Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Committee: United Nations Environmental Programme

Topic: Water Scarcity Crisis
School: San Silvestre School
Delegate: Rebecca Windsor De Taboada

For more than fifty years, climate change has been a turbulent and widely discussed political issue, a
topic of many intergovernmental debates and disagreements. However, since the third amendment of
the Kyoto protocol in 2021, otherwise known as the Montevideo amendment, the international
community have had no choice but to accept climate change as a pressing and urgent matter. In the
present day climate change has gotten to a point where all countries are facing the consequences of the
actions of past generations and the inability of the human race to understand how urgent the problem
was. Today, water scarcity is perhaps the biggest issue facing the earth, and is affecting all continents.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is no exception within the last few years,
physical water levels have started to deteriorate, regardless of the domestic policies put in place by the
previous Conservative government or the present day Green Party/Labour Coalition. This delegation is
willing to put the needs of the people before anything else at this stage, and thus is willing to cooperate
with all countries, regardless of previous association and disagreement, to solve the issue.
The United Kingdom has implemented many domestic policies in the past regarding climate
change, and has cooperated with many international agreements of the same nature. Not only did the
state ratify the Kyoto protocol, but also ratified the second amendment of the protocol in 2021 (the first
was not ratified by the United Kingdom as the policies were outdated and the protocol no longer took
into account population growth). The Code for Sustainable Homes act, implemented in 2007, ensured
the appropriate usage of energy, water, materials, and the proper disposal of waste, ensuring that water
features such as rivers and lakes would not be polluted. Additionally, in 2012 private researchers such
as Oxford University spent over 2 million on minimising and managing the harmful impacts of
droughts and water scarcity, specifically in the United Kingdom.1 The Flood and Water Management
Act of 2010 also ensured that individual householders no longer held responsibility for their sewers,
thus preventing high amounts of water leakage due to ownership neglect. 2 The act also ensured
education and awareness programs about the private consumer benefits of saving water and the external
producer benefits of investing in water-saving technology.3 This was then enforced in Multinational
corporations in 2024 as a means of ensuring that their corporate social responsibility is completed.
Although the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has demonstrated her
aptitude in the field of small scale domestic policies, this delegation believes that it is still not enough.
Specifically regarding the crisis in Africa and the Middle East, this delegation firmly suggests a need
to amass the large amount of potential groundwater supplies that do not depend of solely rainwater to
replenish them, much like the reserves in Mali. In 2014 there was a potential for 5 million m/km of
fresh water in the highest reserves within Mali, located in Tamesna, Southern Azoud and North Western

Water http://www.water.ox.ac.uk/oxford-university-leads-2-million-research-project-on-uk-droughts-andwater-scarcity/ Accessed: 13/10/15

2
Gov.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-water-andsewerage-services/2010-to-2015-government-policy-water-and-sewerage-services Accessed: 15/10/15
3
Ibid. Accessed: 15/10/15

Gourma.4 This delegation believes that encouraging the old-fashioned way of extraction by means of
simplistic bore-holes and wells will not be enough to access this water. This Delegation therefore
proposes an increase in funding in the technology sector to improve both water extraction and sewage
cleaning technology. There is a stigma against drinking recycled water however, this can be reduced
by realising awareness campaigns as to the benefits of drinking recycled water, such as reduced private
costs, aiding the environment, etc. Another more international short term solution would be to mirror
the Nile Basin Initiative of 1999 on an international scale 5 not only sharing the Nile river amongst
neighbouring states, but the sharing and developing of all water features shared by neighbouring states.
A more radical approach to the idea of a treaty would be to encourage left-wing policies to ensure that
each country receives the same amount of water per capita, although the water is extracted from
different locations, as is the ideology of the Israel/Jordan water treaty. 6 This could solve the problem
of potential water conflicts, but it is imperatives that all states agree to the issue, something that is
difficult but not impossible, regarding the circumstances.
On the subject of the issue of water pollution, the possibility of subsidising firms within each
country who appropriately dispose of waste is a viable solution. Another more local solution would be
to charge for plastic bags in supermarkets. The United Kingdom implemented this policy in 2015, and
plastic bag usage went down by 47.4% in the following year, thus reducing the number of bags polluting
water features. By increasing the price by another 5 pence in 2019, the reduction went down by another
8%. This delegation believes that, though this may seem a small policy, it is vital as it reduces plastic
waste, one of the worst water contaminants. Further addressing the economic factors, though
As for mid to long-term solutions, changing building codes within separate states to require
waste-water recycling to be mandatorily incorporated into new construction will ensure that in the
future, less money is wasted in all modern buildings. Education is also key environmental awareness
programmes should be mandatory at all schools to ensure that water scarcity awareness is continued to
the next generation. Not only should children be educated, but adults, especially in the farming sector,
should be taught the necessity or improving agricultural and/or domestic practices. In addition to
funding technology for groundwater extraction, desalination technology must be greatly improved
before being used on a larger scale the desalination process removes vital minerals like calcium, and
adds elements like boron and bromide which could put peoples health at risk. Additionally, until
something can be done with the salt that remains, it is not a feasible long-term solution until the
technology has been vastly improved. The United Kingdom proposes requesting loans from the World
Bank to carry out this long-term research. It is also important to address rapid population growth amid
this global crisis. It is important to discuss the topics of population control and climate change reversal
tactics, which this delegation looks forward to further expanding in committee.
This Delegations main aim is peoples security. However, this means both balancing economic
growth and resource use. The United Kingdom wishes to work with everyone in committee to ensure
that countries can take advantage of proactive thinking and both expand their economies and reduce
water wastage. As British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said Continuous effort not strength
or intelligence is the key to unlocking our potential. It is within everyones best interests to come to
a global sustainable solution, so we must strive our hardest to achieve it.

International Water Management Institute

http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Books/PDF/groundwater_availability_and_use_in_subsaharan_africa_a_review_of_15_countries.pdf Accessed: 18/10/15
5
Nile Basin Initiative
http://www.nilebasin.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=42 Accessed: 18/10/15
6
Macro http://www.macro.org.il/lib/6813573.pdf Accessed: 18/10/15