SEMARMUN UNEP

2023 STUDY GUIDE

UNEP STUDY GUIDE

SEMARMUN
2023
The Environmental Impact Paradox of
Environmentalism
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Introduction to the Chairs ............................................................................................... 2

Council Introduction ....................................................................................................... 4

Introduction & Topic History.......................................................................................... 6

Current Situation ........................................................................................................... 10

Case Studies .................................................................................................................. 12

Past Actions .................................................................................................................. 15

Bloc Positions ............................................................................................................... 17

Further Reading ............................................................................................................ 18

QARMAs ...................................................................................................................... 19

Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 20
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AZIEL ALPHASYAH RAMADHAN - HEAD CHAIR

Greetings, delegate! My name is Aziel Alphasyah Ramadhan, a

junior at Jenderal Soedirman University majoring in International
Relations. However, I am currently taking an exchange program at
Monash University, Australia. My first experience with MUN started
when I participated in Asia Youth International Model United
Nations in Malaysia in 2019. After that, I started participating in
numerous MUNs as a delegate, committee, chair, and even secretary
general.
MUN has developed me as a person, and I hope that the delegate can get what I have gained
through MUN. As your Head Chair in the UNEP council, I expect the delegate to actively
participate in the debate and discussion to come up with a solution regarding the topic, which is
“The Environmental Impact Paradox of Environmentalism” The topic has been quite important,
especially since the environmentalism movements have been on the rise for the past decades.
However, under the radar, the movement itself does not bring as many positive impacts, just like
what most people perceived, since there is also numerous negative side of it that has become quite
a paradox. Because of that, we hope that the delegate can utilize all of the available resources and
documents in analyzing this topic since various sectors and disciplines will be used. If the delegate
finds it challenging to understand the topic or even the MUN mechanism itself, please contact me
through WhatsApp (+61406658304) or email (azielalphasyah@gmail.com), good luck delegate!

Best Regards,
Aziel Alphasyah Ramadhan

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ZAHRA DINA - CO-CHAIR

Zahra Dina is a bachelor of International Relations from the

University of Jenderal Achmad Yani. She was part of the Board of
Directors of FPCI Surabaya MUN and Veteran East MUN. She has
great achievements, such as being Secretary General of the
University of Jenderal Achmad Yani MUN Club. She had a lot of
awards in many MUNs, such as Most Outstanding Delegate UNHRC
ULMUN 2021, Most Outstanding Delegate WHO Dyplomatic
Course 1.0 2021, and recently she is awarded as Best-Chairwomen at
Jenderal Achmad Yani MAM 2022, and many more.

She is passionate about international issues, especially human rights, human security, and
environmental issues. 2022 is a blessed year for Her; 2022 also be the second year of her attending
MUN. Talking about the SEMAR MUN 2023 in the UNEP Council, she thinks that the topic
would involve a lot of interesting debate due to the situation of the environmental impact paradox
of environmentalism. If you do have questions, do not hesitate to contact her through her email at
zahrainhasibuan@gmail.com. Along with Aziel as a Head-Chair, She hopes to see a great
discussion within the UNEP Council of the SEMAR MUN 2023!!

Best Regards,
Zahra Dina.

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HISTORY
The United Environment Programme (UNEP) was established in 1972 by Resolution 2997
(XXVII). Held in Stockholm, Sweden, the first world conference on the environment under the
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. The conference resulted in the Stockholm
Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment, which contained 26 principles and
placed environmental issues at the forefront of the international action dialogue of industrialized
and developing countries regarding economic growth, water, and air pollution, oceans, and human
well-being.(1) The major result of the Conference is the creation of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP). Since then, UNEP has worked closely with 193 Member States
and other stakeholders to build commitment and internationally coordinate action on
environmental challenges.

MANDATE
Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is
mandated to set international agenda on environmental issues, promote the implementation of the
environmental dimension within the UN System, and serve as the authoritative global advocate for
environmental issues. UNEP also provides leadership and partnership in caring for the
environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve the quality of
life without compromising the future generation. The main functions of the UNEP itself are
described as below(2) :
Promote international environmental cooperation.
Provide general policy guidance within the UN system.
Receive and review periodic reports on the implementation of environmental programs within
the UN system.
Ensure the emerging environmental problem receives appropriately by the Government.
Contribute to the international scientific acquisition, assessment, and exchange of
environmental knowledge and information.
Maintain and continue reviewing the impact of national and global environmental policies and
measures on developing countries regarding the program implementation and funding.

(1)United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm 1972 | United Nations. (n.d.). the United
Nations. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://www.un.org/en/conferences/environment/stockholm1972
(2)UNEP: Environmental Mandate and Activities. (n.d.). UNEP: Environmental Mandate & Activities United Nations
Environment Programme Environmental mandate UNEP was established by. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from
https://unemg.org/images/emgdocs/members_activities/UNEP.pdf
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UNEP also has its own environmental activities(3) :

Early Warning and Assessment.
Environmental Policy Law and Development.
Economics, Industry, and Technology.
Environmental Policy Implementation.
Regional Cooperation Environmental Conventions.
Global Environment Facility Coordination.

MEMBERSHIP
The UNEP’s Medium Term Strategy (MTS) lead by the Executive Directors and Senior
Management Team. The four year MTS articulate UNEP’S role in delivering the promises of the
2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development and the UN Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio +20) as well as its outcome document “The Future We Want” (4)

UNEP POINT OF VIEW OF THE TOPIC

UNEP supports human well-being and international environmental cooperation as written in its
mandate. However, the current situation regarding the deterioration of environmental quality to
fulfill the utilization of environmental ecosystem service increased the human well-being, in turn,
this will affect the future generation. Hence, to caring the earth, UNEP led international action for
setting the sustainability combination of development and conservation strategies.(5)

(3) UNEP: Environmental Mandate and Activities. (n.d.). UNEP: Environmental Mandate & Activities United Nations
Environment Programme Environmental mandate UNEP was established by. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from
https://unemg.org/images/emgdocs/members_activities/UNEP.pdf
(4) Flauraud, V. (n.d.). About UN Environment Programme. UNEP. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from
https://www.unep.org/about-un-environmentshed by. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from
https://unemg.org/images/emgdocs/members_activities/UNEP.pdf
(5) IUCN, UNEP and WWF (1991) Carirlgfor the Earth. A Strategy for Sustainable Livirlg , p 204.
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Ecosystem services are the direct or indirect – small or large contributions of the ecosystems to
human well-being. The concept of ecosystem services describes various benefits to people. The
economic strength, diverse food products, and the advancements in medical research are the result
of the wildlife and natural ecosystems itself.

The concern of the impact problems such as air and water pollution on human well being started
in Roman times. Pollution was associated with the spread of the epidemic disease in Europe in the
14th century and the mid 16th century, and soil conservation was predicted in China, India, and
Peru as early as 2000 years ago. However, this concern never turned into public activism. The
concept of contemporary environmental movement arose primarily from concerns in the late 19th
century about the protection of the countryside in Europe and wilderness in the United States and
the health consequences of pollution during the Industrial Revolution.

Many people thought that ecosystem degradation would affect human well-being; this happened
because of the decrease in ecosystem services itself. Scientists have described that the degradation
in natural ecosystem services, including food and climate regulation, endangers human well-being.
However, the declines of the majority of ecosystem services assessed have been accompanied by
steady gains in human well-being at the global scale. The issue of the paradox between the
degradation of environmental ecosystem services and human well-being is important to understand
what and in which ways ecosystem services would affect human well-being.

“Ecological degradation and simplification will be followed by a decline in the provision of

ecosystem services, leading to a decline in human well-being”(6)

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), the world’s ecosystems are
threatened as a consequence of human activities. However, the report also told us that there is a
paradox within the data itself. Approximately 60% of the ecosystem benefits, including clean
water, fresh air, and a stable climate that supports human life, have been degraded or used
unsustainably.(7) At the same time, human consumption of ecosystem services increased to 80%.
It means that human consumption is higher than the ecosystem can provide. Humans would suffer
for their life regarding the decrease in environmental quality and be more dependent on these
ecosystem services. However, according to the data, for the most part, humans are faring
surprisingly well.

(6)Diamond JM. 2005. Collapse. Viking.

(7)[MA] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2003. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Framework for
Assessment. Island Press.
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Table 1. Trends in supply and demand for ecosystem services

Source: Petterson and Allies

In this current situation, humans show their dependence on ecosystem services. The MA
states that there are categories in the form of ecosystem services that humans gain from natural
resources, including(8); 1) the provision of services, food, forest products, and water setting; 2)
regulating services of climate change and floods, waste, disease, water quality; 3) cultural services
including aesthetic, comprise recreationally, and spiritual benefits; 4) supporting services
including photosynthesis, soil formation, and nutrient cycling. However, Scientists believe that the
regulation services and the supporting services have decreased; meanwhile, the provision of
services and cultural services still remain abundant.

Human well-being could be reached if only basic materials, security, health, good social
relations, and freedom of choice and actions, including the freedom of choice and actions from the
other components of well-being. Although environmentalists think that these are the best
components related to human well-being, human well-being itself relies on the Human
Development Index (HDI).

Human Development Index is a measure of human well-being based on life expectancy,

education, literacy, and GDP per capita that is not linked to the environmental ecosystem services.
Unfortunately, HDI could not explain the link between the biosphere (environmental ecosystem
services) and human well-being. The fact that human activities give impact on climate change, the
quality of water and air, as well as the land-cover change.

(8) Peterson, G. D., Bennett, E. M., Tengo, M., & Holland, T. (2013, June). Untangling the Environmentalist's
Paradox: Why Is Human Well-Being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade? BioScience, 60(8), 576-589.
10.1525/bio.2010.60.8.4
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Figure 1.1 Human Development Index (HDI)

Source: UNDP, 2006

Analyses of the global ecological footprint have suggested that since 1980, humanity’s
footprint has exceeded the number of resources that the Earth can sustainably produce.(9)
Although the risk of the degradation of environmental services could be prevented by massive
globalization and trade, the lack and the decrease of environmental ecosystem services would still
affect human well-being in the future by the decrease of environmental ecosystem benefits that
humans could gain.

(9) Peterson, G. D., Bennett, E. M., Tengo, M., & Holland, T. (2013, June). Untangling the Environmentalist's
Paradox: Why Is Human Well-Being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade? BioScience, 60(8), 576-589.
10.1525/bio.2010.60.8.4
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Table 2. The alternative explanation of the environmentalist’s paradox

Source: Patterson and Allies

The MA has four hypotheses and alternative assumptions on the environmentalist’s paradox,
explained below(10):
1. Critical dimensions of human well-being have not been captured adequately.
The use of HDI measurement does not represent human well-being, with that being said, the other
methods and data would show human well-being is actually decreased along with ecosystem
services. The HDI measurement with the GDP per capita, education, literacy, gender equality,
health, etc are acknowledged to be wrong or incomplete variables to count on human well-being.
2. Provisioning ecosystem services are important for human well-being.
The provision of services, including food production, forest products, and water sets is most
significant for human well-being. For that matter, regardless of the other factors, human well-
being would increase if food production per capita increased.
3. Technology and innovation have decoupled human well-being from ecosystem
conditions.
The increase of technology and innovation in the substitution of ecosystem services has
significantly lowered human reliance on environmental ecosystem services. Human well-being is
now less dependent on ecosystem services.
4. There is a time lag after ecosystem service degradation before human well-being is
affected.
Human well-being is limited to the ecosystem's presence of natural resources. However, the
ecosystem's ability to provide natural resources has decreased. Ecosystem services have been
observed on climate change impacts, including food, soil salinization, fire regimes, etc. There is a
time lag between the accumulation effects of human transformations and the limits of ecosystem
services, which would affect human well-being in the future.

(10) Peterson, G. D., Bennett, E. M., Tengo, M., & Holland, T. (2013, June). Untangling the Environmentalist's
Paradox: Why Is Human Well-Being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade? BioScience, 60(8), 576-589.
10.1525/bio.2010.60.8.4 9
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Several decades after the creation of the UNEP council after the United Nations Conference
on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972 under General Assembly Resolution 2997 and
the creation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the environmentalism movement
has gained more participation and recognition than ever worldwide. That participation and
recognition are not only limited to the developed countries but international actors that are coming
from developing and underdeveloped countries also participate in the movements. The reason is
that many international actors worldwide have started to feel the impact of global warmings, such
as archipelago states like Vanuatu that are threatened to drown underwater due to the rise of
seawater. Not only on a larger scale, but global warming has also been affecting people worldwide
on a smaller scale, such as the continuous use of traditional vehicles that are powered by fossil
fuels which resulted in resource abatement and pollution that are bad for the human body. That is
why, over the past few years, we can see that environmental issues have been one of the main
discussions at several international conferences, such as the UN Climate Change Conference (COP
26) in 2021.

However, as the environmentalism movement started to increase its momentum, only a

number of people knew about the paradoxical side of the environmentalism movement itself,
which is very threatening. The reason is that if people put a blind eye to the negative side of the
environmentalism movements, especially considering all of the conflicts and pandemics that are
happening worldwide, the world would be in chaos before we know it. In 2012, the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology found that greenhouse gases emission worldwide
drastically increased if coal or any other non-renewable energy were used to produce electricity for
electric cars. Fast forward to 2021, electric car factories also emitted more toxic waste than
conventional car factories, resulting in twice the global warming potential from electric vehicle
production than that of conventional vehicles.

Still talking about the environmental impact of one of the environmentalism movements
product, which is the electric car, it also causes other potential harm such as smog, depletion of
fossil fuel and mineral resources, acid rain, and electric vehicles that exist nowadays perform
worse and need more power compared to the conventional vehicle. That is important to note since
in regions where fossil fuels or other non-renewable energy are the primary power source, an
electric car does not have any benefit, and it will cause more harm due to the waste it creates in the
production process.

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Initially, the use of electric cars in Europe can offer environmental benefits compared to the
conventional car since it can decrease up to 24% of global warming potential related to petrol
vehicles or conventional dieser. However, ever since the Russia-Ukraine conflicts and the COVID-
19 pandemic that resulted in economic inflation worldwide and electricity scarcity in Europe, the
usage and effectiveness of electric cars in Europe have plummeted significantly. Europe also has
to rely heavily on gas imports from other countries since Russia, as their biggest importer, does not
want to give the gas to Europe anymore after the sanctions they give to Russia. As a result, there
has been a spike in gas prices in many European countries, especially when already close to
winter, such as the 37% increase in UK gas prices in 2022. Because of all of those conditions, the
implementation of the electric car in Europe will bring more harm than good nowadays due to the
scarcity of fossil fuels and only a handful of people that could buy it, making the transition even
harder to be conducted.

The same condition also happens in other regions, not just in Europe. For example, we can
look at Ethiopia, where their central bank raised its lending rate interest in August 2022 from 13%
to 16% as one of their solution to solve the inflation crisis by tightening their monetary policy.
Considering all of that reasons, it is far more critical to discuss and raise the international society's
awareness level about the environmentalism movement and its product since it will bring more
harm than ever in terms of the economic or even environmental aspect due to the worldwide
inflation and gas crisis.

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1. THE USE OF ELECTRIC CARS IN SCOTLAND

With an increase in the world population and pollution level, it is not a surprise that the
world has started to look for a solution, one of which is the electric car. The reason is that electric
cars use fewer fossil fuels and produce less carbon. That is very important to be considered since
the rise of carbon production has increased global temperatures that caused many natural disasters
from happening such as El Nino. In addition, the continuous use of fossil fuels and other non-
renewable energy has slowly diminished resources since many aspects of human life, from
transportation to production, heavily rely on fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy.

From an economic perspective, using electric cars will affect the driver's annual spending
depending on the driving conditions, vehicle type, and driving distance. While the price of a liter
of fuel in the UK in the 2015-2016 period was 1.3 Pound sterling, 1 kWh of electricity only cost
12 pence, making the electric car receive a 35% grant from the total car price given by the
government as a subsidy that reduced most electric car price despite there are a maximum amount
of subsidy that the government could give. Besides being far cheaper in terms of annual spending,
the electric car also produces less carbon dioxide, about 50 grams, which is already considered
emission-less compared to ordinary vehicles that still use fossil fuel-powered cars. This is critical
to note since about 97% of greenhouse gases in Scotland are Carbon Dioxide, and 20% of them are
produced by conventional cars.

However, electric cars also have their own negative side, just like conventional cars. While
most people in the community think that electric cars do not have any fault, there are still
numerous challenges if the country's government worldwide wants to ensure that electric cars can
be used everywhere. One of those challenges is the high number of electricity that is needed to
charge an electric car fully, which will cause an increase in the electricity demand in the city or
even in the country itself. Additionally, those high electricity usages also will cause a significant
overload to the car grid itself. Furthermore, electric cars generally have long battery charging
times, a high initial cost, and a relatively short range of available vehicle options. That three
factors need to be paid attention to by the world leader of the environmentalism movement since it
would be useless to produce many electric cars if the electric cars themselves still need a long time
to charge and cost a hefty amount of money to maintain the car over the year that will cause only
the people that have the buying power to be able to buy the car.

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What makes it worse is that electric cars also have a low battery capacity. If we add the low
battery problem, long charging time, and high electricity usage, electric cars will produce more
greenhouse gases compared to conventional cars since the electricity demand from the power
stations will significantly increase unless renewable energy is developed to replace fossil fuels that
are needed to produce electricity. Luckily, Scotland, along with other European Union countries, is
already developing innovative grid technology by scheduling the charging processes aligned with
existing priority policies that recognize vehicles with higher urgency of charging. Implementing
the technology in the future would aid in flattening the demand curve of electricity usage, which
will result in avoiding overloading the grid.

2. THE SEARCH FOR AN ALTERNATIVE LITHIUM-ION

BATTERIES

In our daily lives, the Lithium-Ion battery is a pivotal item that we use every day to power
up many electronic devices that still need a battery to be able to use. Sadly, Lithium-Ion batteries
produce a lot of carbon waste since a large amount of fossil fuels is needed in the production
process. Additionally, there is also a scarcity threat over the Lithium resource since the resource
itself is limited and has drastically increased over the years. Because of that, over the past years,
many researchers have been trying to find and develop an alternative for Lithium-Ion batteries that
are more environmentally and economically friendly. The reason is that there are significant
concerns regarding the safety, scarcity, and continuous price increase in the long-term use of
Lithium-Ion batteries.

Currently, a group of researchers from the United States of America is researching to find
an alternative to Lithium-Ion batteries by using Calcium-Ion due to their natural abundance and
low production cost. However, just like many other inventions, the researcher group finds trouble
in the development process when the researcher group is trying to insert a Calcium-ion into the
battery electrodes for the larger Calcium-Ion size and higher ionic charge. The research group
overcame the problem by inventing a particular class of materials called Molybdenum Vanadium
Oxides that contain large heptagonal and hexagonal-shaped channels running through the material.
The material acting as a tunnel will allow the Calcium-ion to be rapidly extracted and inserted
from the material.

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The research group hope that Calcium-Ion batteries can replace Lithium-ion batteries as a
more environmentally and economically friendly option despite the Lithium-Ion batteries have
been viewed as the golden standard of battery performance by society in general. In addition to
that, it is also hoped that by creating an alternative for the Calcium-Ion batteries, it could minimize
the air emission that it creates in the production process since all of the material that it releases,
such as dust, Hydrofluoric acid, and vapor, are very bad for the respiratory system and it could
cause an adverse effect on the endocrine, cardiovascular, and carcinogenicity system. Last but not
least, creating an alternative battery can also result in minimizing the land waste that results from
Lithium-ion battery production, which is very harmful to the soil and all creatures that live on
land.

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1. THE PARIS AGREEMENT

The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, was adopted
by 196 Parties at COP in Paris 2015. The Paris Agreement is aimed to limit global warming by
reducing world gas emissions to achieve a climate-neutral world.(11) The implementation of the
Paris Agreement requires international and national action toward economic and social
transformation. The Paris Agreement also provides frameworks regarding the financial, technical,
and capacity-building frameworks. Even though the Paris Agreement is nearly perfect based on its
legally binding characteristic, it still has several failures in its goals to achieve climate neutral
world, including:
1. Carbon emission goals are not realistic.
2. The Paris Agreement does not implement “Polluter Pays” including the global tax on world
carbon.
3. Have no clear punishment framework.
4. Have no incentives for investing in sustainability.

2. UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON

CLIMATE CHANGE (UNFCCC)
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was established in 1992.
This framework provides a basic international legal framework, policies, and climate change
cooperation principles. Its aim is to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses
(GHGs).(12) However, the UNFCCC has not been effective enough due to its historical focus on
emission targets being too narrow.

3. KYOTO PROTOCOL
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in December 1997. Currently, there are 192 Parties under
the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change operationalization by committing industrialized countries and economies in transition to
limit and reduce greenhouse gasses (GHGs). The Member States are required to meet their target
primarily through national measures. To support the Member States in meeting the goals, the
Convention has provided flexible market mechanisms based on the trade of emissions permits. The
Market Mechanism itself contains international emissions trading, a clean development
Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI).

(11)The Paris Agreement. (n.d.). UNFCCC. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://unfccc.int/process-and-
meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement
(12) UNTC. (n.d.). UNTC. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?
src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVII-7&chapter=27&Temp=mtdsg3&clang=_en 15
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The Protocol also provides a monitoring, review, and verification system and a compliance
system to ensure transparency and holds Parties to account emission targets.(13) However, the
Protocol also has failed to achieve its goals, including the exemption of developing countries from
reductions requirements and the lack of an effective emissions trading scheme.

4. UNEP’S GLOBAL ELECTRIC MOBILITY PROGRAMME

UNEP’s Global Electric Mobility Programme was established in 2019; it focus on supporting
country projects worth than 70 million in grants and over USD 250 million in loans at the national,
regional, and global level by building capacity and creating awareness, establishing roadmaps and
strategies, developing national policy frameworks, creating business models and finance schemes,
piloting electric vehicles.(14) The Programme also provides regional support & investment
platform by providing technical support and training, a helpdesk to introduce electric mobility,
creating communities to share lessons and best practices, and establishing marketplaces to
mobilize suppliers and financers. However, many countries are pessimistic about the Programme
goals, including the developing countries that can not reach the goals due to the lack of funding
and social awareness.

(13)What is the Kyoto Protocol? (n.d.). UNFCCC. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol

(14) Global Electric Mobility Programme. (n.d.). AIR QUALITY & MOBILITY. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from
https://airqualityandmobility.org/PCFV/PDF/sootfree_TheGlobalElectricMobilityProgramme.pdf

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Talking about the paradox in the environmentalism movement is quite a complex topic since
there will be disagreement due to the realization that the environmentalism movement is not purely
white and the action shift that followed it. Because of that, the Board of DAIS expected that there
would be at least two blocs that will be formed at the conference, which is the environmental bloc
which consists of countries that support the environmental movement, and the opposition bloc,
which will use the paradox realization of the environmentalism movements to benefit their
national interest, especially regarding the usage of polluting matter such as fossil fuel and other
non-renewable energy.

1. The Environmental Bloc

Ever since the idea of using renewable energy and the environmentalism movements
appeared in the 1970s after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in
Stockholm in 1972 under General Assembly Resolution 2997. At that time, many
environmentalists started discussing about the development and usage of renewable energy instead
of non-renewable energy to prevent more harmful greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon
dioxide damaging the ozone layer since the world started to realize that environmental issues are
critical to be paid attention at to make sure the future generation have liveable earth to live at.
However, sometimes putting blind faith into something is not a good thing, and that is what
happens to the countries such as the Scandinavian country, Canada, and Australia since they did
not realize the bad part of the environmentalism movements. If the country itself wants to maintain
its agenda, they have to be able to prove to the world that the paradox regarding the
environmentalism movements is not a big thing to be paid attention to, and they already have a
solution for it.

2. The Opposition Bloc

On the contrary, numerous countries do not care much about environmental issues, such as
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, due to there being far more critical issues that they need to focus
on, ranging from poverty to political conflict. The reason is that the country that opposes the
environmentalism movements is usually a developing or underdeveloped nation that does not have
much financial capability, and the economic activity in the country itself heavily relies on fossil
fuels or other non-renewable energy. With that in mind, it is no surprise that they do not support
the environmentalism movements as much compared to the environmental bloc that mainly
consists of the developed country. Considering all of that, in the conference, the opposing bloc
may use the paradox within the environmentalism movements as a reason for the lack of support,
and the environmental bloc has to work harder if they want to guarantee that the country in the
opposing bloc will support their vision and mission.
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1. Untangling the Environmentalist’s Paradox: Why Is Human Well-Being Increasing as

Ecosystem Services Degrade?
[Available at]
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221939560_Untangling_the_Environmentalist's_Paradox
_Why_Is_Human_Well-being_Increasing_as_Ecosystem_Services_Degrade
2. The Environmental Paradox
[Available at]
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/the-environmental-paradox/
3. The Dark Side of Environmentalism
[Available at]
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/29260/summary
4. Utopian Thought In The Making of Green Futures
[Available at]
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203067215-8/utopian-thought-making-
green-futures-karin-bradley-johan-hedr%C3%A9n

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Questions a Resolutions Must Answers (QARMAs)

1. What is the best practice for utilizing environmental ecosystem services, including natural
resources, without compromising the future generation?
2. What are the best measures to define human well-being, and how to implement the measures
globally?
3. What role can the UNEP council and other international actors play in tackling the impact of
the environmentalism movement and the paradox within despite the differences in each
country's economic and social status?
4. How can the UNEP council able to make sure that every international actor able to realize the
importance of solving the impact of the environmentalism movement without effecting the
2030 target too much?

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