I wrote a Position Paper and a Draft
Resolution regarding the African Food crisis. MUN students can read my papers
and see how I have written them. I hope they will help you understand what
should be included in your papers.
Here is my position paper. Perhaps students
want to read this in order to gain ideas for their own papers.
Position Paper
Committee: ECOSOC
Issue: The Food Crisis in Africa
Country: Angola (Willie McGuire)
The
United Nations must work to uphold basic human rights for all people. Among
these rights is a standard of well-being that includes food, clothing, housing,
and medical care. Food and shelter are basic needs for human beings. The
continent of Africa is home to many of the world's poorest countries, and the
current food crisis threatens people every day. 2011 saw the worst African
drought in over 60 years. Climate change is speeding up the desertification of
land. Many other factors add to the food shortage, including poor use of water
and resources, a lack of organization, social instability, wars, and political
corruption. While there is no simple answer to correcting all these problems,
the delegate of Angola believes that careful planning, peace-making, and
cooperation can create a solid foundation for building a sustainable and
abundant culture of food production in Africa.
Angola
is located in the southwest part of central Africa, on the Atlantic coast. The
nation became an independent republic in 1975, after a civil war. Prior to that
time, the country had been considered a colony of Portugal for about 500 years.
Although Angola is rich in mineral resources and agricultural commodities, many
of our citizens still suffer from poverty, hunger, and disease. Like some other
countries in Africa, Angola's famine is largely due to the fact that our
society is not peaceful. Our politicians have repeatedly abused their power and
authority, our people are divided and often at war with one another, and our
economic policies are not fair to the average worker. Though we produce and
export a lot of food, our agricultural policies seem to be aimed at short-term
economic gain rather than food production and long-term sustainability, and
many of our people still suffer from hunger.
There
are many groups that work to prevent hunger in Africa, and yet the problem
remains. Angola's representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the UN (FAO), Mamoudou Diallo, made public statements about the food crisis on
World Food Day, October 16. He said that ending hunger and poverty are primary
goals of the Angolan government, and that supporting cooperative efforts will be
important for increasing the food supply. Angola is ready and willing to help
solve this problem in our country and in the rest of Africa.
The
FAO recently published an article on the importance of indigenous and
aboriginal cultures. The article explained that traditional farming, herding,
and hunting practices of indigenous cultures tend to protect biodiversity and
forests. We ought to learn from these people. Environmentalists from Angola
have criticized deforestation as a threat to the environment as well as a
threat to traditional cultures. While large-scale commercial farming often
thrives on deforestation, it seems that sustainable food production and culture
demands the diversity of forests and the ability of herders to move and roam
with their crops.
To
solve the problem of hunger in Africa, many actions must be initiated. It is
necessary to support the cooperation of NGOs and environmental groups that
protect against desertification and deforestation. These groups must work
hand-in-hand with agricultural support groups who can educate farmers on
resource management and help provide public spaces where livestock can move
freely, without destroying the soil. Assistance in the form of food donations,
access to water, seeds, and money must also be given to the countries in need,
but we must do so in a way that doesn't harm the local economies; perhaps
giving stamps or tickets to responsible farmers which they can exchange for
seeds and farming supplies. These supplies can be paid for at a fair price through
donations. Additionally, we must provide protection for indigenous cultures and
learn about the sustainability of their ways.
The
problem of the food crisis cannot be fixed from the top going downward. Indeed,
we must work from the bottom and go up. The base of society must be peaceful
and stable in order to build and organize an effective community. So, in
resolving the African food crisis, the UN should focus not only on food, the
environment, and agriculture, but also on social stability and peaceful
relations. We should send in groups of diplomats to encourage social harmony,
economic equality, and opportunities for improvement. We must encourage
politicians to end corruption and stop the wars. We must work hard to end
despair and violence in society, so that people are ready to cooperate and work
towards long-term goals that can bring food to people now and in the future.
The Draft Resolution should be written as
one continuous sentence. The clauses in the preamble should end with comma, and
the operative clauses end with semi-colon; except for the final clause, which
ends with a period. The words that introduce clauses in the preamble should be
in italics, and the words that introduce operative clauses should be
underlined.
Draft Resolution
Committee: ECOSOC
Issue: The Food Crisis in Africa
Submitter: Angola (Willie McGuire)
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL,
Noting with deep concern the great amount of suffering and despair resulting from famine in
Africa,
Observing
the complex and numerous causes of the food crisis, including drought,
desertification, war, political corruption, poor resource management, and
social instability,
Pointing out
that giving food to the poor could negatively affect food prices and local
economies,
Believing
that peace and stability are primary and necessary goals in creating an
abundant society,
1. Recommends
that the UN send peace-makers into Africa to settle regional disputes;
2. Proposes
the creation of an educational network to research, develop, and spread
education regarding the best
agricultural practices for a sustainable food supply, reversing
desertification, careful use of
water, restoration of traditional farming practices, and environmental
protection, which may include:
A)
the development of new trade schools and/or educational outreach programs for spreading the best agricultural
crops and techniques,
B)
a cooperative effort between local governments and UN organizations, such as:
i)
The UN Commission for Sustainable Development,
ii)
The UN Environment Program,
iii)
The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization,
iv)
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification,
v)
The Food and Agriculture Organization;
3. Requests
a careful examination of the distribution of funding and foreign aid in Africa,
so as to ensure positive economic growth
that will not negatively influence food prices or local trade;
4. Further
recommends the development of a new system for sharing and distributing
food, money, and aid from NGOs and
foreign nations, which includes, but is not limited to:
A)
the distribution of food stamps, rather than food, which can be used to
purchase food and
can allow local food prices to remain stable,
B)
the free distribution of agricultural supply stamps, which can be exchanged for
farming supplies,
seeds, and other materials that are produced locally or which have been donated through aid
from foreign countries, so as to benefit farmers without harming local suppliers,
C) the creation of food and agricultural stamp offices, which will
exchange money for the
stamps from farmers and merchants whose products were bought through the program;
5. Encourages
greater effort in bringing clean water systems to Africans, and cooperation between the NGOs that share this common goal;
6. Calls
for stronger protection of forests, bio-diverse lands, and indigenous
African cultures, through a
variety of means including, but not limited to:
A)
an immediate halt to the seizure and development of wild forests and indigenous
lands in Africa,
B)
active review of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People,
i)
clarifying and amending the UN's definition of "indigenous people",
especially those in
Africa,
ii)
identifying the nomadic, pastoral, and hunting cultures that still exist in present-day
Africa, in both drylands and forests,
C)
the use of military force to protect fragile ecosystems and indigenous people's
lands,
D)
rapid negotiations with local governments to ensure protection of indigenous
lands and vital
wildlife areas;
7. Suggests
the creation of new farming assistance policies that best utilize
foreign aid and promote
environmental health, in cooperation with local governments, such as, but not
limited to:
A)
sharing well-managed public land among farmers and herders of livestock,
B)
using and the best possible seeds and areas of land to develop healthy
grasslands that can combat
desertification and give livestock a place to graze,
C)
implementing efficient water-management systems in farming communities, and subsidizing workers who
create these systems,
D)
subsidizing the payment of farm-workers to help increase profits f
Willie2013.11.6
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