The Economic and Social Council is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals. It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.
TOPIC 1: Resolving the disastrous effects of overfishing
As of now, billions of people rely on seafood as a key source of protein. The demand increased rapidly over the past few decades, which eventually resulted in overfishing. Fish are being caught faster than they can reproduce, hindering their ability to maintain healthy population numbers. It is estimated that the number of large ocean fish had reduced to just 10 percent of their pre-industrial population, creating an imbalance that can erode the food web, endanger ocean ecosystems and lead to a loss of other important marine life, including vulnerable species like sea turtles and corals. Overfishing also devastates the coastal economy, as thousands of fishermen and fish plant workers lost their jobs and livelihoods.
TOPIC 2: Addressing the negative effects of the oil-drilling industry
Well-drilling techniques are currently used to extract large and significant quantities of natural resources and materials from the ground. Oil has been extracted from underground deposits all over the world for a long period of time. The exploration of oil, whether land-based or offshore drilling, can cause severe environmental degradation and damage. There are serious environmental issues surrounding each of the activities included in offshore drilling for oil, starting with the surveys conducted to locate oil reserves, then drilling and processing extracted oil, transportation, air pollution from refineries’ emissions and oil spills. The humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels and oil-based products in particular continues despite the development of green energy technologies and their implementation in our daily lives. Therefore, to be able to keep up with the market’s demand and satisfy the oil consumption needs, geologists, engineers and those, who were engaged in the petroleum industry otherwise, embarked on deepwater oil drilling. Although petroleum products make life easier, finding, producing, and moving crude oil have severe negative effects on the environment which need to be addressed.
COUNTRY MATRIX:
Beginner: Canada, Kingdom of Thailand, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, New Zealand, Peru, Republic of South Africa, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Chille, the Republic of Korea
Intermediate: French Republic, Kingdom of Norway, State of Kuwait, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of India, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Advanced: Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, the Republic of Indonesia, United States of America