Malaysia’s Sustainable Development: The Decade for Action

On July 1st 2020, The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) launched the Sustainable Development Report 2020. While Malaysia recorded modest improvements in its ranking from 66th position in 2019 to 60th in 2020 out of 166 countries, its main challenges remain. 

The Malaysia SDG Webinar “Malaysia’s Sustainable Development: The Decade for Action” was organised on 7 August 2020. This virtual event convened thought leaders on the various aspects of Malaysia’s sustainable development journey who offered insights on areas of opportunity, imperative action and challenges in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The key takeaways derived from the event are as follows:

• Despite laudable efforts to improve sustainable development in Malaysia, we still lag behind in the progress of several critical SDGs.
• The monitoring and evaluation process of SDG-centric policies still pose a challenge.
• Partnerships between various stakeholders, such as academia, local governments and the private sector, are central to achieving SDGs.
• Innovative approaches are required to install a sustainable mindset among society.

From these key takeaways, the following recommendations are suggested to be undertaken by the various key stakeholders:

• Engage communities in sustainable development programmes from start to finish.
• Engage the academia to assist in community outreach and closing data gaps.
• Follow through with enacting the Climate Change Act.
• Make addressing the issue of stunting a national priority.

Read the full event rapporteur report here.