ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
By Phoebe Gorard
The whole of Uckfield College Sixth Form gathered together today, on Tuesday the 17th of July to take part in MUNGA, an annual event that has taken place within the college for more than 15 years. The purpose of the event is come to a consensus about a set of separate resolutions each surrounding one of five different world issues: education, status and rights of women, environmental sustainability, climate change and extreme poverty and hunger. This event allows students to collaboratively reflect on the world around them and develop opinions about certain subjects that they wouldn't ordinarily take into consideration.
The meeting began with Dr. Bebb, the chairman of the event recognising his thanks and honor towards hosting the event. Following this a single member of each party said a small statement introducing the country they had been allocated to represent.
The MUNGA then split into different meetings regarding relevant topics. The debate on environmental sustainability took place within the Nelson Mandela room and was sponsored by Malawi and Ecuador, two of twenty one countries who had representatives in attendance. The goal set at the beginning of the discussion was to agree the terms of resolution through debate and then officially settle it by a vote.
Point one, ‘calls upon all countries with the efforts to reverse the biodiversity losses, this target has been missed with the continuing high rates of consumption, habitat loss the spread of invasive species, pollution and climate change.’ The point was first addressed by China who, commented on their plans to contribute with assisting natural preservation by planting roughly 6.6 million trees. Following this, conflict was clear between Malawi and the USA due to Malawi's view towards America’s recent withdrawal of contributions regarding the Paris Agreement, arguing that the US reduced the potential benefits for the environment and instead was selfishly thinking of their own economy. The cause was agreed though a vote of which the results were a majority of 20/21 for the original proposal to remain the same.
Point four also brought with it means of argumentative stimulus as it ‘demands that the G20 countries redouble their efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels to 1960 levels by halting dangerous activities such as fracking and power by 28 investing stations, which provide excessively high greenhouse gas emissions’. The USA’s opinion was that they had a lack of belief in the idea that the point puts forwards, of going after solely sustainable energy. However, they did suggest that pursuing renewable energy as a fuel is a final goal.
Australia gave evidence supporting their need for fracking to help stabilize and be beneficial for its economy. Coal power stations were also brought into consideration, as more than half of the countries represented within the room use coal as a basis for some of their power sources, with Poland being 90% reliant on coal as a source of energy. The views of Poland's people were also brought into the light, such as their opinion on using coal in such vast quantities, but the government ignored their protest. Some of the other countries had more positive mindsets when regarding this point, such as China, who are currently working on reducing pollution and have already shut down one hundred and one coal energy producers and invested 2.5 trillion into renewable energy resources which they hope will be in place by 2020. Similarly, Israel also has plans to abolish non renewable energy based on coal by some time in 2025. Other countries that are more reliant on oil and fracking were also reluctant to acknowledge and agree to this as it would be crippling and destructive for their economies.
The majority of the points were left as they were originally suggested, but there was an alteration to point 3 that previously stated ‘further demands Japan to stop all hunting of whales and fishing on industrial levels using ships worldwide resulting in the destruction of marine life, but also the small sustainable fishing fleets off the east coast of africa, especially Kenya, and off South Central America, for example poverty stricken Nicaragua’. A proposal was made by a representative of Japan, who proposed to change the wording to ‘...all countries should be…’ rather than as it originally stood, singling out Japan. After much debate, a vote was carried to leave the wording as it stood, resulting in no majority, meaning therefore the change was approved.
The day’s debating and meeting process allowed students to develop debating skills, create an opinion and have a better understanding of both politics and current worldwide events. These skills will benefit them in the future and allow them to build knowledgeable and experienced opinions.