In early October, officials and experts gathered in Port Moresby to confront a familiar challenge for island nations—how to connect people and markets across land and sea without deepening carbon dependence. The National Workshop on Efficient, Resilient, Low-Carbon and Accessible Port Cities in Asia-Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS), hosted by ESCAP, set out to do just that.

Alvin Mejia, co-team lead of the Asian Transport Observatory (ATO), presented in the session on Data, Statistics, and Indicators held on the 8th of October. Drawing from ATO's regional database, he outlined how better data—on urbanization trends, infrastructure, and accessibility—can turn abstract sustainability pledges into measurable progress. His intervention anchored discussions on SUTI+, a new generation of transport indicators being piloted by ESCAP to capture social inclusion and accessibility gaps.

The workshop's focus on  connectivity and inclusive mobility reflected a broader Pacific truth: transport determines who gets access to opportunity. ATO's contribution underscored that improving ports, roads, and data systems are not separate goals but pieces of the same puzzle—building efficient, resilient, and equitable connectivity in one of the world's most fragmented geographical region.

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