RIO FINAL

Welcome Letter From the Conference on Sustainable Development Dear delegates, On behalf of staff in the Conference on Sustainable Development Rio + 20, I am honored and privileged to welcome you to the 2012 NPU Model United Nations Conference. The conference will offer you the opportunity to articulate your assigned country view on contemporary issues of global importance. This year’s topic under discussion for the Conference on Sustainable Development is Institutional Framework of Sustainable Development. Exploring the issue will demand diplomacy, patience, perseverance and your English skill. We challenge you to develop innovative solutions while respecting the cultural, historical and political traditions of the country you represent. As you participate in the 2012 NPU Model United Nations Conference, you will get a full taste of the complexity of international relations. You will gain a better understanding of the intricacies of negotiation, the challenges, and the patience required to win diplomatic progress. Directing the CSustD is Li Lizhe , graduate student in NWPU, major is automation. He has attended MUN for four years, including NMUN experience in New York, with enough experience in the aspect of economy and global development. This background guide will give you an overview of the topics under consideration. However, delegates should note that this background guide is only an introduction to the topics and should be used as a reference point and guide towards further research. Please take note that any plagiarism is unacceptable in this conference. As a team, we could not be more excited for the conference to begin. As our delegates, you should not hesitate to contact your dais whenever you have any trouble. We are more than happy to answer any questions you may have, and wish you an exciting and productive conference. Sincerely yours, Li Lizhe Yu Lu Director Chair Li You Wei Yakun Chair Chair Committee Email: npumun2012_rio20@163.com Message from the Director-General Regarding Position Papers for the 2012 NPUMUN Conference At the 2012 NPUMUN Conference, each delegation submits one position paper for each committee it is assigned to. Delegates should be aware that their role in each committee impacts the way a position paper should be written. Position papers should provide a concise review of each delegation’s policy regarding the topic areas under discussion and establish precise policies and recommendations in regard to the topics before the committee. International and regional conventions, treaties, declarations, resolutions, and programs of action of relevance to the policy of your State should be identified and addressed. Making recommendations for action by your committee should also be considered. Position papers also serve as a blueprint for individual delegates to remember their country’s position throughout the course of the Conference. Please be forewarned, delegates must turn in material that is entirely original. The NPUMUN Conference will not tolerate the occurrence of plagiarism. In this regard, the NPUMUN Secretariat would like to take this opportunity to remind delegates that although United Nations documentation is considered within the public domain, the Conference does not allow the verbatim re-creation of these documents. Violation of this policy will be immediately reported to faculty advisors and may result in dismissal from Conference participation. Delegates should report any incident of plagiarism to the Secretariat as soon as possible. Delegation’s position papers can be awarded as recognition of outstanding pre-Conference preparation. In order to be considered for a Position Paper Award, however, delegations must have met the formal requirements listed below. Please refer to the sample paper on the following page for a visual example of what your work should look like at its completion. The following format specifications are required for all papers: • All papers must be typed and formatted according to the example in the Background Guides • Length must not exceed one single spaced page • Font must be Times New Roman sized between 10 pt. and 12 pt. • Margins must be set at 1 inch for whole paper • Country name, School name and committee name clearly labeled on the first page; the use of national symbols is highly discouraged • Committee topic should be clearly labled To be considered timely for awards, please read and follow these directions: A file of the position paper (.doc or .pdf) for each assigned committee should be sent to the committee email address listed in the Background Guide. Each of the above listed tasks needs to be completed no later than May 1st, 2012 for Delegations attending the 2012 NPUMUN Conference. PLEASE TITLE EACH E-MAIL/DOCUMENT WITH THE NAME OF THE COMMITTEE, ASSIGNMENT AND DELEGATION NAME (Example: GAP_Namibia_School of Aviation) A matrix of received papers will be posted online for delegations to check prior to the Conference. If you need to make other arrangements for submission, please contact Chen Xi, Director-General, at bjtomchenxi@163.com. Once the formal requirements outlined above are met, Conference staff use the following criteria to evaluate Position Papers: • Overall quality of writing, proper style, grammar, etc. • Citation of relevant resolutions/documents • General consistency with bloc/geopolitical constraints • Consistency with the constraints of the United Nations • Analysis of issues, rather than reiteration of the Committee Background Guide • Outline of (official) policy aims within the committee’s mandate Should you have any questions please feel free to contact the Conference staff. Sincerely yours, Chen Xi Director-General Sample Position Paper Delegation from Represented by Republic of Lithuania School of Computer (1) Position Paper for North Atlantic Treaty Organization The topic before the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is Reassessing NATO’s Role in State Building. Lithuania is looking forward to working with other Members of the Alliance to advance the necessary discussions on this issue. The State Building process in Afghanistan has shown the Alliance that we are faced with new challenges while our responsibilities remain. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of nations participating in International Security Assistant Forces (ISAF) have reaffirmed that the future of Afghanistan and the stability of the region are directly linked to the security of NATO and the wider international community. Bearing the effect of Afghanistan’s future on global security in mind, Lithuania shares the statement with other allies that helping the Afghanistan government to build lasting security and stability remains the Alliance’s key priority. As a responsive country and a loyal member of NATO, Lithuania always takes active part in NATO-led forces including KFOR and ISAF. There is no doubt that the Alliance’s operations have profound effect on the protection of human rights and the reconstruction of responsive governmental institutions. However, we recognize that what we do there is at the expense of what we could elsewhere. Lithuania believes it is necessary to manage our allied powers properly. Therefore, the priority of our State Building mission in the beginning should be the improving and maintain of security and the protection of basic human rights which are fundamental to the reconstruction of national authorities. And, necessary assistance to national forces including capacity building will be adequate when the security is ensured. Lithuania welcomes the recent transition of some of the responsibilities to Afghan government. We are also fu lly convinced that a smarter presence of NATO’s military forces in conflict zones is vital to the State Building process which means we should put more emphasis on civilian assistance including humanitarian relief and assistance, capacity building, counter-narcotic programs and infrastructure projects. Lithuania will continue to support the transformation of NATO’s strategic role to cope with new challenges together with other member states. Committee History Introduction The goal of sustainable development is to allow all states to provide for its citizens while allowing for future generations to benefit from industrial gains, and the continued responsible use of natural and limited resources.1 As the population grows, there is a need to find a balance between developed nations to continue to meet the needs of its populous and developing nations to create systems in which their basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and jobs are met.2 Evolution of the Conference on Sustainable Development In 1972, the Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm was held to discuss the negative impact growing populations might be having on the environment and possible harm it could have on the population in the future. Building on the Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, the United Nations sponsored a report by the Brundtland Commission that was published in 1987 entitled Our Common Future. It was one of the first reports to address the necessity for sustained development and its link to poverty around the world.3 Not only was there the need to address the population’s impact on the environment, but how poverty could be directly linked to the necessity of better sustainable practices. This report also cemented the term Sustainable Development and defined it as, development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.4 In the years 1980s, the increased incidents of natural disasters, including the nuclear meltdown in Chernobyl, Ukraine; a poisonous gas leak at a chemical plant in Bhopal, India; and the BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast, brought for the increased worry about fear of decreasing natural resources as well as the increased chemical pollutants.5 A new focus was put on the pollutants contaminating the natural environment as well as the harm these pollutants were causing the populations especially in developing nations where proper waste disposal criteria were lackluster or non- existent.6 With all the progress and findings made over the past two decades, this enlarged interest in sustainable development became greatly visible on the world stage with the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro7. It was the largest conference dealing with the topic of sustainable development at that point. It brought together official heads of state and senior officials from over 165 governments. The impact of growth and development lead to major changes in the environment affecting every ecosystem on the planet. The Conference on Environment and Development established a new framework for dealing with the current and future issues surrounding sustainable development. The conference established Agenda 21, a document outlining how to address issues such as the conservation of resources to implement the frameworks established by the conference.8 The goal was to set in place a set of global standards in preparing states in dealing with growing pollution, populations, and economic growth as the world became more interconnected.9 The conference allowed for conversation on how to best combat issues that vary from region to region, how developed nations can better deal with its carbon footprint, and how developing nations could deal with its growing infrastructure and population growth while instituting sustainable practices into its everyday planning.10 From this declaration, the Commission on Sustainable Development was created to oversee continued progress and for nations to have a central place to gather 1 Stivers, The Sustainable Society: Ethics and Economic Growth. 1976. 2 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, Chapter 2, 1987. 3 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Joint Declaration of the 77 Developing Countries. 1964. 4 Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, Chapter 2, 1987. 5 Pezzey, Economic Analysis of Sustainable Growth and Sustainable Development, 1989. 6 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Joint Declaration of the 77 Developing Countries, 1964. 7 The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, 1987, Chapter 2 8 Beddoea, Overcoming systemic roadblocks to sustainability: The evolutionary redesign of worldviews, institutions, and technologies, 2009 9 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Biodiversity Synthesis. 2005, p. 1-85. 10 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Our Common Future, 1987 p. 43. with ideas and get answer to questions as they move forward. Furthermore, the conference in Rio established frameworks for climate change, biodiversity and forest preservation.11 Climate Change and Globalization In 2002, the UN held the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. Its main goal was to revisit the goals talk about at the Rio Summit in 1992. The conference discussed what it considered to be new and more visible challenges to Sustainable Development, including globalization and poverty eradication.12 Since the Rio Summit, the increased interconnection of states and their economies has made sustainable development issues more important.13 Technology has made information accessible to every corner of the planet. As the world opens up and populations continue to grow, how to best deal with 21st century issues, such as technological waste and further incorporating the Millennium Development Goals, become more and more prevalent.14 The Monterrey conference on Finance for Development in Monterrey, Mexico was held in 2002.15 It was held specifically to discuss the means to finance the programs and goal established at the Rio Summit. It included talks with representatives from the Economic and Social Council, the directors of the executive boards of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization.16 The intentions of the conference were to establish a dialogue between states, and these organizations on how to fund the goals from the Rio Summit, including how to help developing states in their growing needs.17 According to the Report on the World Social Situation, “The 2010 issue of the Report on the World Social Situation seeks to contribute to rethinking poverty and its eradication. It affirms the urgent need for a strategic shift away from the market fundamentalist thinking, policies and practices of recent decades towards more sustainable development- and equity-oriented policies appropriate to national conditions and circumstances. Such national development strategies, as called for by the 2005 World Summit, should seek to achieve the development goals. Responsible development and counter-cyclical macroeconomic policies to foster productive investments and generate decent employment must be at the core of this effort.”18 2012 Rio +20 Twenty years after the original Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the UN is holding the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (or Rio +20) in June of 2012.19. The goal of the conference is to reestablish and continue the commitment of states to address the issues connected to sustainable development and new issues states will face in the future.20 Along with the outlined objectives, the Rio +20 conference has put these concerns into two main themes that the members of the conference can focus on: 1) The institutional framework for sustainable development, and 2) A green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. 11 Report of the Ad Hoc Expert Meeting, The Green Economy: Trade and Sustainable Development Implications, 2010 12 United Nations, Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. 2008. 13 Baksh, The Quest for Sustainability: Challenges for Process Systems Engineering, American Institute Of Chemical Engineers, 2003 14 World Trade Organization, DOHA WTO: Ministerial Declaration, 2001, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1 15 United Nations, Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. 2008. 16 : World Resources Institute, World Resources 2010–2011: Decision Making in a Changing Climate—Adaptation Challenges and Choices, 2011 17 UNESCO, Building Human Capacities in Least Developed Countries to Promote Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development. 2011. 18 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Rethinking Poverty: Report on the World Social Situation, 2010, p. 4. 19 Report of the Ad Hoc Expert Meeting, The Green Economy: Trade and Sustainable Development Implications, 2010. 20 United Nations Environment Programme and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (UNEP/ISD), Environment and Trade: A Handbook, 2000. The topic of institutional framework is to create a dialogue on how to create better regional systems on how to best deal with economic development as well as a commitment to make these strides while being responsible for the imprint it makes on the environment.21 The hope of promoting green economic policies is to establish how to use the natural resources available to help promote growth among even the poorest of nations.22 Economies with sustainable practices built in instead of having to go back and implement them in existing systems are important for the environment and continued commitment to poverty eradication.23 Conclusion With the necessity of increased conservation and reduction of poverty and economic downturn, the environment and poverty have been moved to the forefront of sustainable development issues. The opening of the 21st century brings increased reduction of resources, pollution, and rising poverty rates.24 Sustainable development is integral to the promotion of economic and social growth. Every corner of the globe faces its own unique problems when it comes to how to best use its resources while managing to provide for the future.25 Annotated Bibliography Committee History International Institute for Sustainable Development (2005) Environment and trade: A handbook. Retrieved September 21, 2011 from: http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2005/envirotrade_handbook_2005.pdf Economic growth and industrial business can have an adverse reaction on the environment. In this handbook it outlines how harmful trade practices can lead to environmental problems now and in the future. It discusses various industries and their possible effects. In dealing with mineral trade, no checks and balances may be in place leading to a business to be able to extradite an infinite number of resources from a site, leaving a deplete landscape and industrial waste that can further harm the surrounding environment. The goal is to help understand the role of responsible trade rules in dealing with the natural environment. N.A. (n.d)