APEC members urged to act on sustainable development

Members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) need to fast track sustainable development policies and implement them now, said a top environmental expert here on Sunday. The sustainable development forum that took place on the sidelines of APEC meetings launched two initiatives with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) to gather together scientists, academics, think tanks and organizations to formulate solutions to climate change challenges in Indonesia as well as the larger Asia Pacific region. Leaders from Peru and New Zealand also attended the forum. With the unprecedented scale of sustainable development challenges confronting the world, the UN think tank hopes to synergize worldwide efforts to address sustainable development challenges of ending poverty, increasing social inclusion, and sustaining the planet. The APEC members need to start work on sustainable development now, and Even though after the Rio climate conference world leaders agreed to sign specific goals for addressing climate change challenges in 2015, there is no need to wait till then. The world is not on a sustainable path and must move quickly, said SDSN head Jeffrey Sachs. The sustainable development deal in 2015 will be presented at the United Nations and will be ratified by all its members. The new set of climate change goals will draw out the world agenda till 2030. But Sachs believed that APEC economies need to make use of the SDSN global knowledge network now to find solutions to many of the members' significant climate and inclusive development problems. "There are many countries that can benefit from joining our global knowledge network that aims to find solutions for sustainable development challenges around the world. China for example, which is facing huge problems with its environment, is one example," he added. Since 30 percent of the world's 1 billion tourists travel to the APEC region, there is greater need to assimilate the travel industry with the sustainable development initiative, he added.