Concordia International School Shanghai Model United Nations ◆ Seventh Annual Session
Forum:
The Environment Commission
Issue:
Promoting
transnational
cooperation
to
create
a
more
sustainable transportation infrastructure
Student Officer: Andy Kang
Position:
Chair
Introduction
Since the dawn of the industrialization, the conflict between the preservation of the
environment and the development of technology has been one of the hotly debated issues in the
world today. As transportation has been evolving with more competent technologies,
conservationists have been raising their voices to limit the expansion of the transportation
industries in a concern of their damage to the environment. However, other critics argue that such
regulation will limit the growth of developing countries. Thus, the international community has been
encouraging a collected global effort to reconcile the two differing views in order to generate a
more sustainable transportation infrastructure.
Definition of Key Terms
Sustainable Transportation
Transportation that is sustainable in terms of environment and social and attempts to
maintain ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources
History
Post-War period
After the two war periods, people sought for more individualistic life styles as they became
interested in personal mobility and requested a wider range of goods. As the demand for such
mobility increased, the travel to further regions in the world by air, ocean, and roads travel
drastically grew. This change in lifestyles led to less use of public transportation, walking, and
biking. Since then, despite the voices of few, many people have been weighing their mobility above
the environmental costs.
Key Issues
Research Report ◆ Page 1 of 4
Concordia International School Shanghai Model United Nations ◆ Seventh Annual Session
Environmental sustainability
Many of the green vehicles are designed in an effort to have less impact on the
environment. Such attempts include reducing their CO2 emissions by employing environmentally
friendly vehicles, which use electricity and biofuels as their energy sources. Yet, most of the green
vehicles are costly and fuel-efficient only when compared to modern standard vehicles.
Social sustainability
With drastically increasing numbers of cars, modern transportation has significant social
impact on society. Overbuilt roads for transportation are one of the main causes of loss of human
habitats, discouraging people to walk and use bicycles and other public transportations, thus
becoming a growing threat to human health. Also, modern society’s transportation system is still
vulnerable to different kinds of accidents on the roads. However, such issue applies to only few
parts of the entire globe, as some parts of the world need more accessibility to transportation.
Trade-off between sustainability and economic activity
Another problem that comes across regarding the issue of developing sustainable
transportation is its inevitable nature to limit the economic developments to certain degree. The
contrasting views among people who weigh environment preservation above human developments
and who believe more advanced technologies can be used to help solve some environmental
problems are making a more integrated approach to solve the issue challenging.
Major Parties Involved and Their Views
Canada (MEDC)
Canada is one of the countries that have been advocating sustainable development, updating its
Federal Sustainable Development Strategy every three years since Federal Sustainable
Development Act from 2008. Canadian government has been prioritizing the environmental
problems as federal level, striving for environmental goals and implementing different strategies
with 33 departments and agencies. Its dedication to resolve or at least to alleviate such damage
was reflected on its international partnerships on sustainable developments.
Like the case of
Canada, many MEDCs tend to be supportive of the establishing a more sustainable transportation
as many present post-modernism values that seek values that are more than just materialistic.
LEDCs
Some LEDCs seem to endorse more globalized plan to form a sustainable transportation
infrastructure, as its proponents believe they understand the need to use renewable resources and
energy-efficient fuels. Nevertheless, many member states weigh their economic developments
Research Report ◆ Page 2 of 4
Concordia International School Shanghai Model United Nations ◆ Seventh Annual Session
above environment preservation because most of their economic standards are still relatively lower
than those of MEDCs. Thus, LEDCs tend to be less engaged with the collected approach to
combat such issue.
Timeline of Relevant Resolutions, Treaties and Events
Date
Description of event
June 5, 1972
United Nations Conference on the Human Development
June 3, 1992
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
August 26, 2002
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
December 24, 2009
UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/64/236 calling for UNCSD
June 20, 2012
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg was primarily to
assess the sustainable development in the globe since 1992. In the meeting, each member state
came to consensus to have more integrated approach to deal with the issue regarding the issue at
hand. According to the topics discussed at the conference that included energy, human health, and
ecosystem management, different goals were set. Yet, the outcome of the summit was criticized as
its proposed goals lacked clarity and enforcement.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs organized the United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) to produce harmony regarding the
opposing economic and environmental views in the international community. The major
significance of the conference was reaffirming of the governments’ commitments to address this
issue rather than reaching to a notable achievement.
Possible Solutions
As the concept of sustainability is very vague and broad, a combination of diverse
strategies and cooperation among member states to tackle the issue is required rather than a
focus on a particular interest.
Often, some groups lose while others gain, even financially, as various interest groups have
opposing values regarding the issue of sustainable development. Thus, plans to reconcile these
groups and strategies to compensate the groups who lose are necessary.
Research Report ◆ Page 3 of 4
Concordia International School Shanghai Model United Nations ◆ Seventh Annual Session
Solutions according to each established object should be suggested, for instance,
increasing emission taxes and standards and advocating alternative fuels to diminish the effect of
climate change emissions and reducing the capacity for roads and cars to combat preserving
habitat issues.
Bibliography
"Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment - Main Page."
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment - Main Page. N.p., n.d.
Web. 14 Nov. 2015. <http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/dunche/dunche.html>.
"Global Carbon Atlas." Emissions. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.globalcarbonatlas.org/?q=en%2Femissions>.
Kelly, Ruth. "Towards Sustainable Consumption Patterns." (2000): n. pag. Secretary of State for
Transport, Oct. 2007. Web.
<https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228953/7226.pdf>.
Kubiszewski, I., & Cleveland, C. (2012). United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Retrieved from
<http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156773>.
Litman, Todd. "Issues in Sustainable Transportation." Int. J. Global Environmental Issues 6.4
(2014): 331-47. Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Web. <http://www.vtpi.org/sus_iss.pdf>.
Schiller, Preston L. An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation. London: Earthscan, n.d. N. pag.
Google Books. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.
<https://books.google.ca/books?id=QXRYG2BxzGAC&pg=PT301&lpg=PT301&dq=against+sustai
nable+transportation&source=bl&ots=NrgerAiu9&sig=9CVGwSjEIRukDSO9SLtC0V5Wbp8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwA2oVChMIquXp7M
uPyQIVCcFjCh0mZQ7A#v=onepage&q=against sustainable transportation&f=false>.
Sibley, A. (2007). World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Johannesburg, South
Africa. Retrieved from <http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/157161>.
"Sustainable Development." Government of Canada, Environment Canada. N.p., 2 July 2014.
Web. 14 Nov. 2015. <http://www.ec.gc.ca/dd-sd/>.
"United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20." Sustainable Development.
UNiversity of Oxford, n.d. Web. <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/rio20>.
Research Report ◆ Page 4 of 4