QUESTION OF: Measures to Promote Technology As a Means of Ensuring Sustainable Development

COMMITTEE: Special Conference

QUESTION OF: Measures to promote technology as a means of ensuring sustainable development

MAIN SUBMITTER: Monaco

CO SUBMITTERS:Solomon Islands, Denmark, Singapore, Madagascar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Honduras, Ethiopia

THE SPECIAL CONFERENCE,

Acknowledging that efforts to alleviate poverty and ensure harmonious sustainable development for the less developed countries’ population constitutes a battle and monumental challenge,

Understanding that challenges which hinder sustainable development threaten a nation’s progress,

Disturbed by climate change, which deals heavy blows to the Less Developed Countries’ financial resources and infrastructure, as well as negatively impacting the population and the environment,

Understanding that devastating changes and effects are more pronounced in impoverished nations, moreover when the state is in crisis and experiencing economic and political instability,

Recalling that the Developed Countries pledged to assign and contribute 0.7% of their gross national income to Official Development Assistance (ODA), in the Addis Agenda, Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration,

Acknowledging that effective aid and support is necessary in the growth of a nation,

Comprehending that not only economic action is required, but also a change in mindset for the Least Developed Nations to develop,

Recognizing that the economic and social stability of the less developed nations and regions can be enhanced through collaboration with the Americas, Europe, Oceania and Asia.

1. Calls upon all nations to improve the quality and accessibility of education and schooling in general, ranging from primary to University level education, within their own country, through utilizing technologies by but not limited to:

a)Increasing the quality and accessibility of online education, typically in the form of online lectures and material, by having the Department of Education invest 10% of its budget on existing or pilot university projects meant to provide online education to any student regardless of age, nationality or gender,

b)Investing 0.001% of national GDP into public television in order to increase the number of educational shows and programs revolving around science, math and languages, mostly focused on primary and lower secondary education,

c)Providing tax exemptions and low interest loans to any firm committed to providing online platforms containing high-quality online education as monitored by the national Department of Education,

d)Encouraging Universities and Secondary schools to make at least 20% of course work available through online enrollment (if necessary equipment is at hand) starting from 2020/2021,

e)Recognizing, at both a national and local level, a University diploma or degree obtained with an online education from government certified providers;

1. Urges governments to incentivize the expansion of research & development, through methods, such as but not limited to, tax reductions and subsidies, for projects such as:

a)Mobile internet provision in remote areas through the use of cost effective technology,

b)Development of more effective energy storage technology, which would allow international trade of excess electricity,

c)Engineering of effective storage technology to increase the shelf life of crucial medicines (ex. vaccines),

d)Price reduction of computers and tablets for areas that lack the necessary income to purchase said devices at market value,

e)Designing new technology for more efficient food production, in order to obtain greater yields in shorter periods of time;

f)Promoting the usage of internet services in remote areas;

1. Suggests all countries create a regulatory body, not affiliated with national government, whose purpose it is to monitor that the tax exemptions and reductions provided to the private sector (for the projects mentioned in this resolution) which would ensure transparency and combat fraud;

1. Demands all governments to ensure that ICT (information & communication technology) be taught as an official and standardized subject within the country by but not limited to:

a)Implementing ICT in the curriculum of all public secondary schools, from 6th to at least 9th grade, by the year 2018, with topics including software and hardware,

b)Increasing the quantity of University and high school courses involving computer engineering by 20% by the year 2020,

c)Expanding interdisciplinary approaches to other subjects by incorporating computer science and programming;

1. Encourages the creation of a global partnership between civil society, national governments and private sector industries, called UNSDO (United Nations Sustainable Development Organization), with the objectives of:

a)Encouraging product development that is environmentally friendly and that utilizes renewable energy,

b)Co-operating on various projects at an international level with the purpose of developing sustainable, cost effective technologies,

c)Investing in the sectors of setting up, maintaining and operating machines and technologies meant to extract energy from renewable sources;

1. Further calls upon nations to increase the proportion of their national energy needs met by renewable sources to at least 20% by 2025 by investing in:

a)Any source of energy deemed renewable by the United Nations and by the UN Millennium Goals, Objectives and Targets,

b)Providing feasible solar, wind or geothermal energy generation technologies to families and communities living in remote areas;

1. Strongly invites member states to allocate foreign aid to the development and provision of technologies deemed effective by the United Nations Environment Organizationsthat mitigate the repercussions of natural disasters;

1. Urges nations to inform their population about both the benefits of renewable energy and the importance of a low energy and carbon footprint by methods such as:

a)Educational campaigns and workshops in cooperation with local authorities especially in remote areas,

b)Airing public broadcasts on national television informing of technology that is physically and economically available,

c)Dedicating three days of a scholastic year to teaching students how to conserve energy through newly developed technologies;

1. Asks that UN provide financial assistance to countries unable to meet the projects and objectives outlined within this resolution only if said countries meet the requirements set by the UN comprising;

a)Non-corruption as monitored by Transparency International,

b)Inability to fund the projects;

1. Calls upon the World Bank Group and the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to continue to provide funding for research into sustainable development and further requests to provide economic support for developing countries to enable the implementation of said technology;

1. Encourages states to partake in the national development of agricultural technology, stressing its importance towards the economy and acknowledging the need for further development in that particular area of all national economies.