AI, adoption will be uneven and inequality risks likely to become structural rather than incidental.

Some villages near the lake lack latrines, making human waste disposal an environmental problem. Photo credit: ADB.
Preserving Southeast Asia’s Largest Lake

An ADB-supported project addresses critical gaps in urban environmental infrastructure and helps strengthen protection of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Basin.

ASEAN is endowed with tropical rainforests, mangroves, peatlands, and growing renewable energy capacity, providing the region with significant opportunities to develop a successful carbon market. Photo credit: iStock/Jason-T-Mulvaney.
The Invisible Infrastructure: What ASEAN's Carbon Market Needs Most

Carbon markets enable countries and companies to trade credits representing verified emissions reductions, creating economic incentives for climate action.

A new UN report says an estimated 12.8% of the region’s population, or about 89.5 million people, experienced moderate or severe food insecurity in 2025, down from 15.3%, or 103.5 million in 2020. Photo credit: ADB.
ASEAN Food Security: Time to Scale Solutions

To go beyond pilots, ASEAN needs to create a mechanism to embed innovations into policy and financing pipelines.

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