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Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation 2018
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Background Guide: Topic A The Impact of Climate Change on World Heritage Sites
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation
Dear Delegates,
It is truly our pleasure to invite and welcome you to Mazapan Model United Nations
Simulation 2018. As you may have read beforehand UNESCO’s chairs for this simulation are
Angela Fredrick and Natalia Nasser. We are looking forward to meeting each and every one of
you. We hope that this year’s theme on Building Bridges and the committee’s agenda grasps
your attention and interest as we have been working hard to host you.
Let’s take into consideration that Building Bridges, not walls is UNESCO’s overall goal.
UNESCO was founded with the sole objective of promoting international cooperation and
facilitating the exchange of information in the fields of education, science, culture, and
communications. This year agenda revolves around contributing to the building of peace,
through proper communication and intercultural development which can only be attained
through your contribution. May this be a platform through which you can make your proposals
and ideas heard.
We are excited to see you use this academic activity to meet new people and friends as
you simultaneously expand your general culture and knowledge. Do not hesitate in
communicating if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Sincerely,
Your chairs Angela Fredrick and Natalia Nasser
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Table of Contents Introduction to the Committee 4
History 4 Present Day 5 Mission Statement 6 Country List 6
Topic A: The Impact of Climate Change on World Heritage Sites Overview 8 Introduction and Background of Issue 8 Description of Issue 10
World Heritage Properties 12 Current Status 13
Impacts on terrestrial biodiversity 13 Potential Climate Change impacts on the Doñana National Park (Spain) 13 Potential Climate Change impacts on the Cape Floral Region (South Africa) 14
Impacts on mountainous ecosystems 14 Potential Climate Change impacts on the Sagarmatha National Park (Nepal) 14 Potential Climate Change impacts on the Huascarán National Park (Peru) 15
Impacts on marine ecosystems 15 Potential Climate Change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) 15
Possible Solutions 17 Block Positions 18
China 19 United States 20 Australia 21
Appendix 23 Table 1: The Long-Term Climate Risk Index (CRI): the 10 countries most affected from 1996 to 2015 (annual averages) 23
Countries most affected in 2015: 24 Table 2: The Climate Risk Index for 2015: the 10 most affected countries 25
Bibliography 27
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Introduction to the Committee
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, known by its
acronym, UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that was outlined in the
constitution signed November 16, 1945. The constitution, which entered into force in 1946,
called for the promotion of international collaboration in education, science, and culture. It works
to safeguard the world’s cultural heritage, having the final say on whether a property is inscribed
on the World Heritage List. It aims to empower, educate, and inspire young people, reaching out
to them, responding to their expectations and ideas, and fostering useful and long-lasting skills. It
implements its activities through the five programme areas: education, natural sciences, and
social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.
UNESCO's aim is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty,
sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture,
communication and information". Other priorities of the organization include attaining quality
Education For All and lifelong learning, addressing emerging social and ethical challenges,
fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies
through information and communication
History
UNESCO’s initial emphasis was on rebuilding schools, libraries, and museums that had been
destroyed in Europe during World War II. Since then its activities have been mainly facilitative,
aimed at assisting, supporting, and complementing the national efforts of member states to
eliminate illiteracy and to extend free education.
As many less-developed countries joined the UN beginning in the 1950s, UNESCO
began to devote more resources to their problems, which included poverty, high rates of
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illiteracy, and underdevelopment. During the 1980s UNESCO was criticized by the United States
and other countries for its alleged anti-Western approach to cultural issues and for the sustained
expansion of its budget. These issues prompted the United States to withdraw from the
organization in 1984, and the United Kingdom and Singapore withdrew a year later. After the
election victory of the Labour Party in 1997, the United Kingdom rejoined UNESCO, and the
United States and Singapore followed suit in 2003 and 2007, respectively. In 2011 UNESCO
approved full membership for Palestine. Following the vote, the United States announced that it
would no longer pay dues to the organization, because of congressional legislation that
prohibited the financing of any UN agency that admitted Palestine as a full member. Because of
its unpaid dues, the United States lost its voting rights in UNESCO in 2013.
Present Day
In 2017 U.S. officials, citing “anti-Israel bias” and the size of U.S. arrears to the
organization, announced that the United States would leave UNESCO again at year’s end
(https://youtu.be/Lnv497QZh78). Israel itself remained a member. Besides its support of
educational and science programs, UNESCO is also involved in efforts to protect the natural
environment and humanity’s common cultural heritage. For example, in the 1960s UNESCO
helped sponsor efforts to save ancient Egyptian monuments from the waters of the Aswan High
Dam, and in 1972 it sponsored an international agreement to establish a World Heritage List of
cultural sites and natural areas that would enjoy government protection. In the 1980s a
controversial study by UNESCO’s International Commission for the Study of Communication
Problems, headed by the Irish statesman and Nobel Peace laureate Seán MacBride, proposed a
New World Information and Communication Order that would treat communication and freedom
of information as basic human rights and seek to eliminate the gap in communications
capabilities between developing and developed countries.
Each member state has one vote in UNESCO’s General Conference, which meets every
two years to set the agency’s budget, its program of activities, and the scale of contributions
made by member states to the agency. The 58-member Executive Board, which is elected by the
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General Conference, generally meets twice each year to give advice and direction to the agency’s
work. The Secretariat is the agency’s backbone and is headed by a director general appointed by
the General Conference for a six-year term. About 200 national commissions, composed of local
experts, serve as governmental advisory bodies in their respective states. Most work occurs in
special commissions and committees convened with expert participation. Prominent examples
include the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (1961– ), the World Commission on
Culture and Development (1992–99), and the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific
Knowledge and Technology (1998– ). The findings of these commissions are regularly published
by UNESCO.
Mission Statement
UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty,
sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture,
communication and information. The Organization focuses, in particular, on two global
priorities:
● Africa
● Gender equality
And on a number of overarching objectives:
● Attaining quality education for all and lifelong learning
● Mobilizing science knowledge and policy for sustainable development
● Addressing emerging social and ethical challenges
● Fostering cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and a culture of peace
● Building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication
Country List
● Australia
● Argentina
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● Bahrain
● Belgium
● Costa Rica
● Czech Republic
● China
● Denmark
● Ecuador
● El Salvador
● Egypt
● Germany
● Greece
● India
● Indonesia
● Nepal
● Morocco
● Spain
● South Africa
● United States of America
● Venezuela
● Panama
● Peru
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Topic A: The Impact of Climate Change on World
Heritage Sites Overview
Introduction and Background of Issue
Climate change, an issue at hand, that is affecting
the whole world has become even more frequent.
Temperatures are rising, global sea level is striking
above records of years pass, and extreme weather
events are more severe. Evidence that has been
collected from the atmosphere and from the depths
of the oceans by scientists and engineers prove the
same thing: global warming is driven by human
activity. Meteorologists and oceanographers 1
compare the climate patterns they observe with
patterns developed using sophisticated models
of Earth's atmosphere and ocean. By matching
the observed and modeled patterns, scientists
can positively identify the "human
fingerprints" associated with the changes, and
they can also attribute the proportion of those
changes to human activities. Extreme human activity like the burning of fossil fuels, enhances
the Greenhouse Effect, fostering the increase of CO2 concentrations from a pre-industrial era
(AD 1000 – 1750) concentration of approximately 280 parts per million (ppm) to today's 400
1 The NASA visualization shows how global temperatures have risen from 1950 through 2013,
as compared to average global temperature for the period 1951-1980.
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ppm. With this data scientists can tease apart how much CO2 comes from natural sources, and
how much comes from combusted fossil fuel sources. Compared to other carbon sources, carbon
from fossil fuels has a
distinctly different
“signature,” essentially the
relative amount of heavier
or lighter atoms of carbon
(technically δ13C). The
more negative the δ13C,
the higher the proportion
of carbon from fossil fuels.
Over the years, δ13C has decreased while the overall amount of CO2 has increased. This
information tells scientists that fossil fuel emissions are the largest contributor of CO2
concentrations since the pre-industrial era.
Human climate drivers include heat-trapping emissions from burning coal, gas and oil in power
plants and cars; cutting down and burning forests; tiny pollution particles (aerosols); black
carbon pollution more commonly referred to as soot; and changes in land use that also affects
Earth’s albedo. Although the industrial era and human activities drive two-thirds of production of
greenhouse gases, natural climate drivers are very well present. Those include energy from the
sun; aerosols from periodic eruptions, dust, and salt spray; natural carbon cycle processes that
emit methane.
Each of these drivers have devastating effects on society at large. This phenomena especially has
caused major challenges in the twenty-first century, says the director of UNESCO. Directed to
the UNESCO committee the effects on glaciers, marine biodiversity, terrestrial biodiversity,
archaeological sites, and historic cities and settlements must be tackled.
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Description of Issue
The melting of glaciers around the world is affecting the appearance of sites inscribed for their
outstanding beauty and destroying the habitat of rare wildlife species such as the snow leopard,
in the Sagarmatha National Park, Nepal and others below . These changes could also have 2
disastrous effects on human lives with flooding resulting from glacial lake outbursts threatening
human settlements. The establishment of monitoring and early warning systems and the artificial
draining of glacial lakes are recommended to help avoid disasters.
Simultaneously this issue is taken under the sea
deep into the home of corals. With the changing
rates seventy percent of the world's deep sea
corals are expected to be affected by changing
conditions related to rising temperatures and
increased oceans acidification by the year 2100.
The Great Barrier Reef,
Australia, is expected to be
subjected to increasingly
frequent bleaching events, cases
in which corals turn white and
may die due to rising sea
temperatures. Fifty-eight
percent of the world's coral reefs
- home to hundreds of thousands
of fish species - are considered
to be at risk. Reducing the effect
of other stresses on the coral
2 World Heritage Properties
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reefs from pollution, development and mining for example, could greatly improve their resilience
to climate change. On the global scale, climate change is also affecting biodiversity on land. It is
leading to the expected changes in the distribution of species, including “invasive species”,
pathogens and parasites and on the timing of biological events, like flowering. Consequently the
relationships between predator and prey, parasite and host, and plant and pollinator, etc. will be
widely affected.
Climate change is also expected to damage archaeological World Heritage sites, according to the
report which examines prospects for Chan Chan Archaeological Zone, Peru, alongside other
World Heritage properties in Canada and the Russian Federation. Changes in precipitation and
drought cycles, in humidity, water-table levels and ensuing soil chemistry will, inevitably,
impact the conservation of archaeological remains. Likewise, temperature rises, especially the
melting of permafrost in the Arctic region and rising sea levels are also expected to take their toll
on this heritage. The report notably analyses how precipitations related to El Niño is
undermining the fragile earthen fabric of Chan Chan, the remains of the capital of the ancient
Chimu Kingdom, one of the most important pre-Hispanic earthen architecture cities in the
Americas.
Rising sea levels and flooding due to climate change could have a devastating effect on both the
buildings and social fabric of historic cities and settlements, according to the report, which
focuses on the cases of the World Heritage sites of the City of London alongside several other
sites in Europe, Africa (Timbuktu, Mali), and the Middle East (Ouadi Qadisha and the Forest of
the Cedars of god, Lebanon). The increase in soil moisture after flooding events can lead to a rise
in saline crystallization on built surfaces, which is particularly damaging to decorated surfaces.
Increased humidity can also lead to ground heave and subsidence. Dealing with these and other
threats requires taking into account the complex interactions among natural, cultural and social
aspects of conservation.
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Here are the World Heritage Properties that are protected under UNESCO. Please look through
them and figure out which ones are closer to you and you propose to fix the issue at hand.
World Heritage Properties
● Area de Conservación Guanacaste
● Cape Floral Region Protected Areas
● Chan Chan Archaeological Zone
● Chavin (Archaeological Site)
● Golden Mountains of Altai
● Great Barrier Reef
● Greater Blue Mountains Area
● Historic Centre of Český Krumlov
● Historic Centre of Prague
● Huascarán National Park
● Ichkeul National Park
● Ilulissat Icefjord
● Kilimanjaro National Park
● Komodo National Park
● Maritime Greenwich
● Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab)
● Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church
● Sagarmatha National Park
● Sundarbans National Park
● Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch
● The Sundarbans
● Timbuktu
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● Tower of London
● Venice and its Lagoon
● Wet Tropics of Queensland
Current Status
Impacts on terrestrial biodiversity
Potential Climate Change impacts on the Doñana National Park (Spain)
The Doñana National Park and World Heritage property, in southern Spain, is the largest and
most comprehensive conservation area in Iberia and covers an area of 50,000 hectares.
Dessication of the wetland areas of the Park as a result of increased water use has resulted in the
loss of some 100 plant species during the last 80 years. Further dessication of the wetlands can
be expected in the region with increased temperatures of between 1.4°C and 3.8°C and reduced
annual precipitation of between 5 and 10 per cent by the 2050s.
The Park is home to 365 recorded species of resident and migratory birds. It provides an ideal
winter habitat for species such as the greylag goose and the teal that stop at the park on the
migration route from western Europe to West Africa. It also provides an important spring nesting
ground for African and Mediterranean birds such as the spoonbill. Nearly 20,000 greater
flamingos use the area as a feeding zone. The Doñana National Park is the most important site
for wintering ducks in Spain.
The winter droughts of the 1990s have already had a severe impact upon the area, a situation that
is likely to become considerably more acute in the future as the climate of southern Spain dries.
The park exists at an altitude between sea level and 40m. Sea level in the region has risen by
about 20cm over the last century and future rises in sea level may further threaten these
remaining wetland areas through saltwater inundation which threatens the survival of this
important migratory bird habitat. Scenarios suggest further rises in sea level of between 20cm
and 110cm by the end of next century.
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Potential Climate Change impacts on the Cape Floral Region (South Africa)
The Cape Floral Region World Heritage site consists of 8 protected areas covering 553 000 ha
and characterised by an outstanding plant diversity, density and endemism. Based on supporting
evidence by experiments, observations and modelling, Climate Change might be the most
significant threat facing this diversity over the next 50 to 100 years. Projected changes in soil
moisture and winter rainfall could result in a changed species distribution. This would affect the
range restricted and locally rare species with limited dispersal ability and the climate sensitive
relict wetland species that characterize the floristic region. Climate change might also affect the
values of the site through drought mortality, the breaking up of highly specialized mutualisms
and impacts on existing disturbance regimes such as fire. The first impacts of Climate Change on
the region’s biodiversity are already becoming apparent and many more impacts are expected.
Bioclimatic modelling provides an excellent risk assessment but key knowledge gaps need to be
closed by experimental and observational studies.
Potential strategies include investing in focussed research and developing a monitoring system,
perhaps with the involvement of the public. Conservation planning should also be integrated with
climate risk assessment and a coordinated regional effort should be established to analyse
information and asses the risk of biodiversity loss. It is also important to increase the topographic
diversity and landscape connectivity of protected areas by creating migratory corridors, to reduce
or remove other stresses on the ecosystem and to strengthen risk preparedness, in particular for
fires.
Impacts on mountainous ecosystems
Potential Climate Change impacts on the Sagarmatha National Park (Nepal)
In Sagarmatha, Nepal, air temperatures have risen by 1°C since the seventies, leading to a
decrease in snow and ice cover of 30% in the same period and replacing a 4000 m high glacier
on Mount Everest by a lake. Glacier lake outburst floods are now much more frequent, creating
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serious risks for human populations and having implications for the water supply in South Asia
and the flow of major rivers such as the Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra.
Potential Climate Change impacts on the Huascarán National Park (Peru)
A number of effects of Climate Change are being monitored and studied at the Huascarán
National Park, in particular the accelerated glacier melting, resulting in changes in the quality
and quantity of water coming from the mountains and in greater risks of land slides and lake
outburst events and the migration of certain species to higher altitudes. Such outburst floods in
the Huascarán National Park threaten a nearby cultural World Heritage site: Chavin. Other
effects such as the disappearance of certain native species, the increased pressure on certain park
resources and the alteration of rain patterns are not yet quantified. Two million people are
depending on water originating from the National Park and their demand on water resources is
increasing.
Possible solutions include: strengthening the park authority and improving its financial situation,
further strengthening the cooperation between public entities and private sector through the
Huascarán Working Group and implementing a number of specific projects in the field of
research and education related to Climate Change.
Impacts on marine ecosystems
Potential Climate Change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef (Australia)
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the world’s largest coral reef (2300 km, 35 million ha in area
and 2900 individual reefs), it is also among the world’s most diverse ecosystems (1500 species
of fish, 5000 mollusc species and 350 species of hard reef coral) and was listed under all 4
natural World Heritage criteria. The GBR Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is the responsible
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Australian Government authority, and the site is divided into zones which permit a range of
activities under controls.
The sustainability of this World Heritage site is sensitive to any change in the following climate
parameters: sea level rise, sea temperature increase, storm frequency and intensity, precipitation,
drought, land run-off, changing oceanic circulation, and ocean acidity. Of central concern are the
acute and cumulative impacts of coral bleaching, which are triggered when the GBR experiences
anomalously high water temperatures. It is important to note, however, that “Coral bleaching is
a major threat to coral reefs everywhere. The threat is not amenable to management in the short
to medium term…” (Australian Institute of Marine Science Annual Report 2001-2, p 18).
In 1998 and 2002, major bleaching events occurred in the region. In 2002 between 60 and 95 per
cent of reefs were affected. Most of these recovered well but a small percentage (less than 5 per
cent) suffered high mortality, losing between 50 and 90 per cent of their corals. As a response, a
AUD 2 million Climate Change Response Programme (2004 – 08) was developed to better
understand and respond to Climate Change threats and to prepare an annual Coral Bleaching
Response Plan and a Climate Change Action Plan. The Coral Bleaching Response Plan aims at
detecting and measuring bleaching and other short and long term impacts (Satellite imagery,
aerial and underwater surveys, community observations) and has received worldwide recognition
(and was adapted for the Florida Keys for example). The Climate Change Action Plan aims at
sustaining ecosystems, sustaining GBR industries & communities and supporting policy and
collaborations and will be developed by 2007.
The vulnerability assessments prepared include Coral Bleaching Forecast system, ecosystem
vulnerability assessments, resilience indicators, defining social resilience, frameworks for social
assessments; whereas the resilience strategies include the Tourism Leaders Forum and a
Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching.
In addition, partnerships have been developed such as “Bleach Watch” and NGO partnerships
(IUCN, TNC, WWF). Outcomes include policy congruence, international recognition, research
coordination & investment, stakeholder partnerships, community partnership teams and
knowledge bases.
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The GBR management actions are recognised as world’s best practice and that the GBR has
relatively low bleaching to date, but further events will be inevitable. The main challenge is to
increase broad resilience, which requires multifactor efforts and in many respects adaptation,
continuation and enhancement of current efforts. To increase the broad resilience of the GBR
Marine Park, in 2004, the GBRMPA increased the percentage of no-take area within the Marine
Park from 5% to 33%. Also, the Australian Government is working closely with the Queensland
Government on the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, which aims to halt and reverse the
decline in water quality entering the Marine Park by 2013.
Possible Solutions
● The establishment of monitoring and early warning systems and the artificial draining of
glacial lakes are recommended to help avoid disasters.
● Reducing the effect of other stresses on the coral reefs from pollution, development and
mining for example, could greatly improve their resilience to climate change.
● Create protected areas to relocate endangered species that have become extinct due to the
climate changes.
● Getting the COP22 to commit to adapt measures to control the vulnerability of marine
World Heritage sites.
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Block Positions
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China
China is now the second-largest economy in the world and its military power is also growing, but
it has an increasing list of worrisome issues such as corruption cases and global warming. As the
major producer of greenhouse gases in the world it is in the Republic of China’s best interest to
work towards the controlling of climate change. This environmental pollution is not only
weakening the health of the chinese with the number of cancer patients and deaths because of
lungs, stomach, liver and esophagus diseases accounted for 30 percent, 40 percent, 50 percent
and 50 percent of the global total, respectively, but world health. The chinese government is
aware that they cannot become an “environmentally weak country”, but has charted an ambitious
plan for environmental protection with the aim of bringing back the pollution free sky.
But the environmental issue in China is not an isolated case, and is a component of the overall
global picture. Extreme weather and droughts occurring in China are also the results of global
warming, which is a common challenge to all humanity. China has signed several international
conventions relating to environmental protection, such as the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change, and has strengthened cooperation with other countries and
regions and international organizations in the field of environmental protection.
In July, China and the United States held a dialogue on climate change policies within the
framework of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and signed the EcoPartnerships
Plans. It is believed that growing and deepening China-US cooperation in environmental
protection will play a positive role in alleviating the global environmental issues.
China is also working hard to improve the awareness for environmental protection among the
public and to vigorously develop the environmental protection industry. Across the country, the
public is taking and ever greater part in activities for environmental protection. The
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environmental protection industry is witnessing rapid development, and the output value of the
industry is expected to hit 4.5 billion yuan by 2015, with an annual growth rate of more than 15
percent.
The government is also promoting energy conservation and emissions reduction and speeding up
pollution treatment, and this will give rise to a tremendous market for energy conservation and
environmental protection, bringing enormous opportunities to businesses from both China and
the world.
The Chinese government and the people will not cease their efforts until the battle to protect the
ecological system and the environment is won. China won’t allow the environment to weaken
the nation.
Sources:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/feng-zhaokui/china-climate-change-fight_b_5798234.html
https://qz.com/1157788/china-is-the-acid-test-for-a-technology-that-could-save-the-world-from-
catastrophic-climate-change/
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5jvab/trump-is-quietly-surrendering-to-china-on-climate-ch
ange
United States
As the second largest nation emitting greenhouse gases, the United States’ president Donald J.
Trump has his own peculiar set of actions on climate change. The United States has stepped back
from the advances made by former president, Barack Obama. Everyone seems to be perplexed
regarding China’s $361 billion spending on renewables and how China is leading up to become a
global climate leader, instead of the United States.
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During the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, China blocked US efforts to create a globally
binding treaty, arguing that it would unfairly restrict China's economic growth. But China was
struggling with horrific air pollution. It was also investing billions in low-carbon technology.
Stern began meeting in secret with negotiators in China and "we found a way to work together,"
he said. Those discussions resulted in a historic joint promise from the US and China in 2014 to
strengthen "bilateral cooperation on climate change."
That may sound like diplomatic jargon. But this unlikely alliance between the US and China was
a massive step forward in the global fight against climate change. It made possible the
international climate treaty that was negotiated in Paris in 2015. After Trump won the US
election and vowed to exit from the Paris treaty, observers wondered if China would also pull
out. But any doubts were dispelled in early 2017 when China's President Xi Jinping said that "the
Paris agreement is a milestone in the history of climate governance. We must ensure this
endeavor is not derailed."
Sources:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5jvab/trump-is-quietly-surrendering-to-china-on-climate-ch
ange
Australia
The Great Barrier Reef stretches some 2,300 km down Australia’s north-east coast, covering an
area the size of Italy. It is home to about 600 types of coral and 1,625 species of fish. UNESCO
calls it a “site of remarkable variety and beauty”. That may not last. For the second consecutive
year, expanses of coral have lost the vivid colours that draw thousands of annual sightseers.
Instead, they have bleached a deathly white. Worse, this year the bleaching has extended further
south than in 2016. Bleachings were also reported in 1998 and 2002. But for it to happen two
years running is unprecedented. But experts agree that the biggest culprit is warmer ocean
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temperatures linked to climate change. Corals are marine animals that get their colour and most
of their food from the algae that live within them. The higher temperatures stress algae, causing
the rich hues to disappear. Some marine scientists liken this to the impact of a prolonged
heatwave or drought on a forest. The Climate Council, an Australian research body, says the
reef’s surface sea temperatures in early 2016 were the hottest since records began in 1900.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/opinion/australia-climate-change.html
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/05/economist-explains-3
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Appendix
Table 1: The Long-Term Climate Risk Index (CRI): the 10 countries
most affected from 1996 to 2015 (annual averages)
There have only been slight changes compared to the analyses presented in the CRI 2016, which
considered the period from 1995 to 2014.7 All ten countries that made the Bottom 108 list last
year appear again in this year’s edition. Haiti, the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere, as
well as Honduras and Myanmar remain the top three most affected countries over the past two
decades. These rankings are attributed to the aftermath of exceptionally devastating events such
as Hurricane Sandy in Haiti and Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. Likewise, Myanmar has also been
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struck hard, most notably by Cyclone Nargis in 2008, responsible for an estimated loss of 140
000 lives as well as the property of approximately 2.4 million people.9 Particularly in relative
terms, poorer developing countries are hit much harder. These results emphasise the particular
vulnerability of poor countries to climatic risks, despite the fact that the absolute monetary losses
are much higher in richer countries. Loss of life and personal hardship is also much more
widespread especially in low-income countries.
Countries most affected in 2015:
Mozambique, Dominica as well as Malawi were the most affected countries last year followed
by India, Vanuatu and Myanmar. 10 Table 2 shows the ten most affected countries, with their
average weighted ranking (CRI score) and the specific results relating to the four indicators
analysed.
24
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation
Table 2: The Climate Risk Index for 2015: the 10 most affected
countries
25
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/17/global-warming-will-hit-poorer-countries-ha
rdest-finds-research
26
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
Mazapan Model United Nations Simulation
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/17/global-warming-will-hit-poorer-countries-ha
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