COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELEPMENT
Welcome to the 2009 Qatar University Model United Nations Conference (QUMUN) and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD).
The CSD was founded in 1992 under General Assembly Resolution 47/191 to ensure the implementation and follow-up of the agreements made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit). Over time, as the UN has focused considerable efforts on promoting sustainable development, the CSD has developed into a high-level forum that brings together governmental and nongovernmental actors to discuss and develop solutions to a broad spectrum of sustainable development issues. The most recent meeting of the CSD ended on May 16, 2008 and focused on the issues of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land, Drought, Desertification, and Africa. In response to the topics that were addressed
by the recent session of the CSD and considering this year’s SRMUN theme of “Promoting Partnerships for a Sustainable Future”, the topics that will be discussed by the CSD at the conference are as follows:
I: Poverty and Immigration and Sustainable Development Needs of the Middle East
II: The International Water for Life Decade (2005-2015): A Discussion of Water Resources and Management
III: Eco-Tourism and Sustainable Land Management Practices
The background guides that are available for the topics provide a good foundation for your research. Additionally, the links provided in the technical appendices provide further detailed information on different aspects of the topics and should be very useful in preparing for the conference. In order to ensure a high quality simulation, thorough preparation for each topic will be expected of every delegate and will assist in facilitating meaningful discussion at the conference. The background guides and technical appendices are a useful initial step in the research process, but delegates should conduct independent research and are encouraged to employ a variety of other sources in their conference preparations.
History of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was founded as a functional body of the Economic and Social Council in 1992 under General Assembly Resolution 47/191.1 The purpose of the CSD is to ensure follow-up of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED also referred to as the Earth Summit) by overseeing the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development that was formed at the conference.2 In pursuing this mandate, the CSD has functional authority for seeing that environmental and development issues are integrated into the UN system, valuating reports by Member States on the implementation of Agenda 21, and providing recommendations to the General Assembly relating to the implementation of Agenda 21.3 The CSD also provides guidance to multiple actors such as Member States, intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), UN bodies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on the Johannesburg Plan of implementation (JPOI), which describes the CSD as a high-level forum for sustainable development within the UN system.4
The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), which developed the definition of sustainable development that is widely used in the UN system, defines it as “…development that meets the needs of the presentwithout compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.5 Prior to the Earth Summit and the establishment of the CSD in 1992, sustainable development was considered in terms of environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources. While sustainable development is still viewed this way today, it now also focuses on Member States using resources to achieve economic stability and growth.6 In pursuing its mandate, the CSD was directed by the forty-seventh session of the General Assembly to actively cooperate with other UN bodies, NGOs and IGOs.7 The commission was also directed to interact closely with eight major groups that are directly affected by or can further sustainable development which includes youth, indigenous peoples, women, farmers, trade
unions, the private sector, the scientific community and local authorities.8 To accomplish this, the CSD has established an inclusive process that allows for widespread participation by various actors, as evidenced by the fact that NGOs can submit written reports on policy issues and openly addresses the commission. 9
The CSD is comprised of 53 Member States that serve three year terms and represent various geographic regions including Africa ( 13 members), Asia (11 members), Eastern Europe (6 members), Latin American and the Caribbean ( 10 members), and Western European and other States with 13 members.10 This allocation of membership makes the CSD unique in that it represents primarily developing Member States that are most affected by a lack of sustainable development, and best comprehend the unique requirements to achieve sustainable development. The members of the commission meet annually in New York, in two-year cycles, with each cycle focusing on specific thematic issues. While the complete realm of sustainable development topics addressed by the CSD range from biotechnology to sustainable tourism, the main thematic issues for the 2008/2009 cycle are:
Agriculture
Rural Development
Land
Drought
Desertification
Africa11
Current Member States of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development:
CAMEROON, CAPE VERDE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, DJIBOUTI, GAMBIA, GUINEA, SENEGAL, SOUTH AFRICA, SUDAN, TUNISIA, UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE, BAHARAIN, CHINA, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA, INDIA, INDONESIA, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, JAPAN, KUWAIT, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, SAUDI ARABIA, THAILAND, BELARUS, CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, POLAND, RUSSIAN FEDERATION, SERBIA, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, BELIZE, BOLIVIA, CHILE, COSTA RICA, CUBA, GUATEMALA, HAITI, MEXICO, PERU, AUSTRALIA, BELGIUM, CANADA, FRANCE, GERMANY, ISRAEL, ITALY, MONACO, NETHERLANDS, SPAIN, SWEDEN, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Topic I: Poverty, Immigration and Sustainable Development Needs of the Middle East
Introduction
The definition of sustainable development that is most often used by the United Nations was developed from the World Commission on the Environment and Development in 1987 and states that “Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.12 The overall goal of sustainable development is to improve living standards and promote long-term economic growth. However, this goal has so far been unobtainable in the Middle East.
Environmental Facts & Figures: An ecosystem is a natural system consisting of all plants, animals and microorganisms in an area functioning together with all the non-living physical factors of the environment. Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually engaged in a set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they exist. The human ecosystem concept is then grounded in the deconstruction of the human/nature dichotomy, and the emergent premise that all species are ecologically integrated with each other, as well as with the abiotic constituents of their biotope. Ecosystems can be bounded and discussed with tremendous variety of scope, and describe any situation where there is relationship between organisms and their environment. A system as small as a household or university, or as large as a nation state, may then be suitably discussed as a human ecosystem. While they may be bounded and individually discussed, (human) ecosystems do not exist independently, but interact in a complex web of human and ecological relationships connecting all (human) ecosystems to make up the biosphere. As virtually no surface of the earth today is free of human contact, all ecosystems can be more accurately considered as human ecosystems.
Earth
Environmental sustainability is defined as the ability of the environment to continue to function properly indefinitely. This involves meeting the present needs of humans without endangering the welfare of future generations. The goal of environmental sustainability is to minimize environmental degradation, and to halt and reverse the processes they lead to.
An “unsustainable situation” occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature’s resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires that human activity only uses nature’s resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. Theoretically, the long term result of environmental degradation would be local environments that are no longer able to sustain human populations to any degree. Such degradation on a global scale could imply extinction for humanity.
Water: The Middle East region has only 1% of the world’s available fresh water, which is shared among 5% of the world’s population. Thus, in this region, water is an important strategic resource. By 2025, it is predicted that the countries of the Arabian peninsula will be using more than double the amount of water naturally available to them. According to a report by the Arab League, two-thirds of Arab countries have less than 1,000 cubic meters (35,000 ft3) of water per person per year available, which is considered the limit.
Air pollution: Is a chemical, physical (e.g. particulate matter) or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere in an unwanted way. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution (chiefly from chlorofluorocarbons) has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the earth’s ecosystems.
Worldwide air pollution is responsible for large numbers of deaths and cases of respiratory disease. Enforced air quality standards, like the Clean Air Act in the United States, have reduced the presence of some pollutants. While major stationary sources are often identified with air pollution, the greatest source of emissions are actually mobile sources, principally the automobile. Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and fluorocarbons contribute to global warming, and these gases, or excess amounts of some of emitted from fossil fuel burning, have recently been identified by the Kyoto accord, as pollutants.
Solar Energy: Solar power is the flow of energy from the sun. The primary forms of solar energy are heat and light. The term solar power specifically describes technologies that convert sunlight into electricity or mechanical power.
Solar energy also broadly describes technologies that utilize sunlight. Modern solar technologies continue to harness the sun to provide
• Heat (hot water, building heat, cooking, process heat)
• Lighting (day lighting, hybrid lighting, daylight savings time)
• Electricity generation (photovoltaics, heat engines)
• Transportation (solar car, solar plane, solar boat)
• Desalination (Biomass wood, biofuel)
Thermal pollution: Thermal pollution is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence. The main cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant, especially in power plants. Water used as a coolant is returned to the natural environment at a higher temperature. Increases in water temperature can impact on aquatic organisms by (a) decreasing oxygen supply, (b) killing fish juveniles which are vulnerable to small increases in temperature, and (c) affecting ecosystem composition.
Global warming: refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes, “most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations” via the greenhouse effect. An increase in global temperatures is expected to cause other changes, including sea level rise, increased intensity of extreme weather events, and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. Other effects of global warming include changes in agricultural yields, glacier retreat, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors.
Sustainable Development – Overview
The concept of sustainable development implies, first, the integration of environmental issues with the imperatives of economic development in order to meet the immediate needs of populations today without undermining the aspirations of future generations. However, the definition of the term “sustainable development” has been expanded to include the ideas of fairness and interdependence, not only between generations, but between the countries and peoples of the Earth. Social, cultural, economic and natural environments, whose harmonious development is essential to the welfare of humanity and of nature, are also included in the concept.
Sustainable development can only be achieved in a long-term perspective. However, this cannot be done reactively, but rather through applying the principles of proactive and strategic planning and management. It is therefore essential to establish clear principles at all levels of participation and decision-making, together with clear objectives and measures that are part of a long-term approach and take into consideration the various countries' ability to act and to pay.
Green Buildings Introduction: The design, construction, and maintenance of buildings has a tremendous impact on our environment and our natural resources. The challenge will be to build them smart, so they use a minimum of non-renewable energy, produce a minimum of pollution, and cost a minimum of energy dollars, while increasing the comfort, health, and safety of the people who live and work in them.
Further, buildings are a major source of the pollution that causes urban air quality problems, and the pollutants that contribute to climate change. They account for 49 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 25 percent of nitrous oxide emissions, and 10 percent of particulate emissions, all of which damage urban air quality. Buildings produce 35 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions - the chief pollutant blamed for climate change.
Traditional building practices often overlook the interrelationships between a building, its components, its surroundings, and its occupants. “Typical” buildings consume more of our resources than necessary, negatively impact the environment, and generate a large amount of waste. A standard wood-framed home consumes over one acre of forest and the waste created during construction averages from 3 to 7 tons.” Often, these buildings are costly to operate in terms of energy and water consumption. And they can result in poor indoor air quality, which can lead to health problems.
Green building practices offer an opportunity to create environmentally-sound and resource-efficient buildings by using an integrated approach to design. Green buildings promote resource conservation, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation features; consider environmental impacts and waste minimization; create a healthy and comfortable environment; reduce operation and maintenance costs; and address issues such as historical preservation, access to public transportation and other community infrastructure systems. The entire life-cycle of the building and its components is considered, as well as the economic and environmental impact and performance. More and more designers, builders, and building owners are becoming interested and involved in green building. National and local programs encouraging green building are growing and reporting successes, while hundreds of demonstration projects and private buildings across the country provide tangible examples of what green building can accomplish in terms of comfort, aesthetics, and energy and resource efficiency.
POVERTY AND IMMIGRATION
A massive yet undefined geographic block, the Middle East as a region stretches from North Africa to Western Asia and has been a center of international affairs in multiple Ages, spanning multiple millennia. Despite the changing sociological, religious, political, and economic circumstances that have dominated history, the Middle East continues to be an integral and influential region in determining and influencing a wide range of domestic and international policies. Poverty and immigration have been at the forefront of these policies for much longer than one would assume. Historically, the Middle East has been a beacon of trade routes and basic human movement from the Trans-Saharan trade routes that linked Morocco and Timbuktu to the markets of the Mediterranean and the Silk Road, which reached across Asia. Religious pilgrimages brought, and still bring, millions of people each year to religious sites from an array of religious traditions to Mecca, Jerusalem, Medina, Bethlehem, and others. With this movement has come a huge amount economic divergence between rich and poor that has differentiated the high classes of different royal dynasties based regional location to the overarching caliphates and empires that dominated over time from the lower classes that made up the population of these kingdoms and empires.
Since the restructuring of the political map and the fall of colonialism, no region has continually had a more diverse economic, political, and even religious makeup than the Middle East. Economically, per capita Gross National Product (GDP) ranges from under $700 USD annually in Palestine to almost $30,000 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Politically, the map is riddled with different styles of government based in secularism and religiosity and ranging from kingdoms or emirates to dictatorships to democracies. Religiously, there is just as divergent a spectrum, with major religions being present throughout the region in a massive range or orthodoxy and practice. All of these conditions are continually melded and molded together as basic human contact is more accessible with advances in information technology and has resulted in the greater movement of people throughout the region.