Draft Resolution for Committee Consideration and Recommendation
Committee C: Desertification and Water Scarcity
Draft Resolution
Submitted for revision by the delegations to the Model United Nations,
College of Charleston, Fall 2012
The General Assembly;
Recalling the previous commitments of Agenda 21 from the 1992 Earth Summit, the
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, the Millennium Declaration Plan, and the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to increasing access to clean water, combating
desertification, and striving towards a greener economy;
Further recalling the previously agreed commitments of the Convention to Combat
Desertification in September 2005 which aims to promote effective action through
innovative local programmes and supportive international partnerships;
Supporting the Millennium Declaration Plan’s emphasis on water scarcity by declaring
the decade 2005-2015 the International Water Decade;
Affirming the role of the UNEP in creating mandates and investigating concerns
regarding desertification and water scarcity, especially in developing nations;
Noting the definition of desertification, provided in Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit in
1992, to be land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from
various factors, including climatic variations and human activities;
Understanding that when water is not used in a sustainable manner, land degrades, which
is the driving force of desertification;
Taking note that urbanization and poor water management diminishes the availability of
the freshwater supply through the development of urban structures.
Emphasizing that 2.1 billion people live in the world’s deserts and drylands, 90% of this
population in developing countries, 50% of world’s livestock are supported by
rangelands, 24% of land, globally, is degrading, and $42 billion USD in income is lost
every year due to desertification;
Supports the idea that the implementation of programs to establish sustainable
agricultural development includes the improvement of general planning, management and
utilization of land resources and the preservation of soil fertility introduced in Agenda 21,
Chapter 14;
Recognizing the relationship between desertification and water access to increased
poverty and decreased food security and that eradication of these issues would result in
an increase of sustainable agricultural development;
Recognizes that in the 15th session of the Human Rights Council in 2010, water was defined as a
right and no longer an economic good;
Understanding that water scarcity is highest among arid areas and affects between 1 to 2 billion
people, most of them in the drylands;
Drawing attention to the increasing population, meaning the world water supply will
need to support 9.3 billion people by 2050;
Emphasizing the previous commitments of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation to
halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford
safe drinking water;
Further emphasizing the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation since Africa is still
experiencing problems with food security;
Acknowledging the need for increased financial assistance for improving water access
and combating desertification in developing countries, especially those located in Africa;
Understanding that in Africa, more than 300 of the 800 million people living in SubSaharan Africa live in water-scarce areas;
Further acknowledging the dependence African economies have on rainfed agriculture,
which accounts for 87% of total water withdrawals; in addition, the UNEP has declared
that investing in irrigated farming is at least four times more likely in eradicating poverty;
Notes the importance of climate change in water scarcity and desertification; as a result of
climate change, the Himalayan snow and ice, which provided water for agriculture in
Asian countries, is expected to decline by 20% by 2030;
Further recognizing that two-thirds of the world’s hungry people live inhabit the Asian
continent;
Noting the disproportionate contribution to climate change made by European and North
American countries leading to an increased risk of warming in natural water resources,
affecting indigenous peoples of the Arctic;
Considers that Latin American countries are experiencing the greatest urban growth and
this substantial growth influenced by a lack of infrastructure causes urban areas to lack
proper access to water;
Noting that the Convention to Combat Desertification is the only multilateral agreement
on the environment that addresses gender issues, with the focus on gender roles;
Understanding that the expansion of desertification has lead to an increase in the number
of men migrating to find new employment, which greatly increases the workloads and
responsibilities of women and negatively impacts their reliance on agriculture as a food
source;
Recognizing that when women lack the knowledge, means or authority to manage the natural
resources on which they directly depend, degradation of these resources is more likely to
occur, as stated by the United Nations Development Programme.
Therefore this Committee;
Urges governments and, as appropriate, the relevant funds, programs and organizations
and the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, the international financial
institutions, and particularly civil society, including the private sector, non-governmental
organizations, communities, groups of organized individuals and other stakeholders to
take the following actions:
1
Urges the international community to take note of the relationship between
desertification and water scarcity; desertification occurs most frequently within
arid areas that are already prone to water scarcity. As the trend of desertification
intensifies, the deleterious effects of water unavailability will be exacerbated;
2
Calls for nations to place greater importance on and stronger efforts towards the
prevention of desertification, rather than a focus on rehabilitation projects;
a Appreciates that nations and regional cooperatives are proposing and
implementing rehabilitation projects to combat desertification;
b Acknowledges that state sponsored rehabilitation projects tend to align
with the goals of the central government rather than the environment and
local population;
3
Strengthens the actions of groups and states working towards establishing water
as a human right and not an economic good;
4
Establishes water as a common good that is not subject to market trends, because
currently in areas such as South America, water privatization is a leading factor to
the price of water being higher than that of food;
5
Condemns the practice of water commodification and the practice of privatelyowned businesses establishing this right as a source of profit;
6
Condemns the privatization of water in that it decreases a community's ability to
access their own water sources and use this source to satisfy the needs of the
community sustainably;
7
Suggests halting the practice of relocating water sources, as this practice occurs
through the larger trend of water privatization and is primarily for the purpose of
providing water in other locations and is detrimental to the original water sources
and communities;
8
Prohibits the existence of military bases of developed countries, calling attention
to current actions being taken in Paraguay, in undeveloped countries for the
purpose of acquiring freshwater sources;
9
Strengthen the ability of developing nations to expel transnational corporations
that are encroaching upon the country's natural water sources;
10 Encourages developed nations to change domestic policies surrounding the
pumping of groundwater for local water use, as the mass amounts of groundwater
pumping lends itself to both desertification and water scarcity;
11 Enforce stricter anti-pollution laws, focusing on industrialized nations, in order to
ensure improved water quality in communities around the world;
12 Calls upon developing nations to enforce stricter laws within the industrial sector,
specifically drawing attention to the mining industry as well as the disposal of
solid and toxic wastes onto land;
a Affirms that the root cause of the above-mentioned issue is the
mismanagement by land users and poor implementation of pollution
control regulations;
13 Strengthen the infrastructure in sub-saharan Africa in order to bring adequate
irrigation schemes to this part of the world;
14 Focusing on the need for industrialized nations to address sewage-related issues
so as to improve water quality;
15 Prohibits the practice of exporting deforestation by developing nations as a way
to limit their environmental degradation while, at the same time, unequally
increasing their economic benefits at the cost of lesser developed nations;
16 Discourages the dependence on tourism-generated revenue in areas where water
availability is scarce, especially in developing countries;
17 Suggests nations increase the amount and depth of scientific study of the trends of
desertification and water scarcity in order to better prepare policy and implement
solutions for these problems.
18 Encourages nations to invest in local projects that involve community members
which work to preserve natural water and land resources;
a Recognizes that funding local projects educates local populations,
encourages community participation, and builds stronger connection and
respect for these natural resources;
19 Recommends nations increase the amount of women-centered land conservation
and development projects that empower participants to make sustainable
agricultural decisions that ensure them more equal partnership with men;
a In addition to women-centered projects, community and male-centered
education programs be established to ensure a greater participation in and
understanding of women's potential role in preventing desertification as
well as increasing the amount of support networks and organization as at
their disposal;
20 Urges nations equalize the responsibilities, user rights, legal status, division of
labor and decision-making between men and women in relation to land;
21 Further urges developing nations review their agricultural land ownership
policies and reform where necessary, so that women are granted equal access to
land holdings as men and are given equal opportunity to make decisions
concerning their landholdings;
22 Requests that all nations accept and employ the use of Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) within the borders of their state in order to bring better
cooperation and solutions to the issues of desertification and water scarcity;
a Further requests that all nations recognize that NGOs are the appropriate
channel to rely on to implement and evaluate the success of desertification
prevention and rehabilitation projects;
b Expresses its hope that the greater involvement of NGOs will lead to a
bottoms up approach that will increase the level of education and
encourage local participants to be invested in the health of their land and
water resources;
c Expects nations to assist and bolster rather than hinder and stall the work
of NGOs that concern projects of desertification and water;
23 Encourages member signatories to work with organizations, vulnerable
populations and susceptible environments so as to prevent and reverse the effects
of desertification by 10% for the year 2020 and 30% for the year 2030;
24 Calls for the establishment of a financial arm for the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), in order to better implement and monitor
the Convention to help persons and groups most affected and threatened by
desertification and water scarcity issues associated with desertification, which
shall carry out the functions hereinafter provided:
a The Committee shall consist of fifteen experts of high moral standing and
recognized competence in the field covered by this Convention. The
members of the Committee shall be divided according to the five regions
of importance established under the UNCCD. Each region shall have
three experts on the Committee, with one representing the general interests
of the region as well as possessing expertise over the whole region, with
the other two experts rotating according to areas the UNCCD deems most
vulnerable within the region; these experts should possess specific
expertise within the highlighted region;
b Members of the Committee shall be selected from a pool of applicants
from the NGO community at large as well as from input of member
nations;
c Members will be selected by United Nations Human Rights Council, with
reviews occurring every two years in order to make any necessary
adjustments;
25 Demands that signatories of this resolution provide financial assistance to the
newly established financial arm of the United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD);
26 Further demands that developed nations increase their commitment to this issue
and provide greater financial support;
27 Creates a world-wide tourism tax, that initially, 20% of the revenue generated
will help to fund the financial arm of the UNCCD so as to alleviate the added
stress of financial obligations from signatories.
a Hopes that the world-wide tourism tax will make the financial arm of the
UNCCD self-sustainable;
b Suggests that the other percentage of the profits be given to UNESCO to
fund the preservation of World Heritage Sites as well programs connected
with the objections of this Resolution;
c Suggests the taxation of tourists who choose to use package tour and group
tour companies as well as the addition of a tax on all UNESCO World
Heritage site entrance tickets.
Preparing to Represent Your Country on the United Nations Committee C Resolution,
“Desertification and Water Scarcity”
Before you can make amendments to the draft resolution on issues particularly relevant to
desertification and water scarcity, you must know what your country has done, is currently
doing, or has not done in respect to addressing these issues. Helpful questions to be asked
in researching and determining your country’s position on this key issue include:
1. Did your country sign any of the legal documents or participate in any of the
following sessions? if so why? if not why not?:
a) Agenda 21 from the 1992 Earth Summit;
b) the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation,
c) the Millennium Declaration Plan,
d) the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to increasing access to
clean water, combating desertification, and striving towards a greener economy;
e) the Convention to Combat Desertification in September 2005
2. What is desertification? Does your country suffer from desertification problems?
How does desertification impact your country peripherally -- surrounding countries?
Do your major trading partners have issues with desertification? How might this
affect you?
3. Where does your country access the majority of its water? What type of water does
your country access?
4. Does your country's agricultural sector use water from an aquifer? What is the present
condition of those aquifer(s)
5. Do others groups have the right to use/have access to your country's water supply?
What are the conditions under which they may access your water supply?
6. What sustainability programs do you have in place in your country to combat
desertification and water scarcity? How would the suggested programs referred to in
the Operative Clause (the section of the resolution that explains what the Committee
will do to address the problem) improve or conflict with your current programs? Are
they plausible for your country?
7. Is there a disproportionate effect on the lives of women or any other groups in your
country in regards to water scarcity? How is this reflected?
8. Is there a disproportionate effect on the lives of women or any other
vulnerable/marginalized groups in your country in regards to land usage? How is this
reflected?
Possible Website (by no means exhaustive)
http://www.unccd.int/en/Pages/default.aspx (addressing desertification at the regional level)
http://www.ifad.org/pub/gender/desert/gender_desert.pdf (women and desertification)
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml (water scarcity)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/v0265e/v0265e01.htm (overview on desertification)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1234244.stm (water refugees)
The documentary Blue Gold: World War Wars (streaming on Netflix) is recommended as a
must see!