To demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to promote sustainable development, the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) held the International Conference on a Sustainable Taiwan: Accelerating the Localization of UNSDGs on 5 June 2019. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) experts from the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa were invited to the conference to share SDG implementation experiences and future strategies with Taiwanese representatives across different sectors, such as heads or deputy heads of county and city environmental bureaus.
In the opening ceremony, students from Micang Elementary School, which has won the National Sustainable Development Award in the education category twice, spoke on behalf of the new generation about their vision for the . During the conference, three main topics on SDGs were discussed to exchange international implementation experiences and to integrate knowledge from central and local governments, businesses, academia, and the general public. As the secretariat of the NCSD, the EPA aims to form global partnerships through the conference and together they will embark on the journey of building a sustainable environment for future generations.
The other purpose of the conference was to announce the Taiwan Sustainable Development Goals formulated by the NCSD so that related ministries can carry out the implementation accordingly. In response to the UNSDGs launched in 2015, the Taiwan SDGs were devised based on the UNSDGs and Taiwan’s current circumstance and future goals in sustainable development. After spending two years working with different ministries and gathering opinions from the public and the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan finally completed its SDGs.
To stimulate the promotion of SDGs and achieve sustainable development, several experts in the area of SDG promotion from the US, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa were invited to participate in the conference and share their implementation experiences. The EPA also invited heads and deputy heads of five city and four county environmental bureaus, businesses and schools that have won the National Sustainable Development Awards, and student representatives and youth activists advocating the SDGs.
Excerpt from Environmental Policy Monthly, 22 (6)