Inaugural Asia-Pacific Solutions Forum 2023 seeks to accelerate SDG solutions in the region

The Star

The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN_SDSN) Asia, Sunway Group and the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation collaborated to hold the APSF 2023.  The forum showcased six finalists from the Asia-Pacific region addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)-related challenges in their respective countries that can be replicated in other parts of the region.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 So we try to come up with a system that addresses...

00:05 So very far from Jakarta...

00:07 We use that and then...

00:09 SDSN, which is short for Sustainable Development Solutions Network,

00:14 we are a network of solutions builders

00:17 and it is made up of universities and think tanks

00:21 and research centres around the world.

00:24 So within this network there are almost 2,000 members,

00:29 most of them are universities.

00:31 Academia and universities play a big part in building solutions

00:36 to sustainable development challenges around the world

00:40 because within such institutions there is research expertise,

00:46 there's scientific expertise and there's the technical knowledge

00:50 that is necessary as the foundation to build solutions

00:56 based on what the challenges are in different local contexts around the world.

01:02 This meeting is called the Asia-Pacific Solutions Forum

01:07 and one year ago we had the National Solutions Forum.

01:12 At the National Solutions Forum we solicited entries

01:18 by solution providers around the country.

01:21 Nine of them were showcased

01:23 and then it was the intention of Tan Sri Jeffrey Chia,

01:29 who is the founder and the chairman of the Sunway Group

01:32 and also the president of the Jeffrey Chia Foundation,

01:37 that is a big funder to SDSN.

01:42 And it was his intention that similar solutions forums

01:46 will take place in other countries around Asia

01:50 and be showcased in an Asia-Pacific Solutions Forum,

01:53 which is why we are here today.

01:56 Our efforts at Sunway are driven by the conviction

02:03 that realising the 17 SDGs is not the responsibility of government alone

02:11 and building a sustainable future requires the commitment

02:16 of all elements of society.

02:19 The public sector, private sector, academia, civil society

02:25 and of course each and every one of us.

02:28 It is why we support the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

02:34 Our focus with this event is to foster meaningful collaborations

02:40 across international borders,

02:42 transcending politics and narrow interests in the interest of humanity.

02:49 So six solutions have been selected from the multiple entries

02:56 that came in from different parts of Asia

02:59 and these six will be showcased today

03:02 and they will serve as an inspiration for other countries

03:06 and other solution providers around the region,

03:10 around the continent and around the world as well.

03:12 All of them have impact as the centre.

03:15 They are all designed to make a difference,

03:18 to create some kind of impact or to solve a particular problem

03:22 that is occurring in this part of the world.

03:25 So today we will see solutions that cover a whole spectrum of issues,

03:32 from social to environmental to economic

03:36 and we have selected solutions that are not only impactful

03:42 but that have the potential to be replicated and scaled up elsewhere

03:47 and they also need to be financially sustainable.

03:51 When you build a solution and you want to make sure

03:53 that they can be carried through with impact,

03:57 usually it requires some form of a funding background

04:01 and that funding needs to be sustainable for the long term

04:05 so that the impact can be realised.

04:08 If we look at the Millennium Development Goals

04:10 which preceded the Sustainable Development Goals,

04:13 they also had very ambitious targets

04:18 and those targets were actually not achieved

04:22 by the time the end date came along.

04:28 Despite that fact, there was tremendous improvement

04:32 that took place because the goals were in place.

04:35 Similarly with the Sustainable Development Goals,

04:38 we are now only at the halfway point

04:41 and as long as we are measuring our progress,

04:44 even if we see that we have a long way to go,

04:48 it's important to measure that progress and know where we stand

04:52 so that we can take corrective action wherever necessary

04:55 and make whatever changes in our current pathways to achieve those goals.

05:00 We should never lose sight of the goal, no matter how challenging it is.

05:04 [Music plays]

05:14 [Music plays]

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