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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 Bibliography Bailey, Tom. 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