The Senate of the Hawai’i State (United States of America) has recently declared its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Senate believes that by enacting the 17 goals into state law, Hawai’i can protect the sustainability of their people, communities, natural resources, and economic prosperity. Furthermore, it will allow Hawai’i to join local, national and global partnerships.

Senator J. Kalani English highlighted that “Hawai'i is recognized as a global leader in addressing sustainability and climate change challenges, building on a history of systems-thinking and traditional knowledge”. He believes that the implementation of the SDGs will strengthen the efforts of the Senate to build a more resilient future for Hawai’i.

In addition, the 2018 Senate Legislative Program has defined its own goals for each of the 17 SDGs. For instance, on SDG 17, in order to improve statewide economic prosperity, policy coherence for sustainable development and mobilization, they aim to promote partnerships between government, private sector and civil society. This is also in line with the objective of the State Senate, which hopes to work closely with the House of Representatives, the Governor, and the Judiciary to achieve the goals settled by the Program.

The SDGs will be implemented at the state level through the local framework Aloha+ Challenge, that includes a dashboard that tracks Hawaii's progress on achieving sustainability targets on clean energy, local food production, natural resource management, solid waste reduction, smart and sustainable communities, and green workforce and education.

See below all the goals defined by the 2018 Senate Legislative Program for each of the SDGs

 Source: Hawai’i Senate Majority

More details and information about the Program can be found in the news published by Hawai‘i Senate Majority and IISD.

*Cover picture source: IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth