Sustainability for One Planet

By Olivia Jensen: Olivia Jensen is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Water Policy, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.   15 March 2017 In the early 2000s, water supply was a looming problem for Malaysia. The country’s rapid development in the preceding two decades had driven an increase in the demand for water, especially in the main economic centres of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, and Johor in the south. Water supply and sanitation infrastructure, however, had failed to keep pace and restrictions on water supplies in the capital region were imminent. At the time, the water sector was an organisational, institutional and policy patchwork and financially unsustainable. Tariffs, efficiency and quality of service differed hugely across the country. The states had built up debts to the federal government which they were unable to service. Some states had also signed bulk water supply and concession contracts with private companies

August 2017, Kuala Lumpur: The United Nations Country Team has appointed the UN Global Compact Network Malaysia (GCMY) to develop the region’s first National SDG Portal – an enabling platform to map the SDG eco-system in Malaysia and a hub for stakeholders, drivers, policies, funding and learning. The platform will be activated in January 2018. The National SDG Portal will increase awareness of the SDGs and allow business and other stakeholders to make SDG commitments and report activities progressively. The platform will grow to include a marketplace for SDG proponents to match and exchange project ideas. “Sustainability is a complex process. The SDGs must be understood in the context of business. This platform can be used by business to show how they are making the SDGs happen in the real-world for Malaysia and Malaysians”, says Puvan J. Selvanathan, President of GCMY. GCMY is working closely with the United Nations Country Team, under the guidance of UNDP and the Government’s