Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Masagos Zulkifli, presented Singapore’s first Voluntary National Review (VNR) of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the 2018 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 16 to 18 July 2018. The SDGs aim to end poverty, fight inequality and protect the planet.
Photo credit Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Singapore
The VNR comprised the submission of a report to the UN and a presentation at the HLPF. The VNR process, led by the Inter-Ministry Committee on SDGs (IMC-SDGs), was a Whole-of-Nation effort involving more than 30 government ministries and agencies, the private sector, civil society, and youth. To mobilise further youth action on SDGs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised a Singapore Youth Video Competition: What YOUth Can Do to crowd-source ideas on the SDGs. The team of National University of Singapore students who produced the first place video, FEEDBack Farmers, which showcased community efforts on urban farming, were included in the Singapore delegation to the 2018 HLPF. The top three winning videos can be found at http://bit.ly/2JOiG0J.
Our VNR explained how sustainable development has underpinned Singapore’s policy-making since independence – before the term “sustainable development” became widely-used. Given our limited resources and land, we have constantly pursued a delicate balance between economic, social, and environmental priorities. Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, initiated the annual Tree Planting Campaign in 1963 as he believed that “a blighted urban landscape, a concrete jungle, destroys the human spirit”. Today, we are building on this legacy to transform Singapore into a “City in a Garden”. Besides robust policy-making, we have leveraged on technology and innovation to achieve sustainable development. For example, we are successfully closing the water loop and achieving SDG 6 on “Water and Sanitation.” NEWater, our brand of ultra-clean, high-grade reclaimed water purified from wastewater, has been praised by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as the “elixir of life”.
Singapore is also committed to building collaborative, multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve the SDGs, in line with SDG 17 on “Global Partnerships”. A key vehicle is the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP), which is our flagship technical assistance programme that has trained over 120,000 officials since its inception in 1992. The SCP offers courses structured in line with the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. Under Singapore’s ASEAN Chairmanship this year, ASEAN Leaders has reaffirmed their commitment to the 2030 Agenda and endorsed the call for ASEAN to become a sustainable community to promote economic and social development alongside environmental protection while leaving no one behind.
Our full VNR report is published at http://tinyurl.com/SGVNR2018 and more information can be found on various social media platforms with the hashtag #SGVNR2018.
