SL could be first to introduce sustainable development legislation adopting UN goals: Harsha

By Himal Kotelawala

Sri Lanka may well be the first nation to incorporate the 17 global goals as defined by the United Nations (UN) – with a local twist – when introducing sustainable development legislation in the country, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the closing ceremony of the two-day National Summit on Foresight and Innovation for Sustainable Human Development (#2030NOW), de Silva reaffirmed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s pledge to table a Sustainable Development Act in Parliament. 

This Act, according to the Deputy Minister, will be tailor made for Sri Lanka, fusing home-grown goals that take into account local conditions and realities with the loftier 17 global goals agreed upon by the international community. Malaysia, too, is working on introducing similar legislation, it is learnt.

“I’m proud to show you a draft national policy and strategy on sustainable development. We might be the first nation to incorporate the 17 global goals into development planning. It is an achievement of the present Government,” said De Silva.

The importance the Government has placed on sustainable development, he further said, is made clear by its willingness to adopt the 17 goals and 169 targets adopted by the United Nations member states in 2015.

“We’re trying to actually take the 17 global goals and link them based on local conditions [when planning for] Sri Lanka, taking very seriously what world leaders have agreed to do in terms of sustainable development going forward,” said De Silva.

According to the UN, the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals, aim to end poverty, hunger and inequality, take action on climate change and the environment, improve access to health and education, build strong institutions and partnerships, and more.

The objective of the Summit, said the Deputy Minister, was to start a national dialogue on ‘foresighting’ and innovation to achieve the 2030 development agenda.

“A good start has been made, with a nice mix of different groups of people with different thinking coming together – a real public-private-civil society partnership,” he added.

The Prime Minister’s participation goes to show how much weight the Government feels this could carry, he said.

“If you continue to show results, you’ll have a willing partner in the Government to carry forward your work,” said De Silva.

Commenting on the Summit’s Foresighting and Innovation Lab as a possible public-private partnership (PP), the economist-turned Deputy Foreign Minister said it could be a good testing ground for prototype policies before they are rolled out nationally.

Citing the present Government’s restructuring of the distribution of subsidies such as school uniforms and fertiliser as an example of innovation in policy-making, De Silva said that such drastic changes in decades-old practices could be hit or miss in terms of successful implementation without a mechanism in place for prototype policy testing.

The Government made a decision to direct subsidies to the end-user instead of the supplier, as in the case of disturbing school uniforms by providing the student with a voucher as opposed to sending cloth to the school.

“How do you solve this? This is where innovation comes in. We have a political hot potato on how subsidies are distributed that you cannot disturb. The Prime Minister changed that. These types of changes in policies that have been there since before Independence being suddenly changed after so many years... It would’ve been nice if we had some sort of lab that we could’ve reached out to and asked for a benefit and impact assessment. It will be amazing if we can put a group of brains together and create this virtual lab to tell us about the different outcomes we may encounter,” said De Silva.