M O D E L U N I T E D N A T I O N S A T I L L I N O I S

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1 M O D E L U N I T E D N A T I O N S A T I L L I N O I S ECOSOC MUNI XXIII

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the Director...2 Topic 1: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) One: End Poverty in all its Forms Everywhere Overview..3 History..4 Current Situation..5 Possible Solutions 7 QARMAs.9 Topic 2: SDG Seven: Affordable and Clean Energy Overview Current Situation 13 Possible Solutions..14 QARMAs...15

3 Letter from the Director I'm incredibly excited to be serving as Director and Chair of the Economic and Social Council at MUNI XXIII. This will be my sixth MUNI, having attended as a delegate throughout high school and having chaired ECOFIN at MUNI XXII. Outside of MUNI, I'm involved with several political organizations on campus and am interested in the field of public policy and legislative advocacy. ECOSOC is my favorite committee, not only because of its scope, but its capacity to address the world's greatest challenges. In considering the two topics on the agenda, I encourage delegates to analyze the issues through a more innovative lens to find new solutions that can work on a global scale, rather than reiterating old ones. The issues of poverty and energy access are not new challenges, but they are evolving, in turn requiring evolving initiatives to combat them. I wish you the best of luck in your research, and I'm looking forward to MUNI XXIII being a great learning experience for all of us.

4 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) One: End Poverty in all its Forms Overview Everywhere The United Nations has defined the scope of poverty to include lack of income in as well as its impacts of lack of food security, nutrition, education, water, and more. In addition to lack of access to resources, diminished access and exclusion from the decision-making process is a key manifestation of poverty. Considering both pure income poverty and economic position, poverty has been on the decline for the past several decades. However, the situation still necessitates action be taken. More than 700 million people in the world live in extreme poverty, 1 living on less than 1.25 USD a day. While the overwhelming majority of people living under the global poverty line (1.90 USD a day) live in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, there are 30 2 million children growing up poor in the world s richest countries. Poverty eradication is the first of 17 SDGs developed by the United Nations in Resolution A/RES/70/1. The SDGs build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired in 2015, and set forth a common global agenda for The SDGs are interconnected with the approaches and obstacles to different goals sharing overlap. Addressing poverty will require addressing the plethora of dimensions of poverty that intersect with this SDG. Progress for the identified targets is measured by tracking their accompanying indicators. 1 Poverty - United Nations Sustainable Development. United Nations, 2 No Poverty: Why It Matters, United Nations, 2015.

5 History: Building Upon Millenium Development Goal (MDG) One Poverty Eradication was part of the first MDG-- to halve the proportion of the population living in extreme poverty and extreme hunger. Though the hunger reduction target was narrowly missed, the number of people living in extreme poverty has been reduced from 1.9 billion in to 836 million in The MDGs were considered to be ambitious from the outset and though not all goals were met, poverty reduction is widely recognized as a global success with regards to the MDGs. MDG one had three targets halving poverty, halving hunger, and increasing employment. Comparing these three targets to the ones identified for SDG one, a couple differences are clear. Not only are there more targets addressing additional factors like social protection systems and rights to economic resources, the targets are divided into outcome targets ( ) and process targets (1.A and 1.B). This change has occurred for several reasons, primarily to ensure that the achievement of the goal targets is complemented by lasting infrastructure to continue progress made. 3 United Nations. The Millenium Development Goal Report. The Millenium Development Goal Report, United Nations, 2015,

6 Current Situation Eradicating extreme poverty is an attainable goal, especially given that it does not require much more work than ensuring the declining rate of extreme poverty continues. However, these new targets assign rich countries challenges almost on par with those of poorer countries, with their targets containing additional areas for growth, improvement, and competition. 4 Poverty rates have declined in all regions, but progress has been uneven. The reduction in extreme poverty between 2012 and 2014 was driven by a few key countries and regions with East Asia and the Pacific having 71 million fewer poor (mainly due to China and Indonesia) and South Asia having 37 million fewer poor (mainly due to India). While these reductions are certainly welcome, it leaves much to be desired for poverty reduction in other countries and regions, like sub-saharan Africa. Half of the world s extreme poor live in sub-saharan Africa, which only experienced a decrease of 4 million people living in poverty with 389 million people still living on less than 1.90 USD a day in 2013, which is more than all 5 other regions combined. The following three themes are in need of most attention. Poverty and Extreme Poverty In the ten years from 2002 to 2012, global poverty rates halved from 26 to 13 percent. Given the same economic growth rates until 2020, extreme poverty rates are projected to fall to four percent by Poverty Overview. The World Bank, 5 Social Inclusion in Africa. The World Bank,

7 6 This four percent gap is the main challenge in this target. The issue is also extremely influenced by growth in sub-saharan Africa, where more than 40 percent of people lived in poverty in The Working Poor In 2015, 10 percent of the world s employed people and their families were living in 7 poverty, down from 28 percent in Young people (ages 15-24) are most likely to be among the working poor with 16 percent of all employed youth living below the poverty line compared to 9 percent of adults. Again, the issue is concentrated in sub-saharan Africa with one-third of all workers among the working poor and 18 percent of southern Asian workers among the working poor. Social Protections Improving the coverage of social protection programs and benefits to the poor is one way of further reducing poverty that is emphasized in this SDG. Social protection programs include 8 social assistance measures such as cash transfers, school feeding, and targeted food assistance. Social insurance and labor market programs are also forms of social protection. They can provide old-age and disability pensions, maternity benefits, unemployment insurance, skills training, wage subsidies, and other policies. 6 United Nations. The Millenium Development Goal Report. The Millenium Development Goal Report, United Nations, 2015, 7 Goal 1: End Poverty in All Its Forms Everywhere. United Nations, unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2016/goal-01/. 8 Sustainable Development Goal 1. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, United Nations, sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg1.

8 Possible Solutions - Public Private Partnerships (PPPs): PPPs are joint initiatives between the government and 9 private sector organizations that allow for the sharing of resources and risk. PPPs are usually used for infrastructure-building projects. The goal of a PPP is to increase the quality of public services provided to citizens, which at the same time attracts private funding for successful projects. Public funds can then be allocated elsewhere. - Social Protection Floors (SPFs): SPF is a concept that promotes nation-level strategies 10 that guarantee a minimum level of access to basic services and income security for all. Basic services is defined by national governments, and they include but are not limited to water, sanitation, nutrition, health, housing, and education. A national SPF is a basic set of rights and transfers that allows and empowers all members of a society to access a minimum of goods and services that should be defended by the society during times of economic crisis as well as economic booms. Guaranteeing access to essential services that are part of SPFs empowers people to cope with the economic repercussions of economic crises while maintaining their dignity. - Special and Differential Treatment (S&D): When entering trade agreements through the World Trade Organization (WTO), there are special provisions which give developing countries unique rights and allow developed countries to have the option of giving 11 developing countries more favorable trade stipulations than other WTO members. Some 9 KS, Jomo, et al. Public-Private Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Fit for Purpose? 2016, Public-Private Partnerships and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Fit for Purpose? 10 The Social Protection Floor. The United Nations, Special and Differential Treatment Provisions. World Trade Organization,

9 examples of these special provisions are an extended agreement implementation period, initiatives for capacity-building in developing countries, and added commitments or measures to increase opportunities for trade in developing countries. - Increase Official Development Assistance (ODA): ODA is defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as government aid designed to 12 promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Developing countries support the longstanding UN goal for developed countries to devote.7% of their gross national income to ODA. - Debt Cancellation for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC): The HIPC Initiative was 13 started in 1996 to assist struggling countries with their external debt burdens. While 36 countries are currently in the program, additional assistance for sustainable debt reduction or cancellation would provide economic relief for even more countries who have accumulated unmanageable levels of external debt. 12 Official Development Assistance. The OECD, data.oecd.org/oda/net-oda.htm. 13 Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. IMF, -Countries-Initiative.

10 QARMAs How can SDG one targets be best met, with a special focus on the aforementioned themes? Which policies will best work in which global regions? Why? How can the decline of poverty be accelerated to reach complete eradication? How can developed and developing countries approach these targets differently? How will outcome targets and process targets be addressed differently? How do each of the actions taken in the resolution align with a specific target and indicator? How are the different dimensions of poverty (education, age, gender, rural/urban, etc.) addressed?

11 SDG Seven: Affordable and Clean Energy Overview Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all is the United Nations seventh Sustainable Development Goal outlined in the 2030 agenda. These four different dimensions to energy access have been identified as catalysts for development and success in working towards other SDGs. These dimensions have significant overlap, again demonstrating the connected nature of development goals and indicators. Affordable Energy The reason for the disparity in energy use across the world is largely attributed to two factors: availability of endowed natural resources and purchasing power. For example, a country with large coal deposits will likely develop this resource and its extraction to industrialize its economy and rely on coal as the primary energy source. However, people living in places without similar deposits may rely on more primitive sources of energy, such as biomass fuels which include wood fibers or animal dung. Approximately 2.7 billion people, or 40 percent of the global population, relies

12 14 on biomass fuels for cooking. Biomass fuels and other low-quality fuels can cause significant indoor air pollution, and the annual death toll from indoor air pollution is over 1.5 million people. Though globalization has been an aiding factor by allowing countries to diversify their energy sources through trade, lesser developed countries cannot utilize high-cost energy even if given access to the energy market. Raising income levels is a crucial precondition for having access to affordable energy if energy costs are high. Reliable Energy 1 in every 5 people lack access to electricity, and a larger share is affected by persistent 15 power failures. Massive blackouts have affected hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, blocking access to transportation and communication systems. Reliable energy is affected not only by an unstable supply of energy, but mismanagement and poorly developed energy infrastructure. Especially in countries lacking strong systems of governance, access to energy sources is further impeded by systemic failures. Modern Energy The elements of a modern society have to be met by modern energy infrastructures. Beyond modernizing energy sources, energy systems also need to be able to produce electricity and support automated transportation and information technology to allow for economic development. Increasing population growth in Asia and sub-saharan Africa is creating a greater demand for energy services. Over the next 25 years, about 90 percent of the growth in energy 14 Household Air Pollution and Health. World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 15 Ensure Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy for All. United Nations, unchronicle.un.org/article/goal-7-ensure-access-affordable-reliable-sustainable-and-modern-energy-all.

13 demand will come from countries that are not members of the OECD, which consists largely of 16 developed Western countries. Sustainable Energy Sustainability is the final dimension of SDG seven and refers to having a net positive energy system where the power generated through the energy systems is much greater than the resulting pollution and waste. Having power to meet the needs of future generations without creating additional structural problems is a critical focus of SDG seven. Transitioning from coal is one of the greater challenges for this dimension, since it still provides 40% of the world s 17 electricity and contributes to 40% of the world s carbon emissions. Coal s low mass-to-energy ratio makes it inefficient and creates pollution. As it contributes to climate change and negatively impacts public and environmental health, coal is not sustainable on a global or local scale. 16 Energy: The Next Fifty Years. The OECD, 1999, Energy: The Next Fifty Years. 17 U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis

14 Current Situation Access to electricity is increasing, with 1.2 billion people having gained access since The number of people without electricity has fallen below 1.1 billion and this change has 18 been happening across all regions. Most progress has been made in Asia, and there is also a first time positive trend in sub-saharan Africa where population growth has been outpacing improvements in electricity infrastructure. Despite that progress, more people are without electricity today than in An estimated 2.8 billion do not have access to clean cooking 19 facilities and 2.5 billion people rely on biomass to cook their meals. Though there is some progress with access to clean cooking in developing countries, but strong population growth in sub-saharan Africa has increased the number of people relying on biomass for cooking. 18 Energy Access. International Energy Agency, 19 Energy for Cooking in Developing Countries. World Energy Outlook, OECDMA, 2006.

15 Possible Solutions Developing Domestic Infrastructure There are many countries for which the energy challenge is not related to the availability of energy sources, but the effective management and use of resource systems. Poor management and oversight has destabilized economies and led to the waste of energy sources. Strengthening governance, especially on local levels, can ensure that countries are able to use their energy resources to their full potential. With the discovery of new resource deposits, countries should be able to rely on their political and economic infrastructure to develop their energy systems with maximum efficiency. Innovation Energy affordability and sustainability are often thought to be exclusive, but with a majority of investment in clean energy in recent years coming from developing countries, that perception is being challenged. Reducing the cost of solar cells and other renewable technologies requires current investment that will reduce costs in the long-run. Partnering with private institutions to finance research initiatives is one of many ways that governments have supported energy advancements.

16 Questions a Resolution Must Answer How can all four dimensions of SDG 7 be addressed? How can parts of the world with a greater need for energy access be helped differently than other regions? How can local impact be realized through national and international policies? What alternatives to biomass and coal should be pursued?