Skip to main content

Sustainable transport on the global agenda






Sustainable transport will be on the global agenda in November 2016. For the first time, the United Nations will hold a Global Sustainable Transport Conference on 26-27 November 2016 in Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.

Ban Ki-moon, General-Secretary of the United Nations, expects around 1,5000 particpants at the conference, including Heads of State and Government, private sector CEOs, civil society leaders, and UN officials. The topics for discussion, with regard to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), include road, rail, air, and water transport. Urban transport solutions will feature as a topic, as well as how to reach rural and remote locations through sustainable transport solutions. Another topic will include multi-modal sustainable transport and transit solutions.

There are a number of SDGs directly linked to transport, including health (increased road safety), energy, decent work, economic growth, resilient infrastructure, sustainable cities (access to transport and expanded public transport), sustainable consumption and production (ending fossil fuel subsidies) and the protection of oceans, seas, and maritime resources.

Safe, accessible, convenient and green transport systems will be crucial to achieving sustainable development. The improvement and expansion of sustainable public transport systems, including rapid bus transit, metro, light rail, and ferries, will be at the forefront of the conference sessions. Short and long-range mobility solutions that consider a ‘shared economy’ will be discussed.

Integrated multi-modal transport and transit systems should be interlinked with non-motorized transport, such as walking and cycling, to take into account an emphasis on low-carbon energy modes for social, trade, and freight transport. 

Population growth will necessitate massive investment in new transport and infrastructure projects, as well as their maintenance and the maintenance of existing systems. Globally the current total annual investments are between one and two trillion dollars per year. Less than 40% is received by developing countries, where the needs and opportunities are greatest. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, adopted in 2015, will elaborate on its approaches to implement the 2030 Agenda.

With about 1.3 million people killed and up to 50 million people injured every year in road accidents alone (excluding air and sea accidents), road safety will be a top priority for discussion at the Global Sustainable Transport Conference.

http://bit.ly/SustainableTransport


MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more