This edition of the Pacific Economic Monitor discusses the outlook for 2021 and key issues for recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, including vaccine procurement and distribution.

This issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor explores how the region can reopen and rebuild. Besides safely resuming travel and protecting health, a resilient recovery will depend on promoting fiscal sustainability and strengthening economic management, including regional cooperation to revitalize tourism.

This issue explores how Pacific developing member countries can strengthen their post-pandemic social protection systems to help address long-standing development concerns and boost resilience to further shocks. It assesses individual countries’ economies and outlines ways they could improve their social protection systems, despite depleted resources. Exploring megatrends facing the subregion, including population ageing and migration, it shows how investing in universal social protection policies can have a long-term impact on reducing poverty, vulnerability, and social exclusion.

The Pacific is expected to recover with moderate growth of 1.4% in 2021 and 3.8% in 2022, with tourism and widespread vaccination playing key roles. This issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor provides insights on experiences and lessons of Pacific island countries in striking a delicate balance between health and economic concerns. It also outlines ADB's new development strategy to help the region address the impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

This edition of the Pacific Economic Monitor discusses the impacts of COVID-19 and provides an overview of other current economic and development issues in Pacific developing member countries of ADB.

The Pacific region is expected to grow by 4.7% in 2022 and 5.4% in 2023 as most economies emerge from the worst of the pandemic-induced downturn. This issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor focuses on building and financing resilience to climate change and disasters. It also explores the impacts on the region of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, such as higher commodity prices.

This latest issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor highlights the gains of Pacific developing member countries (Pacific DMCs) and the challenges that the Pacific DMCs continue to face including the impacts of climate change. The Pacific is among those parts of the world most vulnerable to weather-related disasters. To illustrate, 5 of the top 15 countries with the highest risk, and 10 of the top 30 facing the largest potential economic losses from disasters, are in the subregion. With climate change bringing additional risks from global sea level rise---and potentially heightening vulnerability to more intense, frequent, and prolonged extreme weather events---Pacific economies are stepping up adaptation efforts to brace for future adverse impacts. These include climate-proofing vital infrastructure assets, strengthening disaster risk management, and expanding social safety nets to build resilience to disasters. Further, a number of Pacific economies are promoting green urban development to move toward more sustainable green cities. Careful monitoring and planning will also be required to manage important income flows, including fishing license fees and tourism-related revenues, amid climate-related volatilities and to maintain adequate fiscal buffers for disaster response.

This timely handbook critically examines the development and role of tourism in small Pacific Island states located across Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The volume presents an expansive evaluation of current issues, challenges and potentialities for the 13 self-governing states. Interdisciplinary in coverage and borne of a varied and international authorship, this handbook incorporates 27 specifically commissioned and original contributions. Structured into four thematic sections and embellished with insightful tables and illustrations throughout, the overarching ethos of this volume is to contribute to framing the role of tourism, tourism development and the tourism industry within the context of self-governing Pacific Island states faced with the challenge of pursuing an independent path of development. In doing so, the work highlights and deciphers various tourism development perplexities in the Pacific, examining closely the intersecting sociocultural, geopolitical, environmental, organizational, operational and strategic challenges. This volume, thus, discusses a range of issues: facilitators and inhibitors of tourism growth and development; climate change, ecological concerns, and eco-tourism; non-tourism and undertourism; crisis management and the COVID-19 virus; transportation and tourism infrastructural concerns; tourism policy and planning (including tourism governance); sectoral links between tourism; food and agriculture; gender and micro-entrepreneurship; community management and participation; cultural and natural heritage sites; and the handicraft industry. The work pays critical attention to the various trajectories of sustainable tourism and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the many challenges and concerns raised, the book implicates the importance of good governance, progressive post-COVID-19 recovery strategies and directives, and creative and imaginative options in the successful development, re-development and advancement of tourism. As a definitive reference resource for this subject area, this handbook will be of great interest to students, researchers and academics within tourism, development studies, geography, Pacific studies, sustainability and environmental studies.

This issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor analyzes 2013 budget outcomes and 2014 budget plans of ADB's Pacific developing member countries. The theme of the policy briefs also in this issue is the economics of climate change and climate change financing challenges in the Pacific.

An analysis of 2015 budget outcomes and 2016 plans of ADB's Pacific member countries is the focus of this issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor, also including an analysis of opportunities and challenges from external factors.