Download Ensuring the promotion of sustained economic growth and

Issue:
Ensuring the promotion of sustained
economic
growth and sustainable development
Forum:
GA2 - Economic and Financial
Position:
Deputy Chair of GA2
Name:
Remco Holstege
Introduction
In the modern world, it is important for economies to grow within a nation. With economic
growth, a variety of benefits occur. Generally, we see the creation of more jobs and a rise in the
standard of living for the population of that economy. Economic growth creates great
opportunities for a nation as it allows them to earn more money. However, as economic growth
is extremely sought out for, many countries grow their economies in unsustainable ways.
When economies grow, the development of the human race can be ignored and forgotten. This
can lead to unsustainable development both socially and environmentally. We see that in an
attempt to grow, a lot of pollution is created which risks the health of the human race and the
planet as a whole. As economies grow more dependent on unsustainable resources to create
an economic boom, many economies cannot grow continuously and sustainably and create
significant problems for their future generations.
As seen in newly industrialized countries (NICs), such as China and India, economic growth
comes with environmental pollution. The benefits of an economic boom far outgrow the risks it
causes, especially in the development of the countries. Therefore, in 2015, the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) were implemented. The Sustainable Development Goals are 17
global goals the UN has implemented related to preventing the depletion of natural and
nonrenewable resources, creating a greener and sustained world, with few economic problems
in the foreseen future.
However, as the UN, it is our duty to ensure that all of the LEDCs as well as all economies of
the world grow their economies sustainably and also ensuring that their population develops
sustainabley, so that we can face less problems in the foreseeable future.
Definition of Key Terms
HDI
Human Development Index. A measurement of human development, which combines
development related factors such as life expectancy, education, and income per capita.
LEDCs
Less Economically Developed Countries. These are countries which focus more on primary
industry, such as agriculture. Appendix 3 shows the UN’s complete list of LDCs (Least
Developed Countries) as of May 2016.
MEDCs
More Economically Developed Countries. These are countries which are the opposite of
LEDCs. They focus more on tertiary (a service such as teaching) or quaternary (a knowledge
based job, such as finance) industry.
NICs
Newly Industrialised Countries. Countries which have recently undergone rapid economic
growth. Generally, these countries focus more on secondary industry, such as manufacturing,
however, tertiary industry is also common.
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals. These are goals implemented by the United Nations
Development Program, which aim to make the world a better place by having all UN members
complete a set of 17 goals related to sustainability.
Sustained
Continuing for an extended period or without interruption
General Overview
The issue is about ensuring that the economies of countries grow sustainably bearing in mind
the human population. It is normal for countries to want their economies to grow. A growing
economy increases the GDP of a country and generally creates more jobs. As a result of this
improvement, countries have sought out for a growth in their economy. However, it has been
consistently proven that while the economies of countries grow unsustainably, the human race
and the environment take a large toll. Therefore, it is our responsibility to promote sustained
economic growth as well as sustainable development. We need to promote the development of
the human race, bearing in mind its growing population, while growing economically sustained.
An example of this occurring in the past is England during the 19th century, while it was in the
process of industrializing. The capital city of London, as well as the rest of England has
experienced its fair share of both air and its rivers for well over a century. This pollution created
drawbacks in the population of England and stunned the social development of the nation. As a
matter of fact, at the end of the 19th century, respiratory related deaths were accountable for as
many deaths as all of the major infectious diseases combined, excluding its largest city,
London. Although the industrial revolution made Great Britain’s economy grow exponentially,
the non sustained economic growth resulted in unsustainable development which affected
Great Britain’s economy, even to this day. This shows that unsustainable economic growth can
have long term effects on the human population and the environment as a whole.
An example of an unsustained economic growth resulting in unsustainable development are oil
dependent economies. Economies such as Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Iraq and Kuwait where crude
oil makes up of around 80%-99% of their exports and where the production of oil accounts for
around 50% of their economic growth. This is unsustained growth as fossil fuels are
nonrenewable energy sources and will eventually run out. This unsustainable development in
their economy resulted in creating more problems for the future generations of those economies
and also resulted in more pollution and therefore unsustainable development as well.
A current example of unsustainable development is China. The economic boom of China in the
1990s has improved the standard of living and decreased the poverty rate drastically as millions
have been lifted out of poverty. However, this coal-fuelled economic boom has increased the
pollution drastically as its large urban hubs, such as Beijing, suffer of air pollution and China as
a whole suffers from soil pollution, water pollution, as well as air pollution. This has resulted in
major health concern as the development becomes unsustainable. Although they still suffer
from major pollution, they are currently aiming on growing their economy in ways to ensure that
it grows sustainably and aims on minimizing their effects on their development. However, their
economic boom was heavily reliant on coal, a nonrenewable natural resource. As coal becomes
more scarce, their economy is vulnerable to unsustainable growth.
So far, most economies in the developed world have grown unsustainably while they were in
the process of industrializing. As a result, the Earth is susceptible to climate change as many
economies are oil dependent. These oil dependent economies cannot continue to grow
sustainably if we continue to use oil in everyday life and rely on them for economic growth. With
the scarcity of these resources increasing rapidly, we must make sure to grow less dependent
on them in order to continue to grow economically. Along with the fluctuating oil prices,
sustainable growth cannot be ensured.
When the economy grows, child mortality tends to decrease, causing a population explosion, as
many children are born, yet few die. What this does is increase the population rapidly. We can
see that the population is rising rapidly in the world as the economy grows worldwide and the
standard of living increases. However, with this growing population, ensuring development
becomes far more difficult. With climate change making it difficult to grow food for such a large
population, a stunt in development can be seen as more people could enter poverty. It can be
seen that in general, a large population could stunt economic growth as more natural resources
are consumed and people are more prone to starvation and poverty, it is possible that a rapid
growth in population could make development far more difficult for the world.
It is clear to see that many obstacles remain in achieving both sustainable economic growth and
development, for all nations, especially in an ever changing world. However, it is possible if all
member states work together and promote ideas to do so together.
Major Parties Involved
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
The United Nations Development Programme is a global development network which aims to
help develop the world. It does this by providing aid to LEDCs and by connecting developing
countries together. The UNDP focuses on sustainable development, democratic governance,
and peace building, and climate and disaster reliance. This makes their involvement to this
issue extremely relevant.
Group of 77
The Group of 77 (abbreviated as G77) is a coalition of developing nations in order for them to
grow economically together. It allows for countries to work together and promote economic
interests for each other creating stronger bonds between them allowing them to develop
together.
BRICS
BRICS refers to the 5 largest developing or newly industrialised countries in the world Brazil,
Russia, India, China, and South Africa. These countries have undergone rapid economic growth
throughout the past decades and all 5 are in the top 25 countries when counted in population
size. As they have recently industrialised, they see a lot of pollution occurring, mainly in urban
areas. Most of these countries are working towards undoing the negative effects
industrialisation has imposed on them.
China has recently undergone a process in order to undo the pollution they have caused. China
has the largest economy of the BRICS and as a result has large amounts of pollution and
scenarios of unsustainable development, however, they are currently working towards fixing
this.
Timeline of Key Events
1760
June 15th 1964
November 22nd 1965
September 2000
January 1st 2015
January 1st 2016
January 2016
England sparks the Industrial revolution, forever changing the
world and environment, while experiencing an economic boom
The Group of 77 (G77) is created in order to boost economic ties
between all developing nations.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was
created.
The Millennium Development Goals are implemented, one goal
aiming for environmental sustainability
The Millennium Development Goals target date ends, proving to
be extremely successful
The Sustainable Development Goals officially came into force
Venezuela enters an economic crisis due to the falling oil prices
Previous attempts to resolve the issue
One of the first attempts to create sustainable development is in the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). The MDGs were the first set of goals implemented by the UN. These were time
bound targets in ensuring that development would happen quickly throughout the entire world.
This included, poverty, education, gender equality, child mortality, maternal health, combating
diseases, environmental sustainability, and developing global partnerships. The target deadline
for these goals was 2015. This attempt was tremendously successful as 50% of people were
lifted out of poverty worldwide and 91% of children enroll in schools, along with far more
achievements, it is clear to see that the MDGs helped develop the world greatly.
Following the implementation and success of the Millennium Development Goals, the United
Nations has created a new set of goals named the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
These goals were aimed to make the world more sustainable through 17 universal goals which
UN member states must complete by 2030. However, contrarily to the Millennium Development
Goals, which focused more on the government’s agenda on a various topic of issues, the
Sustainable Development Goals focus more on sustainability and making sure that we can
transform our world into a more sustainable place. Some specific Sustainable Development
goals related to this issue are SDG 3 (Ensuring healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all
ages), SDG 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all),
SDG 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), and
mainly SDG 8 (Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all).
Another successful attempt to solve the issue is the creation of the UNDP. When the United
Nations Development Programme was created in order to combat poverty on a global scale and
develop each UN member state socially. For over 50 years, the UNDP has pushed for the
creation of both the MDGs and SDGs. The UNDP creates annual Human Development Reports
to document the increasing development worldwide and also develops on a local level, helping
villages in need.
Possible Solutions
Seeing that economies dependending on nonrenewable resources are a major cause of both
unsustainable development and economic growth, it would be beneficial to minimize this by
informing member states about the risks of unsustainable development and economic growth
and promote the solution to do so, such as diversifying the economy. We can inform the world
population and UN member states through hosting a conference every few years about
development and economic growth. This conference could show UN member states how to
promote well and efficiently, allowing the member states to promote easily. In this conference,
member states can share ideas on how they manage to promote sustainable development and
how it has benefitted them in order to encourage more UN member states to do so.
Appendix/Appendices
-
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
https://www.undp.org/
http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/cdp/ldc/ldc_list.pdf
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