Model UN

Sorry for not posting for so long at such a hectic time, we have to have been during our school work online which made time management a bit more difficult not really allowing us time to blog regularly but now here we are.

Back in February two of us attended a secondary school model UN conference the topic this year was the climate emergency there was a lot of separate committees including crisis committee (UN security council), UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), UN environment programme (UNEP), UN refugee agency (UNHCR), UN human rights council (UNHCR), UN Industrial development (UNIDO), Food and agriculture organisation (FAO), UN Water, World Health Organisation ( WHO).

Industrial development - Nio

I attended the UN industrial development sector where I had many heated arguments supporting the views of the environmental sector of Canada. Here is my speech supporting Canada’s views:

There are some potentially positive impacts of Climate Change on Canada. Its agriculture might benefit from increased arable land, longer growing season and less frost damage to crops, while milder weather should attract more tourists, reduce heating cost and potentially open new shipping lanes in the north. However, these potential benefits are overpowered by the negatives such as, severe weather events, health issues due to increasing pollution and the loss of coastal areas, as some villages might be fully submerged in less than a hundred years' time.

The transition to a low carbon economy will also pose significant challenges. Fossil fuels are

extremely important for Canada. The country is the 4th largest producer and exporter of oil and coal along with being the 5th largest exporter of natural gases. The energy sector accounts for over 11% of the GDP and gives jobs to over half a million people. To quote Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau “It’s much easier to be worried about your current job than to buy into a future job.” Therefore, many will resist changes, but we must act to save our planet. Canada has made significant commitments in an effort to reduce its environmental impact. In the Paris agreement they pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below the 2005 level by 2030. It the longer run we aim to reduce our net emission to 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. We are phasing out our coal power plants. The government announced that by 2025 100% of electricity used in their buildings and operations will be from renewable energy sources. Furthermore, it is committed to have 90% of the country’s electricity coming from non-emitting sources by 2030. Last year it introduced a federal carbon tax to supplement the carbon taxes

already adopted by many provinces. And in 2017 we launched the 2-billion-dollar Low Carbon Economy Fund designed to support projects that will generate clean growth and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In the future we wish to invest more in renewable energy and promote transparency and data disclosure on companies’ and governments’ environmental impact. We would also like to facilitate job transition away from the fossil fuel industry and support people and communities depending on this sector. It is also very important to encourage and support innovation in environmental technology.

In the resolution we would like to see a stronger commitment from the governments to achieving their greenhouse gas reduction goals and to significantly increasing the use of renewables. We would like to see a global rollout of carbon taxes to encourage all companies to decrease their emissions and provide more innovation in greenhouse gas reducing solutions aiding a more climate aware and greener future.

Overall, the country most successful at putting forward their views was Saudi Arabia who made most of the points and started mostly moderated caucuses. This made them win most of the awards at the end of the today. For me personally it was my first time at an event like this but I too proposed many motions and helped debate the resolution. We wrote up too resolution as the countries had split two ways to support one or the other. What was interesting to see was how the two delegates representing Saudi Arabia had very different ideas on which resolution to support. In the end we chose one resolution that we then edited to support the views of our countries better.

As a whole i really enjoyed the day and had so much fun hopefully they will host it again next year. I recommend that you go and participate in something similar because it is super interesting to hear the views of other countries and not just the one you live in.

UN Water - Martha

I represented Russia in the UN Water committee. I debated with other participants about how water should be managed throughout the world. This is my position paper which I used to show how I was going to debate on Russia's behalf.

Over a lifetime Climate Change has severely affected Russia. This was demonstrated by Sardana Avksenteva, Yakutsk’s mayor, has said “I’ve lived here my whole life, I remember what the winter used to be like, and what it’s like now. I can confirm that global warming is a problem.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that Climate Change will affect both the quantity and quality of water in the Russian Federation. Although renewable resource supplies will increase by 8 to 10 percent in the next thirty years it will pose some indelible negative consequences. For example, the flow of water during extreme weather events causing contamination and floods. In addition, European Russia will face more of their ever-increasing water shortages. In 2013, although the Federal Law “On water supply and water outlet” was entered into force, to this day Russia does not have a Federal Law on drinking water and drinking water supply. Water resources in the Russian Federation are very unevenly distributed corresponding to the population. European Russia contains 80 percent of the population but only contains about 10 percent of the total renewable water resources.

Conventions and Resolutions

The Paris Agreement came into force on the 4th of November 2016. The Agreement is an agreement by all nations to undertake ambitious efforts to fight climate change and adapt to its effects. The Paris Agreement recognized the crucial role played by water in the actions taken to reduce the severity of climate change and how it affects water.

The USSR caused long-term water problems – the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan has almost vanished and is heavily polluted. Russia is unlikely to admit that it caused pollution or climate change although it acknowledges that there has been climate change and it will require an agreement with other nations to create reliable solutions to reduce the impact of climate change.

Internal Legislation

In 2010, the Russian Government approved the Clean Water Federal Target Programme that meant that clean safe to drink water should be accessible to everyone. The Russian Water Association has created the Water 2050 Foresight Project to carry out special studies to analyse the status of water resources both in Russia and the rest of the world as well as develop possible water challenge scenarios and strategies.

Experts agree that Russia, because of its immense size and diverse climate, could potentially become one of the biggest grain producers in the world. F

or this to happen it is necessary for the Russian Federation to shift to new water supply systems. This will be provided by the use of Modern International Technologies which are yet to be developed.

If these Modern International Technologies are not created it will have a negative impact on not just Russia but the entire world. With the input of other nations, these technologies will be produced. We will strive to reach agreement on further action that should be taken regarding climate change. Russia will aim to create agreements with other nations to produce solutions and technologies to prevent further damage from climate change.

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Hope everyone is happy and health at these times,

The Eco Sisters