2017•04•03     Penang

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development officially came into force on January 1, 2016. Over the past year, governments at all scales, from national to local, have begun the challenging process of prioritization and implementation.

In Penang, Malaysia, the Penang Green Council (PGC) is spearheading the effort to produce a Penang Green Agenda, with the SDGs as a natural framework for environmental action. On March 24, PGC organized a workshop at the Penang Institute, the public policy think tank of the State of Penang, to identify environmental needs and consider priority actions, exploring and building on synergies with SDG goals, targets and indicators. The workshop featured speeches from Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang, and Chow Kon Yeow, Penang State Exco Member for Local Government, Traffic Management & Flood Mitigation and the Vice Chairman of Penang Green Council, as well as a keynote presentation from UNU-IIGH researcher José Siri. Participants included representatives from municipal and state governance and civil society, who engaged in lively debate over needs and priorities. Findings from this meeting will contribute to the primary development of the Penang Green Agenda and to local implementation of the SDGs.