Cheongshim International Academy
Model United Nations 2017
CHAIR REPORT
[General Assembly Senior]
Agenda
1. Tackling the inequalities of free trade in developing nations.
2. Investigating methods to speculate the occurrence of “El
Niño and diminish the damages derived by El Niño.
Committee: General Assembly Junior
Agenda: Investigating methods to speculate the occurrence of “El Niño and diminish the damages
derived by El Niño.
Chair: Kyuwon Ahn / Youyong Jung
1. Introduction
El Niño is currently attracting concern as another afflictive environmental complication that the
globe has a responsibility to solve. It has recently come into the attention of the global community
because of the disastrous effects it has on the environment. El Niño has a record of affecting nations
spread over the world near the Pacific Ocean - Peru, South Korea, United States of America, Indonesia,
Australia and numerous other nations - face direct consequences. Society has to come to terms with
both the social and economic consequences in addition to the environmental effects. El Niño
commences droughts, famines, hurricanes, damages of human lives, economic burden, and innumerable
other repercussions. Therefore, it is necessary to create an adequate resolution to minimize the negative
effects of El Niño.
El Niño is defined as the increase in temperature of sea level continuously for 5 months by more
than 0.5 degrees. Even if the actual increase of sea surface temperatures is minicule, the effect brings
about large-scale climate changes to the surrounding environment. For example, El Niño in southern
Brazil and northern Argentina increases humidity, can bring warm and rainy winter in mid-Chile, and
extraordinary snowfall phenomenon in the Peru-Bolivia’s plateau area.
The consequences El Niño are hard to undermine, as preparation is almost impossible considering
the difficult in predicting El Niño occurrences. Also, the long period of time in between El Niño
occurrences usually render people insensitive to the aftermath that El Niño can bring. However, it is
undeniable that El Niño is a serious environmental and socioeconomic issue that needs to be resolved.
Therefore, the focus of this agenda will be on developing means to predict when El Niño will happen
and to decrease the overall consequences it brings about.
2. Definition of Key Terms

El Nino Southern Oscillation
El Nino Southern Oscillation is an irregular change in sea surface temperature and the winds, and
it can be divided into two distinct phases- the warming phase, El Nino, and the cooling phase, La Nina.

El Niño
El Niño refers to a phenomenon that occurs mostly in the pacific tropical region when the
temperature of the sea surface suddenly increases. El Niño is known to occur approximately every 5
years. The name comes from the Spanish word “El Niño”, which originally means ‘a boy.’

La Niña
The opposing effect of El Niño, La Niña, was found after the discovery of El Niño. La Niña
happens randomly between 2~7 years, lasting up to 2 years. When the equator’s trade wind becomes
stronger than average, it causes the rise of sea level and temperature in the western Pacific. The
upwelling of cold sea water creates low temperatures of water in the eastern Pacific of the equator.

Upwelling phenomenon
Upwelling occurs when ocean water is emitted (spread) and the surface circulation of the water
fails to fill this gap. The water of the deep sea rises to the surface to fill the gap, and this is called
upwelling. The water that rises to the surface is low in temperature and contains plenty of nutritive salts.
It also provides good fishery due to the oxygen dissolved in the water. The Peru shores, the west coast
of the United States, Southwest African shore, and the Arabian Sea are regions where upwelling is
observed.
 Sea surface temperature
The sea surface temperature refers to the temperature of the ocean water at different layers of
depth, measured by satellite microwave radiometers. Information about sea surface temperature can be
used in various ways, such as weather prediction, ocean climate prediction, and coastal applications.
3. Background Information
Figure 1: The El Nino Phenomenon
The West Pacific Ocean has a high temperature, and the temperatures of the southeast shores
decrease because of the wave of cold water from Peru. In South American shores, as the cold water
rises to the surface (due to upwelling), cold water is always maintained in the East Pacific Peru shores.
The circulation of the atmosphere does a crucial role in steadying the distribution of sea surface
temperatures. Also, the trade wind, which blows to the west, plays a big role in stabilizing the hot water
of the West Pacific and the cold water of the East Pacific. As the trade wind carries the warm water on
the surface to the west of the Pacific, the level of warm water increases in thickness in the west and
decreases in the east. If the trade wind becomes weaker, the warm water level of the west becomes
thinner than usual and the level in the east becomes thicker.
Because of this, the upwelling effect weakens and as the warm sea water moves to the east, the
sea surface temperature of the mid and east equator pacific gradually increases- eventually leading to
the El Nino phenomena.
Until 1950, El Nino was thought to be a local phenomenon shown only in the South American
shore. But later in the 1950's, a global network to observe the climate and the ocean was organized and
successfully proved that the El Nin is not a local phenomenon of the South American shores, but a
grand scale phenomenon that affects the globe even to the International Date Line around the middle of
the Pacific equator line.
Also, this phenomenon is related to the change in air pressure in the tropical Pacific region,
affecting the increase and decrease in the catch of anchovies, a decrease in the number of anchovies,
and the creation of floods, which means that it has an influence in Peru’s social and economic aspects.
It was also discovered that El Nino affects the atmosphere circulation of the whole globe, influencing
the weather in all parts of the world, including middle altitude regions and high altitude regions.
The effects of El Niño are devastating. The major consequences of El Nino are droughts,
hurricanes, and the rise in sea temperature. Droughts and hurricanes are brought on by sudden changes
in the sea surface temperature. As the circulation of water can’t follow the flow of the water and the
temperature is altered, the flow of the water inside the ocean loses balance. As shown above, El Nino
usually brings about environmental disasters, which eventually become the causes of hovering
aftermaths such as famines, loss of human lives, and economic wastes.
The process of dealing with the aftermath of El Nino requires a considerable amount of money
and resources, which affects the local economy and the global economy. As the natural disasters lead
to loss of lives and severe damage, the overall well-being of the society is also affected. However, the
specific mechanisms, such as the formation and the lapse, are not yet well-known, which makes it
impossible for the nations of the globe to prepare and react to the happening of El Niño.
4. Major Countries and Organizations Involved

Peru
Peru declares a 60-day alert to let people know about a state of emergency. The alert was declared
because of the development of El Nino in the Pacific Ocean. The development of El Nino imminently
means floods in Peru, so the government had alerted the people about it. Also, the formation of El Nino
makes the water retreat towards South America, which makes the nutritive water flow back and reduces
the fish supply. The reason, in fact, El Nino was discovered was because a Peruvian fisherman’s
discovery that fishes disappears every three to seven years. The effect of this reduction is dramatic
because Peru heavily relies on the industry of anchovies- the El Nino between 1972 to 1973 almost
brought the destruction of the whole Peruvian fishing industry, which would have eventually affected
the overall Peruvian industry as well.

South Korea
In the years of El Nino occurrences, the temperature is relatively low during the summer and the
precipitation level is higher than average. The clear effects aren't defined, since sometimes the
temperature is observed to be higher than usual. This can be attributed to the fact that South Korea is
located on a middle latitude region and is affected by the equator Pacific. At the same time, air comes
from the northwestern high latitude region. Thus, the effects cancel each other out, so the final
consequences do not show definitely.

Indonesia
Indonesia is one of the countries that is substantially affected by the El Nino. Without the
occurrence of El Nino near Indonesia, plenty of rain fell in northern Sumatra and the ignition of fires is
controlled through sufficient dampness. However, when El Nino takes place, precipitation does not
happen as actively as before which caused dry weather in Indonesia's regions. This intensified seasonal
fire, which made it hard to manage the harvest of crops-thus leading an influence to the economy as
well.

United States of America
From 1982 to 1983 and 1997 to 1998, the US went through heavy rain, floods, and landslides that
cause several losses and a devastating aftermath. These two events were the strongest El Ninos in the
past 60 years. Even after these occasions, there were furthermore El Ninos in the US and although not
as strong as the ones mentioned before, brought floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. As other
nations couldn't, the US couldn't get ready for the approach of El Nino and had to go through the
consequences without preparations.

Australia
Australia is influenced by El Nino in various ways, including reduced rainfall, warmer
temperatures, later monsoon onset, decreased alpine snow depths and others. Nine of the driest years of
Australia was when El Nino was in progress- the severe droughts on 1982, 1994, 2002 and 2006 were
all related to the period of El Nino. Also, Australia’s hottest periods were all during an El Nino- 2002
spring and winter, 2009 winter, 2006 spring, and 1982-1983 summers were all during El Nino.
5. Timeline of Key Events
1950
1970’s
1972
1982
1983
2002
Found that El Nino isn’t a local phenomenon
The network to observe climate and oceans was organized
Reduction of anchovies, affecting Peruvian fishing industry
Severe droughts in Peru caused by El Niño
Heavy rain, floods in the USA caused by El Niño
Severe droughts in Australia
After the foundation of the network to observe oceans and the climate, it was easier to find out
the formation and the development of El Niño- which did not really help when solving the aftermathsand the globe was able to find out the basics about El Niño. However, the solutions to find out about
when El Niño happens and means to minimize the disturbances of El Niño are not yet fully implemented
and the need of them is being stressed.
6. Relevant UN Treaties, Resolutions and Events



A/66/301 (2011); Implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
A/67/335 (2012); Implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
A/RES/69/283 (2015); Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-
As shown above, the UN did make efforts to minimize the consequences and come up with ways
to prevent further aftermaths. However they were inadequate to be to be direct solutions to the globe’s
situation and although relevant nations accepted such measures, they were not able to face improved
situations. Thus, the need to devise measures to predict El Nino has become more crucial.
7. Previous Attempts to Solve the Issue
As the negative effects of El Nino started to increase, nations that are directly affected and the
international society as a whole have been making attempts to search for solutions to this issue.
In the May of 2016, UN embassies were called upon to provide efficient leadership to devise
sufficient solutions to the effects of El Nino. These embassies were named in the period when countries,
including Ethiopia, were suffering from drought- not to mention children from all over the world being
in agony with severe malnutrition and harsh conditions.
Also, the construction of dams is a possible solution to the consequences of El Nino. The
construction of dams planned to be about 30~40, and will become a provision to the inadequacy of
water and severe droughts brought by El Nino. The water supply (for emergencies and droughts) will
increase by 8.5 percent, therefore decreasing the possibility of droughts and famines.
There were also organizations formed to examine El Nino symptoms and devise solutions.
Although precise measures to speculate the specific period of El Ninos are yet to be found, such
organizations have attempted to develop devices and means to predict the period of El Nino.
8. Possible Solutions
There are several solutions in order to investigate the means to diminish the damages brought by
El Nino and predict El Nino’s happening.
The reduction of carbon dioxide is one possible solution. The development of technology to
increase field efficiency, therefore reducing the usage of fossil fuel usage, is a way to decrease carbon
dioxide released into the air. If this is managed aptly with care, the CO2 level will gradually decrease
and therefore contribute to lowering the global temperature. As the increase in sea surface temperature
is one of the main causes of El Nino, when managed properly, this could become an effective solution
to diminishing harms from El Nino.
The reinforcement of organizations will also become an asset to solving El Nino consequences.
Although there are organizations formed to diminish ramifications of El Nino, the actual aid they can
provide is limited, as often they aren’t backed up with finance. However, with the help of consistent
nations and influential NGOs with enough financial support, the direct help that organizations can offer
expands to a wide variety of categories and amount. Thus by urging UN nations to consent with such
treaties and contracts, the globe will come to be a less-harmed-by-El Nino place.
With the collection of past data and data collected by the global network that monitors climate
and ocean, there may be ways to find out the patterns of El Nino occurrence and speculate when an El
Nino is approaching. With this, nations could minimize the damage an El Nino causes by preparing in
advance. Thus, it is crucial for nations to devise ways to supplement the network and means to analyze
data, hence gaining steps to speculate El Nino occurrence.
There are seemingly many possible solutions, but the prevention of further damages stemming
from unexpected occurrences of El Nino is a problem that needs to be considered. Thus, the UN needs
to come up with adequate ways to predict El Nino occurrence and productively prevent the
consequences it brings on.
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