The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which form the core of the 2030 Agenda, comprise 169 targets that developing and developed countries must achieve by 2030.
But a progress report last year found that only 15 percent of the targets had been met, suggesting that world leaders are not taking seriously most of the goals they have pledged to achieve — and are not doing enough to protect the environment and people from pollution, hunger, war and disaster.
World leaders must stop the empty rhetoric and step up their commitment to sustainability.
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Deadly heatwave hits South and Southeast Asia
Deadly heatwave hits South and Southeast Asia
Over the past 20 years, the world’s forest area has fallen by 100 million hectares, putting one million species at risk of extinction. Just to reverse the damage, 1.5 billion hectares of forests need to be restored by 2030.
These are challenges that all countries need to address urgently. With six years to go until 2030, we must commit resources now to reversing worsening trends.
Compared to some of the most vulnerable places on earth, Hong Kong does not face the same scale of threats and environmental degradation.
This was a particular setback for Hong Kong officials eager to find a good story to tell about Hong Kong. If the plan, originally scheduled to begin on August 1, still goes ahead, it would be an achievement for Hong Kong to celebrate, as well as a better Hong Kong story to tell.
In the recent heated debate over Hong Kong’s waste charging system, one of the ideas proposed by the authorities is to send Hong Kong’s waste to nearby cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for incineration. Why would someone come up with such an unethical idea?
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SCMP Explainer: How does Hong Kong deal with its waste?
SCMP Explainer: How does Hong Kong deal with its waste?
Surprisingly, the authorities seem to have a “not in my backyard” mentality. In other words, if a city in mainland China proposed to send its waste to Hong Kong, how would our government and people feel about it?
Hong Kong can and should cooperate with mainland China on projects that have mutual environmental, social and economic benefits, but it should not push its problems onto other countries.
Legislators who approved waste fees in 2021, when the pandemic was hitting the economy, should have foreseen the economic factors and issues being debated today.
Their surprisingly sudden about-face and their proposal and support for suspending the scheme is disappointing, especially since so many organisations and places have fully supported the scheme and invested in waste reduction efforts.
Edwin Lau Chefeng is Executive Director of Green Earth.
