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Chairperson: TBA

Legal Counsel: 

A. Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind (56d)

In 1992, the United Nations adopted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which brought together several previous efforts to assess the impact of industry and technology on the environment, and to find ways for governments to promote policies that will facilitate sustainable development without adding to the problem of climate change.  Since then, the Convention has grown in size and scope, adding the Kyoto Protocols, which mandates that signatories implement legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse emissions, among other priorities.  In order to continue the work of the Convention, improved methods of reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions must be developed and implemented, as well as strategies to adapt to the impending effects of climate change.  Though the United Nations has taken a leading role in creating a forum to deal with these issues, reluctance among major industrial nations to implement key provisions remains an obstacle to the effectiveness of the Convention.

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change website: http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Text of Kyoto Protocols:  http://unfccc.int/files/national_reports/accounting_reporting_and_review_under_the_kyoto_protocol/application/pdf/rm_final.pdf

Article discussing the implementation of the legally-binding measures of the Kyoto Protocols: http://folk.uio.no/geiru/TheKyotoComplianceSystem.pdf

Article discussing how developing nations have reacted to climate-change policy: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/news/index.cfm?uNewsID=113180

B. Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (56e)

In 1977, the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) adopted a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), however by 1991 the United Nations Environment Program concluded that the problem of desertification had intensified in many areas, with only “local examples of success”. Today, desertification is taking place much faster than expected.

In response to the failed attempts to halt desertification that had begun twenty years earlier, and on the advice of the UNCOD, the General Assembly established the Convention to Combat Desertification in Resolution 47/188 in December of 1992. This Convention has come to be the most important tool in combating desertification for the international community, but tangible results are still elusive.

Desertification itself is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas due to changes in local climates – changes which are primarily due to human activities. A major result of desertification is the loss of biodiversity and productive capacity in regions affected, which has the capacity to severely inhibit the continued growth of the human population as regions that provide for major amounts of food become threatened.

US Geological Survey: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/desertification/

Green Facts: http://www.greenfacts.org/en/desertification/index.htm

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: http://www.unccd.int/

Oasis: http://www.oasisglobal.net/what_cause.htm

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: http://www.fao.org/sd/EPdirect/EPan0005.htm

C. Convention on Biological Diversity (56f)

During the summer of 1992, 189 countries came together to recognize that the success of our planet is not just dependent on the politics and social happenings of mankind but that ecological sustainability and  concern for all “ecosystems, species and genetic resources” are crucial components. While the convention had many goals it focused on sustainable resources, conservation, accessibility to technology, fair trade and equality in the distribution of financial resources. Unique from other conservation efforts is the belief that while conservation needs to sustain ecological diversity it also should directly aid humankind.

http://www.sovereignty.net/p/land/biotreatystop.htm

http://www.bwpp.org/resources/cbd.pdf 

www.cbd.int 

http://www.cohabnet.org/en_about_background.htm

 http://www.iisd.ca/biodiv/cbdintro.html

 D. Promotion of new and renewable sources of energy (56i)

Our world is facing an ever-increasing energy problem. Energy – its availability and production – is an issue central to the sustainable development of impoverished nations and to climate change that affects even the richest of nations; truly a universal concern. Currently 1.6 billion people are without access to electricity and 2.4 billion do not have access to modern fuels for cooking or heating. In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was drafted and signed by many nations in an attempt to curb greenhouse gas production. In 2002 the World Summit on Sustainable Development adopted the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation that focuses on using energy as a means to sustainable growth and development. These are important steps in preparing and improving our increasingly interdependent world community. The difficult task is to provide sustainable, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible energy programs that can serve a purpose for both sustainable development and environmental conservation.

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/energy/op/new_dehli_workshop/workshop_programme.pdf

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sdissues/energy/enr.htm

http://www.pewclimate.org/

http://www.massivechange.com/category/energy/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/