PUTRAJAYA: Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah has called for comprehensive reforms to the United Nations (UN) and international financial institutions to address the interconnected challenges of today's global landscape.
In his royal address at the Putrajaya Festival of Ideas (FOI), he said that institutions such as the UN, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) still operated under outdated governance structures established after World War II.
"Almost 80 years after World War II ended, it is surely past time to reform the global institutions that were set up during and just after it. The UN, World Bank and IMF all continue to function based on the same outdated rules of global governance that were developed then.
"But while the geopolitical and economic environment have changed since 1945, and we now live in a multipolar world, these historical, and unrepresentative, governance structures remain.
"Far-reaching reforms must be made to the UN and international financial institutions so they can meet today's globally interconnected challenges. We all share one planet, living on a global commons of shared resources, perhaps even in a global village. If major global crises that affect us all such as climate change are to be tackled fairly and effectively, the Global South must now be integrated more fully into problem-solving processes," he added.
The Putrajaya FOI, a three-day event, features over 80 leaders and experts across various fields, offering forums and parallel sessions, alongside 10,000 job opportunities.
The theme of the festival is "Rethinking Development Ideas".
Sultan Nazrin, who is also the Deputy Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, said that the concept of development had shifted dramatically in the past 80 years.
Previously, he said, development was seen strictly as an economic process aimed at advancing countries from low to high-income status.
However, this model led to problems such as widespread poverty, environmental degradation, and rising inequality, he added.
Sultan Nazrin said in recent years, new approaches to development thinking had emerged, including the idea of sustainability, popularised by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Agenda, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"The SDGs represent a radical shift away from traditional models of development, integrating economic, social and environmental considerations into a unified framework. They recognise that poverty, inequality and environmental degradation are interconnected, and that all three must be addressed concurrently.
"Progress on the SDGs has been mixed, however, with some regions of the world performing better than others. The 2024 Sustainable Development Report notes that just 16 per cent of the SDG targets are currently on track to be met globally by 2030, with the remaining 84 per cent showing little progress or, even more worryingly, the reverse.
"This has raised questions as to whether the SDGs as currently framed can still help us meet the challenges of our time," he said.
Other key shifts in development thinking have been a move towards the notion of inclusive development and subjective concepts of wellbeing, satisfaction and happiness.
Sultan Nazrin outlined four key principles that should be the basis of development including interconnectedness, people-centred development, environmental stewardship and equity and justice.
On interconnectedness, he said, one country must adopt an all-encompassing approach to development that takes account of the inter-connectedness of people, cultures and ecosystems.
"A single country's problems can no longer be viewed in isolation. A war that breaks out on one continent has repercussions on another. Fossil fuels burned in one hemisphere contribute to climate impacts on the opposite side of the globe.
"This means that we must adopt an all-encompassing approach to development that takes account of the inter-connectedness of people, cultures and ecosystems, and thus of our inter-dependence," he said.
On people-centred development, he stressed that it goes beyond income, focusing instead on the freedom individuals have to achieve meaningful goals.
He also reminded the audience that health and well-being were inseparable from the health of the planet, and that we could no longer pursue development at the expense of future generations.
"The World Health Organisation estimates that if left unchecked, climate change threatens to undo 50 years of development work. That is, 50 years of hard-fought gains, of painstaking efforts to reduce poverty, improve food security, strengthen infrastructure and open the door to better opportunities for people everywhere.
"It is notable that the UN is currently exploring how to incorporate environmental factors into its Human Development Index, through the experimental Planetary Pressures-Adjusted HDI," he said.
He added that development must be centred on achieving social and economic justice, ensuring that all people, regardless of background, have access to opportunities and resources.
"But how do we move from aspirations to solutions? Well, there is no simple answer. And it is particularly challenging for those countries already struggling to develop out of poverty, to have to do so while simultaneously working to reduce carbon emissions and prevent the destruction of natural habitats.
"This, indeed, was the root of the frustrations expressed at the conclusion of the COP 29 Summit last week. Grievances arise as those countries which formerly prospered at the expense of the planet are just not taking enough responsibility for undoing the damage.
"Pledges from the richer countries of only US$300 billion a year of public funds to 2035 fall far short of the developing countries' estimated needs of US$1.2 trillion a year. And it is the poorest, who have contributed the least to climate change, who are the worst affected. There is a growing sense that some parts of the world are being let down, as well as being left behind," he said.
Sultan Nazrin cited examples of projects which seek to streamline these areas of development including The World Bank's Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan and FABLE (Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use and Energy).
"Above all, the projects I mentioned a moment ago strive to build on the symbiotic relationship that should exist between humanity and the planet. Instead of approaching the environment as a distraction from human development – instead of taking from one to give to the other – they ask: how can we do both? How can we minimise the inevitable trade-offs, and find solutions to the one problem that can simultaneously help to solve the other?
"The world needs much more of this kind of creative, strategic thinking if it is to turn back from climate disaster, while lifting its poorest out of poverty. I have every faith that events such as this will be the catalyst for more innovative efforts in this area," he said.
Sultan Nazrin's full speech can be found here.