United Nations Development Program

Dear Delegates,

As the chair of the UNDP committee, I would like to welcome you to SMAMUN.

I am a sophomore at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and,

 am majoring in Computer Science. During the time I have spent at LUMS, 

I have been closely affiliated with LUMUN and was part of the team that won the 'Best Delegation' award at the WorldMUN in Beijing, 

China this year. I am also the Head of the Host team for LUMUN '06 and hold the 'Marketing' portfolio in the LUMUN executive council. 

I have a keen interest in history and international relations (dont worry, I won't bore you to death with boring facts during the committee sessions!).

I look forward to meeting you all at SMAMUN. If you have any questions/comments,

please feel free to contact me through email/MSN at [email protected] .

Have a nice time preparing!

UNDP Topic 1

The Use of Nuclear Energy as a Means to Achieving Sustainable Development


INTRODUCTION

The UNDP is committed to ensuring that energy is not neglected in the development program. According to the Website:

Energy is central to sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts. It affects all aspects of development -- social, economic, and environmental -- including livelihoods, access to water, agricultural productivity, health, population levels, education, and gender-related issues. None of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be met without major improvement in the quality and quantity of energy services in developing countries. UNDP's efforts in energy for sustainable development support the achievement of the MDGs, especially MDG 1, reducing by half the proportion of people living in poverty by 2015. Through an integrated development approach, UNDP works to help create enabling policy frameworks, develop local capacity and provide knowledge-based advisory services for expanding access to energy services for the poor. (http://www.undp.org/energy/)

The international public has serious concerns about the use of nuclear power as a method to achieve sustainable development, which needs to be honestly addressed and analyzed. Because of these concerns, opening up the nuclear option in this regards is often controversial:

Although there is an awareness on both the technical and political levels of the advantages of nuclear power, it is not a globally favoured option in a sustainable energy future. A sizeable sector of public opinion remains hesitant or opposed to its increased use, some even to a continuation at present levels. With various groups calling for a role for nuclear power, there is a need openly and objectively to discuss the concerns that limit its acceptance: the perceived health effects, the consequences of severe accidents, the disposal of high level waste and nuclear proliferation, ... and also the distinct advantages of nuclear power. (Sustainable Development and Nuclear Power).

Furthermore, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency poll, 62% of individuals internationally do not want more nuclear power plants to be built, but 59% said that they are fine with the ones that are already built to be operated. Focusing on nuclear energy will ensure that the potential of nuclear power is not wasted simply for political reasons. Currently, nuclear energy contributes to 6.9% of the total world energy consumption:

HISTORY/CURRENT STATUS

After nuclear disasters like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and due to general fears of the potential for Nuclear Weapons (North Korea and...), the world is hesitant to use nuclear energy. Certain health effects can come about because of nuclear energy. Actual radioactive energy from disasters like Chernobyl can cause death quickly, and small amounts can cause cancers that will lead to premature death. However, “[t]here has been no credible documentation of health effects associated with routine operation of commercial nuclear facilities anywhere in the world” (qtd Sustainable Dev...). Furthermore, health effects of air pollution are well-documented (Sus. Dev. ...). It is safe to say that the UNDP is concentrating its efforts in the renewable sector. Every part of the United Nations’ Development Goals require energy; energy is essential to the increase of the Human Development Index:

An obvious relationship exists between the HDI and the energy usage, with decreasing returns to the index as per-capita energy usage increases. This means, for countries that already have a high HDI, increasing the amount of energy that they use would not increase their HDI substantially (4). In many developing countries, inhabitants use low-energy fuels such as animal waste and other forms of biomass (such as wood) to get through many of the daunting chores that face them. These fuels require tons of work to use, and are grossly inefficient at producing energy. Women are most affected by these practices because they have to do many of these chores because of the culture of these societies: (3)

A few assessments of the current system have been made, and are available through (4) and the 500-page World Energy Assessment. One of the biggest conferences in relation to energy and sustainable development was the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August-September 2002. Agreement on energy policy at this summit was not agreed to until the last day. Major sticking points included a definition of renewable energy. The summit did agree that nations should contribute more money to the energy problem (4). Some funds do exist already, such as the Thematic Trust Fund on Energy for Sustainable Development. Information on this fund is available at (1). The problem of sustainable development troubles not just developing nations, however. Even nations that currently have nuclear power, and would not have such a hard time implementing reform are affected. One example of the way that sustainable energy affects first-world nations is overuse of energy. For instance, the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology suggests that Europe can reduce its energy use by one-third by the mid-21st century (4).

AT THE CONFERENCE

Should nuclear power be integrated into the development plan? Certain advantages of nuclear power exist, but are these too risky for the often-corrupt governments in the third world to overcome? Going further, should the development program do the exact opposite -- discourage the use of nuclear power in the third world? Is there good news for nuclear energy to be integrated into the development of the first world? Can the UN open up the nuclear topic without erupting into disarray? Can partnerships with the IAEA be made to avoid problems? The real question is whether or not nuclear energy is sustainable (“Nuclear Energy Sustainable?”).

BLOC POSITIONS

The complex issue of nuclear energy is summed up by the “Nuclear Energy Sustainable?” report from Myrthe Verweij. This report outlines a meeting:

After having discussed the issues of access to electricity (2 billion people still have to do without), energy efficiency, renewable energy, and (advanced) fossil fuel technologies, the Energy Expert group came to the item on nuclear energy. During the first round of discussion on this issue, Saudi Arabia suggested the inclusion of a recommendation that 'countries are encouraged to phase out the use of nuclear energy due to the well- recognised concerns over its health effects, safety, and environmental waste management which all amount to its unsustainability.' (Needless to say, the country refrained from such considerations when fossil fuels were discussed.)

Poland suggested insertion of a recommendation to phase out and replace nuclear power with 'advanced fuel' technologies, renewable sources and new energy sources. Colombia, Barbados and Guyana called for an end to transboundary shipments of radioactive waste along the coasts of non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. Barbados further argued that nuclear power should not be considered appropriate or acceptable for use in Small Island Developing States.

The EU countries, which had chosen not to make individual national statements and were represented by current EU chair Sweden, had to deal with largely differing views amongst themselves on the question of whether or not nuclear energy can be considered sustainable, with Denmark, Ireland and Austria arguing most fervently against nuclear power, and France and the UK, joined by Finland, in favour of it. The result was a woolly statement by Sweden indicating that nuclear energy was a sensitive issue, and that improvements should be made regarding cost- effectiveness, safety, proliferation and the environment. The EU also suggested that independent national regulatory authorities be established.

The Group of 77 (G-77) developing countries, represented by Iran, stated how, despite its 'obsession with safety', it feels nuclear energy is an important technology to the G-77. Like most other countries, it suggested that efforts be made to improve safety, waste management and public participation. The Russian Federation, Canada, Japan and the US all stated that safety is of course important, and that nuclear energy does have disadvantages, but that it should be retained as an energy option. Russia suggested intensified research and development, which should lead to 'proliferation-resistant and safe reactors'.

The US suggested that where in the draft text the IAEA was mentioned in relation to proliferation safeguards and promotion of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) be added.

India asserted that the NPT has no relation to nuclear energy and, together with Egypt and China, argued that concerns about proliferation should be discussed elsewhere, i.e., not in the framework of the IGEESD or CSD [Commisson for Sustainable Development]. Sri Lanka argued that states currently using nuclear power should not be encouraged to abandon it. Instead, safety should be increased.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Numerical Citations:1: McDade, Susan, Mgr. “Thematic Trust Fund on Energy for Sustainable Development.” Thematic Trust Fund on Energy for Sustainable Development. Jun 2005. United Nations Development Programme. 1 Jan 2006 http://www.undp.org/energy/docs2/TTF- Rep2004.pdf.2:

“Scaling up Modern Energy Services in East Africa.” Jul 2005. United Nations Development Programme and 1 Jan 2006. http://www.undp.org/energy/docs2/Scal2_up_Modern_Energy_Services _E_Africa.pdf.3:

McDade, Susan, Mgr. “Energizing the Millenium Development Goals.” United Nations Development Programme. 2005. The UN. 1 Jan 2006 http://www.undp.org/energy/docs2/ENRG-MDG_Guide_all.pdf.4:

“World Energy Assessment.” The United Nations Development Programme, The United Nations Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs, and the World Energy Council. 2004. The UN. 1 Jan 2006 http://www.undp.org/energy/docs/WEAOU_full.pdf.

Other Citations:“Energy for Sustainable Development.” United Nations Development Programme. The UN. 1 Jan 2006 http://www.undp.org/energy/.

“North Korea and Weapons of Mass Destruction.” English Wikipedia. 21 Dec 2005. English Wikipedia. 1 Jan 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea%27s_nuclear_program.

“Public Support for New Nuclear Power Plants Low, According to UN- backed Poll.” UN News Centre. 14 Dec 2005. The UN. 1 Jan 2006 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16926&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=.

“Sustainable Development and Nuclear Power.” International Atomic Energy Agency. The UN. 1 Jan 2006 http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/Development/index.html.

Verweij, Myrthe. “Nuclear Energy Sustainable?” WISE Amsterdam. Mar/Apr 2001. Third World Resurgence. 1 Jan 2006 http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/index.html?http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/csd/twr.html.

UNDP Topic 2

Measures to Help Achieve the Millennium Development Goals


INTRODUCTION

The fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly produced a 9-page document, A/RES/55/2, titled the United Nations Millennium Declaration on 18 Sept 2000. This document attempted to define some goals that the United Nations continue to work on this day. This document wanted to solidify the United Nations’ commitment to the Charter (see I/3) and to bind the nations to, “recognize... [the] collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level” (qtd General Assembly). It outlined eight specific goals, which the General Assembly hoped to accomplish by 2015 (“The UN Millennium...”). They are to (copied directly from “The UN Millennium...”):

1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger a) Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day. b) Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
2. Achieve Universal Primary Education a) Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling.
3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women a) Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferaably (sic) by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
4. Reduce Child Mortality a) Reduce by two thirds (sic) the mortality rate among children under five.
5. Improve Maternal Health a) Reduce by three quarters (sic) the maternal mortality ratio.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases a) Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. b) Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability a) Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes (sic); reverse loss of environmental resources. b) Reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water. c) Achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, by 2020.
8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development
a) Develop further on open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non- discriminatory, includes a good commitment to governance, development and poverty reduction -- nationally and internationally.
b) Address the least developed countries’ special needs. This includes tariff- and quota-free access for their exports; enhanced debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction. Some of the targets listed above attempt to define somewhat abstract phenomenon into a well-defined data set. These methods are available at http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/mdglist.pdf, and the Human Development Reports website contains data on each individual country’s progress (see http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/countries.cfm).

HISTORY/CURRENT STATUS

The role of the United Nations Development Group in this effort is to make sure that the MDG’s are in the focus of every committee within the United Nations. The MDG’s have progressed, but the progress has been too, “uneven and too slow.” The UNDP monitors the activities of the MDG’s on the request of Kofi Annan to its administrator Mark Malloch. The UNDP, according to the MDG Factsheet, has four goals, “Practical assistance in support of country priorities, country-level monitoring, global monitoring, research leader, and advocate.” These emphasize coalition building and policy studying (MDGs-Factsheet). The developing world faces huge obstacles to each goal. As outlined in the Millennium Development Goals Report, 2005, each goal faces a particular problem (from MDG Report, 2005):

Goal 1) Asia is experiencing a growth miracle, and the amount of poverty is dramatically declining in this region. The amount of people living off of $1 a day dropped by a quarter of a million people. It should be noted, however, that the desperately poor in sub-Saharan Africa are actually getting poorer. Hunger is also lowering world-wide, but not in Africa.

Goal 2) the fight for primary education continues to starve children of their talents, especially in Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The problem is threefold. First, obvious logistical/financial/political barriers exist. Second of all, young women are not being educated. Women are less likely to stay in school in these regions, and well-educated women serve society and their children better. Third of all, AIDS has a huge toll on the teachers inside the classroom.

Goal 3) the education barrier remains to squash women’s opportunities. But political power for women is also squashing it. Good news, however, on the later: many nations, including Rwanda, Burundi, Eritrea, Mozambique, Nambia, South Africa, Uganda, 17 Latin American countries, Djibouti, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia have had positive developments. See the report for details. Some nations are installing affirmative action requiring that a certain percentage of parliamentary members are women.

Goal 4) the main cause of child mortality is malnutrition. The report takes into account the fact that solving this problem would involve simple, low-cost solutions.

Goal 5) 500,000 women die in labor every year. The report emphasizes contraceptive services, family planning programs, and access to health professionals during pregnancy, and OB care.

Goal 6) The UN is striving to reduce the spread of AIDS and Malaria. The UN is emphasizing artemisinin-based combination therapy for its fight against malaria, and more mosquito nets are being sold in Africa. Huge progress is being made in treating AIDS patients with antiretroviral therapy, but the near 0.7 million in developing nations receiving such care in late 2004 is upset by the huge amount of people suffering from AIDS. Although the UN does have jurisdiction to help with AIDS, but even more promising news came from the World Trade Organization, which worked on loosening drug patent laws for developing nations. Critics say that this measure still keeps in place bureaucratic hurdles, and does little to promote efficiency of scale (noticias.info). The UN is also trying to increase knowledge of AIDS prevention.

Goal 7) The UN is trying also to reduce our use of nature’s resources. Developed nations use quite a few, but developing nations have their own problems, too. Much of the environmental use by humans is related to the environment in which they live; for instance, deforestation is more of a problem in South America than in Northern Africa. Goal 7 covers everything from CFC usage to urban development problems. Slums continue to be a huge problem in the developing world, while energy efficiency is something the entire world can work on.

Goal 8) Development continues to be a goal of the UN. “Today’s is the first generation with the resources and technology to make the right to development a reality for everyone...,” states the report. Huge obstacles continue to be lack of aid to poorer countries, and barriers to trade in developing economies. Furthermore, agricultural subsidies, tariffs, and other trade barriers continue to haunt the agricultural sector of the economy in poorer nations, and it is in these nations that the economy is largely agriculturally based. Current WTO talks seem to be dealing with this issue, but no end is in sight. Interestingly, the report also mentions youth employment (ages 15-24), which it states helps keeps kids off the street.

AT THE CONFERENCE

Representatives should be familiar with what the UN is doing, and what, if anything, the UN has accomplished to combat the issues presented in the Millennium Declaration. What can the UN do, and what are its jurisdictions? The UNDP is in charge of organizing the effort. How can the UNDP improve the effectiveness of these promises that the UN has made to the world?

BLOC POSITIONS

Because the MDGs are a huge part of what the UN is doing, research should be relatively easy on this topic. The EU’s position on the Millennium Development Goals is available through the EU’s website as PDFs, Europe Cares: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/ communications/communications_en.htm. Canada’s position is available here: http://www.ccic.ca/e/docs/002_aid_2004_commentary_federal_budget.pdf.
John Bolton sent a letter about how the US feels about the Millennium Development Goals, and it is available at http://www.un.int/usa/reform-un-jrb-ltr-mdgs-8-26-05.pdf.
The Economic Commission for Africa has published a report that African nations should take a look at, and it is available at http://www.uneca.org/mdgs/MDGs_in_Africa.pdf.
Eastern Europe and Russia should focus on how the world economy is affecting their nation, and also helping out poorer nations. Those in the EU or heavily influenced by the EU should consult the EU documentation. Southeast Asia is now beginning to be influenced by the AIDS epidemic, but is also experiencing huge growth rates in the economy, so a larger emphasis for Southeast Asia and China (excluding developed nations) should be continuing growth, reducing slums, and fighting AIDS. Japan’s position is available here: http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/mdg/pamph2015.pdf.
South America should be concerned about the environment and improving the general welfare of the people. Within South America, corrupt regimes should be concerned about possible infringements on their sovereignty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

General Assembly, the. A/RES/55/2 the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The General Assembly. 18 Sept 2000. The United Nations. 30 Dec 2005 http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.pdf.

“Human Development Reports.” United Nations Development Programme. 2005. The United Nations. 30 Dec 2005 http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/countries.cfm.
“MDGs-Factsheet.” Dept. of Public Information. Oct 2002. The United Nations. 30 Dec 2005 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/MDGs-FACTSHEET1.pdf.

noticias.info Staff Reporter. “WTO Approves Generic Drug Measure for Poor Countries.” Economics Section. 12 Sept 2005. noticias.info. 30 Dec 2005 http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=125981&src=0.

The Millennium Development Goals Report 2005. 2005. UN Dept. of Public Information. 30 Dec 2005. The United Nations http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/MDG%20Book.pdf.

“The UN Millennium Development Goals.” UN Web Services Section. 2005. Dept. of Public Information, the United Nations. 30 Dec 2005 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.html.

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