The event, held at the ESCAP Hall meeting room at the United Nations Conference Center on Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, highlighted Thailand’s efforts in integrating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into local practices.
Governor Sophon showcased Phuket’s progress as one of the 15 pilot provinces working towards sustainable development. His presentation covered key areas such as sustainable tourism, disaster resilience, natural resource allocation and cross-border provincial cooperation.
Prominent attendees included David Daly, Ambassador of the European Union to Thailand; Suthipong Chulcharoen, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior; and Reneau Meyère, representative of the United Nations Development Program in Thailand.
The event also featured a lecture by Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, on implementing SDGs in spatial areas, drawing from experiences within the Ministry of Interior.
The seminar included a series of discussions addressing various aspects of sustainable development in Thailand:
- Supporting the 2030 Goals - Deputy Secretary-General of the National Economic and Social Development Council discussed what Thailand needs to drive towards the 2030 goals.
- Bangkok’s Leadership in Urban Development - An advisor to the Governor of Bangkok shared insights on sustainable urban development.
- Local Government Challenges and Opportunities - The Mayor of Phanat Nikhom, Chonburi Province, highlighted challenges faced by local governments in driving SDGs and opportunities for collaboration with provincial governors.
- Business Sector’s Role - The Vice Chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce discussed how businesses can contribute to sustainable development.
- Parliamentiary Support - The 1st Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives talked about the role of Parliament in accelerating the country’s journey towards sustainability.
A key topic of discussion was "Developing Data to Unlock and Drive Sustainable Development," which emphasized the importance of data in policy planning, the challenges of data development, and guidelines for effective communication and use of information for development purposes.
This seminar underscored Thailand’s commitment to achieving the SDGs at the local level, highlighting successful implementation in the 15 pilot provinces, said an official report of the event.
The event facilitated the exchange of knowledge and best practices among government agencies and other sectors, reinforcing the nation’s dedication to sustainable development, the report added.
THE PLAN
In essence SDG localisation can be used as a structure to enable bottom-up dialogues and provide a framework for local development policy, thereby encouraging greater participation that drive locally owned responses to inequalities at the community-based level, explains the formal statement by the UNDP Thailand in Bangkok.
Thailand can benefit from a more integrated multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach to promote transformative agendas at the local level to better ensure that no one is left behind in the development process, the agency adds.
Thailand has recognised the importance of SDG localisation and in 2019 the National Sustainable Development Council made it a priority area, explains the formal statement by the Thailand branch of the UNDP in Bangkok.
The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) and the Ministry of Interior (MOI) are working in close collaboration to implement this decision. Nonetheless, COVID-19 and the climate crisis have slowed down the progress achieved towards the goals. Therefore, to accelerate peace and achieve the SDGs, Thailand is emphasising localisation of the SDGs, the office notes.
Localising the SDGs in Thailand is crucial since taking a bottom-up approach to achieve SDGs empowers local and regional governments as well as other stakeholders to actively engage in the process of planning, monitoring and implementation, as well as identifying gaps to achieve the SDGs specific to their location,” UNDP Thailand said.
The UNDP notes that challenges such as lack of accessible data, lack of awareness on SDGs and SDG localisation and insufficient capacity on sustainable development at the local level “can make this process challenging, which is some of the areas this project will aim to address to create opportunities to explore innovative ways to address different challenges that are currently hindering the process of localising and implementing the SDGs at the sub-national level”.
“This project aims to increase participation of all stakeholders at provincial level, provide them with the data and knowledge needed to advocate for change and be able to identify where there are gaps that need to be filled, where to prioritise initiatives and how to find new and innovative ways to approach issues faced by each province.
“By capacitating civil society and local authorities to be more aware of and engaged in the SDG process, the aim is to create more ownership of the process at a sub-national level and ultimately improve the space to advocate for issues faced at local level and improve dialogue between rights holders and duty bearers, improve provincial development plans and connect local challenges and achievements to the national policies and the SDGs,” the UNDP objective statement added.
Described as “Signature Solutions” under the UNDP Strategic Plan 2020-2025 were the six areas of concern: Poverty and Inequality; Governance; Resilience; Environment; Energy; and Gender Equality.
However, no details of Phuket’s progress in these areas were explained in the official report of the event in Bangkok on Friday.
Of note, according to an infographic posted on the UNDP Thailand website, the ‘time frame’ for developing projects to be launched to support ‘SDG Localisation’ was from “Dec 2022 - Apr 2024”.