"The longer the Indonesian government delays bringing domestic fuel prices closer to international market levels, the more devastating will be the impact on the long-term foundation of the economy. The average Indonesian crude price over the past three months has exceeded the $95 used to estimate the $21.7 billion budgetary appropriation for fuel and electricity subsidies for this year.

It is economically unfeasible to maintain such a huge sum of fuel subsidies, which are only enjoyed mostly by middle and high-income earners. It is morally irresponsible for the government to allocate more than one fifth of the state budget for such wasteful spending, while not even half of that amount was appropriated for education, pubic housing and basic health services and food subsidies."

"India has begun preparing for what is one of the world's biggest ever censuses, a survey by millions of volunteers that could affect government policies and reveal how economic growth has affected the population. Millions of volunteers and census officials will visit every household around the country in the next few years to gather information on jobs, education and quality of life.

More than a decade of reform programs is estimated to have pushed India's long-term economic growth rate to around 8.7 percent this fiscal year. But India urgently requires more infrastructure and creation of new jobs. India produces 2.5 million graduates every year, but only about 15 percent are suitable for jobs in technology and outsourcing."

"An expected bumper rice harvest in Bangladesh may not be enough to stave off a food crisis as a result of rising prices. This month's 'boro' rice harvest -- one of three harvests annually -- accounts for nearly 60 percent of the country's rice yield, but as rice and wheat prices increase globally, Bangladesh faces problems. About half of the population (63 million people) live below the food poverty line, spending 70 percent of their household income on food.

Over the past six months, the price of food essentials, particularly rice, has increased by over 70 percent in some places. The government has responded by allowing consumers to purchase rice and other food essentials at subsidized prices under its open market sale scheme, and by organizing food-for-work programs and soft bank loans for affected farmers, but more efforts will be needed."

"PRC has cut the tax on share trading to support stocks after a 35 percent plunge in the benchmark index, the world's second-worst performing this year. Stamp duty charged on stock trades will be lowered to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent. Some $1.9 trillion has been wiped from the value of equities this year.

The index, which surged sixfold in 2006 and 2007, has slumped on concern efforts to stem inflation that is close to an 11-year high will curb earnings growth. The reduction reverses a tripling of the tax last year. So far, measures to boost stocks have failed to stem the decline."

"A revolution through improved productivity in the Asia-Pacific agriculture sector could lift a third of the region's poor out of poverty, according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Large gains can be achieved by way of comprehensively liberalizing global agricultural trade and there is a need for broadening international trade.

Rural debt had increased in the farming communities, most acutely seen in Sri Lanka, India, PRC and Thailand with over 86,900 farmers committing suicide in India between 2001 and 2005. By improving rural infrastructure (particularly electricity and roads), agricultural technology and the capacity to adapt these technologies and speeding up diversification and commercialization the poor will be given access to markets, which is vital if the agricultural revolution is to be a success."

"The world rice price has tripled since the end of 2007, exceeding $1,000 per ton from this month. Many farmers have quit raising tiger shrimp to grow rice because of the price hike, particularly in southernmost Ca Mau Province where all land was previously used for shrimp farming.

Farmers in Hau Giang and An Giang provinces have begun to grow three crops a year instead of two to increase production. At present, not only is the price of rice rising, but the price of fertilizers and insecticides are also increasing. If the prices of all farming materials go up simultaneously, profits will plunge."

"Economic development policies are having the reverse effect on the great lake of Tonle Sap in Cambodia. Locals are finding it more difficult to survive, a trend that may only worsen as climate change continues to take hold. The government has sought assistance to exploit its fisheries under the banner of poverty reduction.

The Cambodian government built infrastructure and introduced a market economy to Tonle Sap communities. This has resulted in the end of interdependence between fishing and farming communities. The traditional barter system between those growing rice and those catching fish disappeared after an industry of middlemen evolved to wander from village to village, exchanging rice and fish for cash."

"Effluent from sewerage treatment plants in Malaysia is discharged into water resources such as rivers. An effective sanitation system must ensure that water resources are clean, safe and free of pollution for potable purposes. Privatization has improved the quality of sanitation management, but many Malaysians are still reluctant to pay their sewerage bill.

Periodic water resources and environmental surveillance is done throughout the year, including development and dissemination of tools for good practice and guidance through outreach and awareness programs. Providing adequate sanitation will have profound benefits for human health and poverty alleviation."

"Climate change, soaring fuel prices and poverty, combined with increasing demand for forest products, will pose unprecedented challenges to the forestry sector in the Asia-Pacific region. Indonesia, which has the world's largest amount of rainforest with 120 million hectares, has come under pressure to improve the management of its forestry sector.

Government policies had destroyed local communities. People's lives have changed since the government awarded concession permits to open the forest for palm oil plantations. Indonesia is now a globally significant source of greenhouse gas emissions because of peat fires."

"Futures purchases of agricultural commodities have traditionally been the means by which a limited number of traders stabilized future commodity prices and enabled farmers to finance themselves through future sales. Speculative purchases have no other purpose than to make money for the speculators, who hold their contracts to drive up current prices with the intention not of selling the commodities on the real future market, but of unloading their holdings onto an artificially inflated market, at the expense of the ultimate consumer.

More than 30 million tons of soybeans for future delivery are contracted every day. The argument sometimes is made that this speculation is unimportant because the futures speculators will never take delivery; but this is precisely the problem. It is why this speculation is highly destructive of the true market."

"Some 15 percent of Fiji's children do not survive the full eight years of their primary education while an average of about 74.9 percent of those who start secondary education in Fiji get to form six. Among the barriers that affect children's education in Fiji are school fees, discrimination, conflict, poor school quality, poor infrastructure, lack of good teachers, child labor, distance to schools and poverty.

The survival rate of Fiji's children is similar today to other developing countries, even though the country had a head-start in the 1970s. Children from the poorest 20 percent of households are three times more likely than other children to miss out on schooling altogether or be absent from school."

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