International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): Sovereignty in the Skies [Advanced]

Every flight begins from a simple assumption, that the sky above a nation belongs to it. The Chicago Convention of 1944 wrote that principle into law, but it is now buckling, caught between states that close, spoof, and weaponize their airspace and a warming planet that aviation can no longer ignore. This committee asks delegates to defend a system built for cooperation now that sovereignty itself, and the climate, have become the threat.

Subtopic A: Civil Aviation in Contested & Closed Airspace
The Chicago Convention built civil aviation on state sovereignty, but it is now the threat. Airspace closures have redrawn flight paths, conflicts have choked flight corridors, and GNSS spoofing throws aircraft off their own navigation, showing how easily a state can weaponize its skies. Delegates must weigh global reliability and safety against sovereignty, build frameworks for conflict-zone risk assessment and GNSS resilience, and ask when a flight of 550 souls outweighs policy.

Subtopic B: Decarbonizing International Aviation and the CORSIA Reckoning
The Paris Agreement neglected civil aviation, referring the problem to ICAO. Its answer? CORSIA, an offset scheme turning mandatory in 2027. The catch is Sustainable Aviation Fuel, expensive and barely existing at scale, where inequitable access could ground airlines before they reach the skies. The EU already prohibits “unsafe” airlines from its airspace, and nothing stops the same for carriers short of CORSIA. Delegates should negotiate who pays, set SAF financing and credibility standards, and ask whether CORSIA is good enough.