Report: Developing Countries Have Key Role in Solving Global Tansportation Woes
By John O'Dell August 23, 2010
We don't know if this kind of thinking will ever make it across the water to our shores - or, if it does, whether our often dogmatically intransigent legislatures would ever give it serious consideration, but a panel of transportation and environmental policy makers meeting in Thailand over the weekend said that governments are going to have to reconsider where transportation funding should go if there ever are to be meaningful improvements in congestion, air quality and urban planning.
Too much of the world's transportation funding now goes to support motor vehicles and the fuels they run on, Michael Replogle, founder of the nonprofit Institute for Transportation and Development Policy told attendees at the Asian Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum held in Bangkok.
How much?
He claimed that as much as $700 billion is spent each year subsidizing motor fuels, while "hundreds of billions more in public and global aid funds subsidize the growing use of cars."
We have nothing against cars - although we want to see them all run as cleanly as possible - but we also believe there needs to be a much bigger role in the world for mass transit, especially in developed and developing automobile-dependent countries.
A report released Sunday by the Institute and the nonprofit Partnership for Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport, urges developing countries to learn from the missteps of automobile-dependent countries (like the U.S.) and suggests that they can play a significant role in a cleaner future by making sure their transportation, land use and other development policies foster increased use of "sustainable" transit including bus and rail systems.
Among the more disturbing findings: Rapid growth of passenger vehicle use in developing countries is expected to be a major cause of a nearly 60 percent global increase in transport-related CO2 emissions by 2030 "if current trends continue."
Here's hoping they don't.
If you find the subject interesting, you can click here to see the entire report "A Paradigm Shift Towards Sustainable Low-Carbon Transport: Financing the Vision ASAP."
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If history is any indication, it is easier for countries and locales that have minimal or no infrastructure in place to build from scratch than to retrofit or adapt existing infrastructure. For example, prior to WWII, Japan was only mildly industrialized. After Allied bombing attacks obliterated Japanese industry, the Japanese were able to rebuild their industrial base using the latest technology and techniques -- something that made their industry more efficient than their American counterparts. Now the US is playing catch-up. A similar chain of events took place in Germany: the industrial base was completely destroyed and then rebuilt better than ever. Just ten years ago the world's second and third largest economies were those of Japan and Germany.
The point is that developing countries have a singular opportunity here to be ahead of the curve. They can develop an all-electric transportation system, efficient and scalable infrastructure, and programs that lay the groundwork for long-term leadership in transportation technology. All with minimal modification to their current systems.
The only problem is money. Developing nations may not have the funds available to build admittedly more-expensive transportation systems, and would require investment from the richest nations. While most nations are feeeling the pinch from this global recession, I think China is in the unique position of (a) being a "developing" country, (b) growing their economy and thus being flush with cash, (c) having the raw resources necessary to establish an all-electric transportation system, and (d) having an authoritarian government capable of rolling out such a broad scheme. So, China will likely take a leading role in efficient transportation technology for the next 50 years.
I agree with greenpony. So long as the governments of the world know to look to the world's second largest economy in the world instead of its largest, I maintain hope that infrastructure development will occur in the right ways.
P.S.- Japan was actually fairly well industrialized before WWII, which was why it was able to take over Korea and large tracts of northern China, in addition to a number of southeast Asian locations.
P.P.S- Thanks you, GreenCarAdvisor, for posting this link. Inside this report is contained a chart of the gasoline taxation in most countries in the world, information which I have been looking for for a very, very long time. Much obliged.
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