Expert warning of collapse if China and India copying U.S. transport model

If the emerging countries like China or India just copying the U.S. model of transport, with residential areas where cars play a key role in mobility, sustainability of the planet is in danger, according to Ramon Cruz, a member of the Institute for Transportation Policy in New York.

Cruz, who is attending the UN summit organized in Barcelona to prepare for the Copenhagen conference on climate change, Efe said today that the role of public transport and the city model where mobility is accessible and not dependent upon private car, especially if you use fossil fuels should be reflected clearly in the agreement to leave the Danish capital.

This expert has been one of the speakers at a session in which it has exposed the need for the future agreement in Copenhagen, if achieved, incorporating specific points that address the importance of land transport, recalled, is the area where fastest growing emissions of CO2, a situation that will worsen if countries most populous emerging economies, like China or India, betting on models where the car is king.

"What worries us is that there are countries where purchasing power is growing and with it comes a quality standard of living to which people want to access, and bring that level often incorporated the private car," said.

The transport sector is responsible for about 30 percent of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

From the international coalition that advocates the importance of public transport, which is part of the agency represented Cruz, suggests that this area is treated as a separate sector in Copenhagen "to countries where development path, but also the rich, planning their new cities have mechanisms and clear policies to reduce emissions. "

It is not only a commitment to rail systems, but also by specific lanes that allow a fast track bus, cheaper than a meter, and already works in cities like Bogotá, Guayaquil or Sao Paulo.

According to Cruz, the Kyoto Protocol does not promote this type of planning and recognizes that the current economic model is supported by market forces too large, since both China and India are putting into the car market very reasonable prices to families income.

"They want to have that kind of life is what they see on television, the American model, but not only in developing countries but also here in Spain itself, where the suburbs have grown enormously, and with it the kind of life around the mall, "he added.

The goal is that countries are at that crossroads have a planning and help from rich states to adopt a less polluting. One possibility would happen because these contributions to mitigate and reduce the gases are intended to promote, for example, use of the electric car.

Cruz gives the example of China, where in just five years creating additional inhabited more than one million inhabitants, which in Europe would be considered large cities but for the Asian giant are small cities.

"A million people consuming and involve moving many issues, and if that is extrapolated to many new being created, we talk about large population, so China is key to set the tone for how the cities of developing nations be formed, this expert has said.

Despite these good intentions, he stressed that "it is very difficult to change the paradigm overnight, especially if there is behind the automobile multinationals and countries unlikely to interfere in the private industrial sector, as with U.S. .

"We must leave behind the American dream of a detached home with your backyard and with their cars," he emphasizes cross on a model that is outdated, compared to European cities that offer more accessible to citizens like Amsterdam or Copenhagen itself.