CHALLENGES TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

     In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, there must be challenges or obstacles that we need to overcome together in order to make our world a better place in the present and the future. If there is no challenges, then there will be no achievement. So, let's discuss on the challenges to sustainable development in terms of social, economic and environment.

    First, we need to understand precisely on the challenges that we need to face in terms of social, economy and environment. We need to know what is actually the challenges being mentioned. But, before I start share the contents, let's watch a video first. You can just click the link that i attach right away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1K1V8E7LMw

    Thus, let's continue to the discussion on how Islam create solutions for the unsustainable development first before we talk about the challenges. So, in order to sustain the development in term of social, we as the khalifah (vicegerent) of Allah are already instructed to use the resources justly and fairly, meaning that we cannot be greedy in using the resources because all of the resources are belong to the one and only owner, Allah. Moreover, we need to take care of the resources in this world as it will be asked by Allah in the Hereafter. Next, we also need to have mushawarah which is consultation for every single thing that we want to do in order to get a final decision which could benefit all people. Having consultation with other people could help us to make better decision as different people have their own opinions. Last but not least, in Islam, creating ukhuwah (Islamic Brotherhood) are truly encouraged among Muslims as this will strengthen the relationship with each other. This could also prevent from having misunderstanding to each other as all Muslims respect each other's preferences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HZ1HdLZzEs

    Without any delay, let's have a deep discussion on the challenges for sustainable development in terms of social first. But before that, I would like to ask you two questions that could relate to social challenges. First, has Malaysian society been living in sustainably before? Second question would be anything unsustainable about current way of living? So, let me answer the first question first based on my own perspective. For me, Malaysian society is not living in sustainably way before because there is issues regarding the gender inequality where woman are not allowed to take the position of the upper management especially in workplace. For the second question, Malaysians current way of living are not sustainable because Malaysians still practice to use plastic bags when they shop in shopping malls instead of bringing their own bags from home.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5L_IRqLpDc

    Let's move on to the second challenges which is in term of economic. In order to have a sustainable development in economic, we need to take an immediate action whereby we can start practicing the 3R's (Reuse, Recycle, Reduce) in order to reduce wastes in production, packaging and distribution. By practicing these 3R in our life, we would get to reduce the amount waste in the bin and eventually can save our money from buying something new. 

    Last but not least, let's take a look on the challenges on the environment. So, out of environmental issues that happens in Malaysia, there is one issue that caught my eyes which is air pollution. This is because it has been an ongoing problem in many countries in the Southeast Asia region, and Malaysia has become one the worst affected. The main cause of this haze is the slash and burn practice by farmers and peat fires blown by the wind from Indonesia. especially Sumatra, which mainly affects the Peninsular Malaysia and Kalimantan, which mainly affects East Malaysia. I also attach a link for a video on the environment pollution in Malaysia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQzGi7WlUUo

    In conclusion, we truly need to have a sustainable development in order to overcome the issues of scarcity resources where we want to make use of the limited resources to produce something that will benefit all people in Malaysia. We also need to solve the issues of over-exploitation of natural resources by the human because nearly 1 million species are on track for extinction and we need to protect the natural resources that left for us now. Lastly, the climate change has become one of the need for sustainable development where there is an increase in the atmospheric temperature and extreme weather events. So, in order to solve this issue, we need to restrain ourselves from doing any activities that will destroy our world like deforestation and open burning.