week 4 reflection

 

Week 4 touched on international efforts to fight sustainability through global consensus, and this highlighted the key milestones like the 1972 Stockholm Conference, 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and the Kyoto Protocol. All these agreements promulgated collective responsibility where the developing and developed worlds shared common but differentiated responsibilities, a theme that resonated within me most deeply. The competition between economic advancement and conservation, specifically during talks like the U.S. rejection of the Kyoto Protocol, revealed the politics behind sustainability.

The arrival of Sejahtera as a holistic Malay idea integrating prosperity (aman, makmur), spirituality, and moral leadership which created a homecoming perspective. It integrated sustainability with inner peace and social justice, which was a departure from Western technocratic approaches. Prof. Kamal Hassan's emphasis on heart quality and divine stewardship made me reflect on sustainability as a moral mandate and religious practice.

The past week brought this into focus, that international frameworks must be calibrated according to cultural contexts. Since global agreements set targets, national values like Sejahtera allow for successful implementation.