The topic of The Economic and Social Council of the OLMUN 2021 was “Enhancing Cities and Communities in terms of sustainability.” The ECOSOC was chaired by Ivan Gudelj and Anya Deshpande.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council is one of the six principal organs of the UN. It has been an essential part of the UN since 1945. The Council’s simplest aim is sustainability, but while it doesn’t only refer to the environment it can be further defined as development. The process is about finding long-term solutions and considering regional conditions, which will hopefully result in harmony and co-existence.
The committee sessions at the OLMUN started on Wednesday. While always keeping their focus on the social, economic and environmental aspects a few delegations started by presenting their policy statements. After the short introduction into the opinion of those countries, the first lobbying session began. During this time two resolutions were drafted, the main-submitters being the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Turkmenistan.
The resolution from the Republic of Korea was about trying to enhance the sustainability of cities. The resolution advocated for adapting to climate change and minimizing the risk of disasters using nature-based solutions. In order to do this, it urges that forests need to be more protected and it must be ensured that cities become greener. In addition, it suggests that cities have more open public places so there is better air in the cities. A focus was also on renewable energies, which should be switched to as soon as possible.
The resolution, which was main-submitted by the Republic of Turkmenistan, followed the aim to become economically sustainable. Countries should switch from fossil fuels like gas, coal and oil to renewable energies such as wind and solar energy. But there was a request to extend the time to switch to renewable energy, because many countries still rely on non-renewable energy and switching to renewable energy now would cause great economic damage. In addition, the UN's 2030 Agenda should be extended as many countries have suffered economically from COVID-19. The two drafted resolutions were the results of Wednesdays committee session.
In the second committee meeting on Thursday the drafted resolutions were discussed. Numerous amendments on the resolution submitted by the Republic of Korea were tabled and debated. In the end, the resolution of the Republic of Korea was passed with its amendments and with a large majority. Since there was still some time left the debate on the resolution of the Republic of Turkmenistan began. Alike the other resolution there were many amendments submitted and debated as well. But there was not enough time for a final result yet. Therefore, the last amendments were discussed in the last committee session on Friday morning. Finally, the final resolution was voted on and passed with a large majority. The most active delegates of this year’s ECOSOC were the delegates from the Republic of Korea and the delegation of Indonesia.