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.
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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
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NewsTranscript
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]