MOBILIZING DEVELOPMENT

9 Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development
INTRODUCTION
Imagine cities with quiet streets, clean air, easy and
equitable access to work and school, and vibrant
community life. Imagine families that travel from their
rural home to a city centre and then on to visit relatives
in another country, using a combination of road, rail,
waterborne and air transport—moving from one to the
next seamlessly and efficiently, taking advantage of the
strengths of each mode. And imagine goods crossing
borders efficiently, reaching their destination on time,
with minimal environmental impact—so that people
get what they need and economies develop without
compromising opportunities for future generations.
This vision can be realised through a widespread,
ambitious and genuine commitment to advancing
sustainable transport systems.
Transport is fundamental to development in a largescale,
global sense. At the same time, it has a profound
and personal impact on individual lives. In many cases,
transport involves choice—whether to move or to stay
in place, whether to walk, cycle, take public transport
or a private car, whether to ship a product overnight or
with more flexible deadlines—but choice is also in many
situations severely limited by poverty; social exclusion;
and national, regional, or local circumstances. The
transport options available in a country reflect its level
of development. At the same time, transport is a driver
as well as a marker of economic development. It enables
individuals and communities to rise out of poverty and
overcome social exclusion, connecting goods to markets
and linking rural areas and market towns to large cities
and the global marketplace.
In 2015, the Member States of the United Nations
embraced a global vision for sustainable development
with the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development
Goals. 7 The goals acknowledge that development
decisions and actions must consider the social, economic
and environmental benefits and negative impacts.
Also in 2015, the international community adopted the
Paris Climate Agreement, which “aims to strengthen
the global response to the threat of climate change, in
the context of sustainable development and efforts to
eradicate poverty.” 8 These two milestone outcomes are
reinforced by other important international agreements,
including the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing
for Development, 9 the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction, 10 and the Habitat III New Urban Agenda. 11 All of
these agreements are intrinsically linked, and progress in
one will be achieved only with progress in the others. Real
changes in transport systems around the world will be
vital to success.
The current report presents proposals by the Advisory
Group for consideration by the current and future UN
Secretary-General and in turn by decision makers around
the world. It takes an integrated approach to sustainable
transport—including short- and long-range, intra- and