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Mobilizing Sustainable Transportation For Development

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Transportation infrastructure is one of the key pillars of an infrastructure development strategy in any country—it connects people, goods and services; facilitates trade and industry development; and ultimately fosters economic growth. On the other hand, it is also a leading contributor to hgreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: as high as 23 per cent of GHG emissions come from the transport sector. And there are other challenges: “every year 1.24 million people die in road accidents and a further 3.5 million people die prematurely due to outdoor pollution, including from transport sources; road congestion is a tremendous burden on the economy, currently accounting for 0.7% of the GDP in the United States, 2% of GDP in Europe, 2–5% of GDP in Asia, and as high as 10% of GDP in some cities of emerging economies, including Beijing, São Paulo and Lima.” (UN High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport, 2016).

To address these challenges and to help position the transport sector as a driver of inclusive, sustainable development a UN High Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport (2016) came up with a set of recommendations:

  1. Make transport planning, policy and investment decisions based on the three sustainable development dimensions—social development, environmental (including climate) impacts and economic growth—and a full life cycle analysis.
  2. Integrate all sustainable transport planning efforts with an appropriately balanced development of transport modes: integration vertically among levels of government and horizontally across modes, territories and sectors.
  3. Create supportive institutional, legal and regulatory government frameworks to promote effective, sustainable transport.
  4. Build technical capacity of transport planners and builders, especially in developing countries, through partnerships with international organizations, multilateral development banks, and governments at all levels, to ensure equitable access to markets, jobs, education and other necessities.
  5. Reinforce efforts toward preventing road traffic deaths and injuries.
  6. Foster an informed, engaged public as a crucial partner in advancing sustainable transport solutions.
  7. Establish monitoring and evaluation frameworks for sustainable transport, and build capacity for gathering and analyzing sound and reliable data and statistics.
  8. Promote diversified funding sources and coherent fiscal frameworks to advance sustainable transport systems, initiatives and projects.
  9. Increase international development funding and climate funding for sustainable transport.
  10. Promote sustainable transport technologies through outcome-oriented government investment and policies that encourage private sector investment and action through various incentive structures.”