GEORGE TOWN, Oct 17 — The Housing and Local Government Ministry will impose a key performance index (KPI) for all 150 local governments in the country to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said Malaysia must aim to achieve as many of the 17 SDGs as possible under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“This is something we need to focus on, we want to ensure there is a KPI for all 150 local governments to achieve the 17 SDGs, they don’t have to achieve all of the 17 SDGs, as long as they can achieve part of it by 2030,” she told reporters after the closing ceremony of the seventh Asia Pacific Urban Forum (APUF7) at Spice Convention Centre here.
She said there needs to be a serious effort to achieve the SDGs by 2030 and not delay it to 2040 or 2050.
She noted that the grassroots community is still not aware of the 17 SDGs so it should be engaged, informed and mobilised to be involved in achieving the SDGs.
“I emphasised on the point that even with declarations by cities and local governments to achieve the SDGs, if the grassroots don’t want to be involved in sustainable activities, it will not be enough,” she said.
She said the local governments and ministry will need to also focus on educating the grassroots community on the SDGs.
She said this is a global movement that everyone should be involved in as the SDGs and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is not only in Malaysia.
“We want people to change how they do things, to ensure their lives are sustainable and not contribute to climate change,” she said.
She said APUF7 saw more than 6,000 participants where 100 forum sessions were held with 600 speakers on topics related to sustainable development.
“We have gathered the outcome from this forum and the action plans declared today will need to be implemented by all local governments,” she said.
In his closing speech, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the APUF7 is a fitting platform for various cities in the Asia Pacific to share their successes in sustainable urbanisation while ensuring the need to include grassroots communities in the process of policy making.
“Penang has always believed in stakeholders’ engagement. We believe this is the way forward for governments to work with the people in policy making so that they will take ownership of the programmes that we introduce,” he said.
The Penang Platform for Sustainable Urbanisation (PPSU) was also launched in the closing ceremony.
The PPSU serves as a platform for cities, stakeholders and communities to collaborate, integrate good practices, transform and increase political will for sustainable urbanisation across the region.
Various cities including Penang declared their action plan for the PPSU, including by Penang Island City Council’s (MBPP) Mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang today.
Chow said the next step is for all cities to work together to realise the SDGs and action plans declared under the PPSU.
