The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers 17 goals, the twelfth of which is “Responsible consumption and production,” namely: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Under this major goal, there are 11 targets, the 12.8 of which is “By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.”

●Current Situation

About the World

Advancing universal access to information within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The global 193 United Nations member states that adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognized the right to information as a prerequisite and key driver for achieving sustainable development. Therefore, On September 28each year, UNESCO celebrates the International Day for Universal Access to Information. At a time when we are all trying to find efficient solutions to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more essential than ever that we put forward universal access to information as a key pillar to building back better with resilient and inclusive knowledge societies capable of achieving sustainable development. 

Data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) show that as of August 2021, 132 United Nations member states—almost 70 per cent—had adopted constitutional guarantees or enacted access to information laws. UNESCO conducted a survey on public access to information and SDG indicator. A total of 102 countries took part in the research. This shows encouraging progress, and UNESCO will continue to monitor this aspect of SDG performance. UNESCO also facilitates capacity development initiatives and awareness-raising efforts on the importance of access to information. UNESCO calls on all member states and partners to join us and supports our action to ensure that information can be advanced as a public good and as a cornerstone of healthy and democratic societies, so that we can all make informed decisions for today and for tomorrow. 

Source: UNESCO

About China

Opening up a new realm of human sustainable development

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially since the reform and opening up, China has experienced a magnificent process of rapid industrialization and created an unprecedented development miracle in human history. Under the leadership of the CommunistParty of China (CPC), we have successfully created a Chinese path to modernization and achieved unprecedented changes in human history. The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that theChinese path to modernization is a socialist modernization led by the CPC. It has both the common characteristics of modernization in all countries and the Chinese characteristics based on its own national conditions. The harmonious coexistence of man and nature is one of the important characteristics of theChinese path to modernization.

From the perspective of world history, the traditional development model after the Industrial Revolution has inherent limitations. After mankind entered the era of industrial civilization, the rapid development of traditional industrialization accelerated the grab of natural resources while creating huge material wealth, broke the original cycle and balance of the earth’s ecosystem, and caused tension between man and nature. Although the industrialization process has greatly promoted the progress of productivity and human civilization, it will inevitably lead to a serious ecological environment crisis,because it is based on high energy consumption, high pollution and high emissions. Practice has proved that this traditional mode of industrialization is not sustainable, and China must strive to build a harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

In terms of the relationship between man and nature, the Chinese nation has always respected and loved nature. The Chinese civilization nurtures and accumulates rich philosophic thoughts and ecological cultures such as “the unity of heaven and man” and “the law of nature”, which are different from the technology supremacy and anthropocentrism of the western society, which has conquers nature by relying on powerful technology after the industrial revolution. Regarding the purpose of development, the traditional Chinese culture does not take simple material wealth as the goal, but prefers the all-round development of people. Generally speaking, the attitude towards the relationship between man and nature determines the boundary of human activities, while values determine the goals of human activities. From this perspective, the excellent traditional Chinese ecological culture provides Chinese wisdom to overcome the inherent limitations of the Western modernization model.

The CPC has always attached great importance to environmental issues and made unremitting exploration on the construction of ecological civilization. Since its 18th national congress, it has put forward a series of new ideas and strategies, which endow the theory of ecological civilization construction with new connotation, break through the cognitive barrier of contradiction between environment and development, and provide a fundamental guarantee for China’s ecological civilization construction to make historic achievements and changes.

Sources: Economic Daily

●Cases

About the World

Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

In order to achieve SDG targets 4.7, 12.8 and 13.3, UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UNESCO-UIS) and Division for Peace and Sustainable Development, Section of Education for Sustainable Development (UNESCO-ED/PSD/ESD) ofUNESCO Education Sector call on that it is necessary for governments to ensure that ESD and GCED and their sub-themes are fully integrated in all aspects of their education systems. There are eight GCED/ESD themes (cultural diversity and tolerance, gender equality, human rights, peace and non-violence, climate change, environmental sustainability, human survival and well- being, and sustainable consumption and production) .Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) nurture respect for all, build a sense of belonging to a common humanity, foster responsibility for a shared planet, and help learners become responsible and active global citizens and proactive contributors to a more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world. They aim to empower learners of all ages to face and resolve local and global challenges and to take informed decisions and actions for environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society for present and future generations, while respecting cultural diversity. 

Source: sdg12hub.org

Education for Sustainable Development at WWF-Malaysia

Malaysia is recognized as one of the top twelve mega-biodiversity countries in the world. However, the increasing dependency of resources for the pursuit of economic growth poses many threats to these resources and the people who depend on them. With the growing population and limited natural resources, we need to learn how to live together sustainably. Therefore, the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) program was adopted by WWF-Malaysia to empower students, youths and educators to transform the way they think and work towards a sustainable future.

ESD is a combination of innovative educational approaches to ingrain environmental citizenship values into the formal education society. Under the ESD, they have the Eco-Schools Programme, which is the world’s largest sustainable school program. It uses the whole school approach to encourage actions for environmental issue. Started in 2011, the program is supported by Ministry of Education, Malaysia, government agencies, environmental partners and tertiary institutions. Currently, more than 300 schools havesigned up for the Eco-Schools Programme. 

Source: geepaprc.org

About China

Ma Weihua: China has taken the lead in promoting sustainable development and sustainable finance in the world

On November 16, 2022, the first Greater Bay Area Green and Sustainable Finance Summit, with the theme of “Greening for a Better GBA, Financing for a Sustainable Future,” was held in Shenzhen. Ma Weihua, member of the UNDP SDG Impact Steering Group, chairman of the China Alliance of Social Value Investment (CASVI), and chairman of SusallWave Digital Technology, delivered an opening speech, saying that the Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao Greater Bay Area has made great contributions to promoting the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, in the face of today’s severe challenges, we need to continue to redouble our efforts to direct more funds to the field of sustainable development, promote sustainable development with sustainable finance, and continue to make contributions to global sustainable development.

Source: CASVI

Zhejiang’s green and low-carbon development promotes harmonious coexistence between human and nature

The report of the 20th National Congress of the CPC has pointed out that the Chinese path to modernization is a modernization in which man and nature coexist in harmony. As the birthplace of the concept of “clear waters and green mountains areas good as mountains of gold and silver,” Zhejiang Province has accelerated its green transformation and built a beautiful Zhejiang in recent years. It has clearly proposed to promote the modernization of the harmonious coexistence of human and nature at a high level and build a highland of ecological civilization. Focusing on the new requirements of green development, Zhejiang is full of vitality - making efforts in ecological protection, planning for green transformation, and working on low-carbon development, in a bid to promote green development and harmonious coexistence between human and nature.

Since this year, Chun’an has established a joint meeting system of river and lake leaders, and has made great efforts to explore the “basin co-governance” model of water environment. It has promoted the systematic governance of the water environment, water resources and water ecology of 84 rivers and streams in the upper reaches of Qiandao Lake. “Basin co-governance is to break administrative regional barriers, integrate multiple forces, and concentrate resources to promote water protection,” said Wang Renfa, director of the Chun’an County Water Conservancy Bureau. Chun’an has also established a framework system of joint river basin governance at the township level. This year, 35 cooperation agreements have been signed by the county’s townships and platforms, and 43 large-scale activities have been jointly organized to ensure information sharing, mechanism interoperability, and concerted action in river basin governance.

Source: Zhejiang Daily

●Background

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Initiated by the United Nations

On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including 169 targets, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic UN Summit — officially came into force. Countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind.