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Simulation: The Zombie Pandemic
Time Players Experience You’ll Need
45 minutes 8 minimum Beginner Pen & paper
ATTENTION: The United Nations has called an emergency session to respond to the rapidly spreading Global Zombie Pandemic. We need your diplomatic leadership to save humanity.
Stage 1: Explore more about the issue
Time Mindset Goal You’ll Need
2 minutes Soak up the facts Learn the issue Thinking cap
Background on the Pandemic Yesterday, a passenger at Dublin Airport in the Republic of Ireland collapsed with a piercing headache during a direct flight to Los Angeles, CA. Upon landing at LAX, the passengers awoke displaying zombie-like symptoms and began attacking fellow passengers. Within minutes of exiting the aircraft nearly everyone at LAX’s Terminal 1 had been infected. First responders did their best to seal off the terminal and eliminate the remaining zombies. However, LAX has connecting flights to almost every country in the world and no one knows whether a few infected passengers made it onto their connecting flights. As a result, the next outbreak could take place at anytime and anywhere in the world within a matter of hours.
Review the Basic Zombie Facts Zombies desire human flesh; they will not eat other zombies. The virus is highly infectious. Any human bitten will become a zombie. A cure has not been found. Researchers believe that the virus is only transmitted through saliva – it is not an air or waterborne disease. Zombies do not retain human emotions or memories. They cannot be trained.
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Stage 2: Understand your position
Time Mindset Goal You’ll Need
3 minutes Objective Learn your stance Pen & paper
Background Information The United Nations is the only organization capable of mobilizing over 193 countries in the world to work together to address catastrophic health emergencies. Diseases don’t respect borders, so countries who may be rivals or even enemies know that they need to work together alongside the UN to safeguard their citizens. However, they may perceive the risks from the pandemic differently depending on their geography and/or factors like economic interests. As a diplomat, it is your job to understand the position of your country’s needs and the interests of those around you in order to create a quick and effective solution.
Essential Questions to Consider • What can be done to contain the pandemic? • What people and areas in your country are most vulnerable? Why? • Should there be penalties for countries that fail to accurately report outbreaks? • Does your country feel responsible to aid other countries in responding to outbreaks?
Task
Write down a list of the top three solutions you think are needed to solve the crisis.
1.
2.
3.
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Stage 3: Analyze Other Solutions
Time Mindset Goal You’ll Need
10 minutes Curious & empathetic Learn other stances Pen & paper
Task
Walk around the room, share your ideas with other countries, and compare their solutions with your own. Use the questions below to help guide the discussions and build coalitions between other countries. Try to identify others whose interests may align with yours. Remember, the more countries you talk to the more allies you can potentially make – try to keep your conversations effective and concise.
Questions to Consider • What is your initial response to the crisis? • Do you believe that your country’s solution is in the best interest of the global community? • How do you plan on working with other countries?
Stage 4: Address and Act on the Issue
Time Mindset Goal You’ll Need
25 minutes Problem Solving Compromise Pen & paper
Background Information The Dutch Ambassador has proposed an urgent resolution to address the crisis. You will need to weigh her proposal, see if it aligns with your country’s interests and vote for it, vote against it, or propose your own amendment. But first, you will need to present your country’s position. The fate of humanity’s in your hands.
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Proposal from the Netherlands Resolution 1.1: The Netherlands calls upon the United Nations to declare an international emergency and suspend all international flights for a period of 30 days. In addition, the Netherlands urges all countries to report any outbreaks immediately to ensure effective and transparent emergency communication. Furthermore, the Netherlands encourages the international community to create regional rapid response teams to help contain any future outbreaks.
Summary of the Resolution: • Suspend all international flights for a period of 30 days • Report any outbreaks immediately to ensure effective and transparent emergency communication • Create regional rapid response teams to help contain any future outbreaks
Task #1
Write your speech. It should include an opening sentence emphasizing your country’s key interests in the crisis and should then outline your position. If you are proposing an amendment to the resolution, please note that you may only present one new idea. Otherwise, be sure to clearly state whether you are in favor or against the resolution.
Task #2
You have one minute to present your country’s position. The facilitator will ask each country to present in alphabetical order.
Task #3
Your facilitator will ask for each country to vote for: • Each proposed amendment; then • The Amended Resolution - and if It does not pass; • The Original Resolution
NOTE: If a majority vote is not reached on the original resolution or any proposed alternative, your facilitator will give you an additional 5 minutes to meet among yourselves and try to reach a new consensus before calling a final vote. If a new majority is not reached at the end of the 5 minutes, the resolution will fail, and countries will be left to fend for themselves in the face of the crisis.
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Stage 5: Reflect on the Experience
Time Mindset Goal You’ll Need
5 minutes Analytical Reflect and Respond Discussion groups
Post Simulation Reflection: • What do you think will happen next with this issue? • Do you think the proposed solution will work? • How do other country’s interests come into play when dealing with a common threat? • Did other perspectives make you rethink your own position on the issue? If so, how? • What did you learn about yourself during this simulation? What would you do differently?
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Group Guide: Country Stances on the Zombie Pandemic
China • China’s total GDP is 12.24 trillion USD.
• Since 1978, China has worked on increasing its investment and export economy, and today it is one of the fastest growing economy’s in the world.
• Beijing welcomes over 4.4 million international visitors each year, hailing from countries all over the world. • China is the world’s largest exporter, delivering over one trillion dollars of goods annually to other countries. Exports account for a huge percentage of the country’s total GDP.
• China has the world’s largest population with nearly 1.4 billion citizens.
• Hong Kong International Airport is the world’s largest airport for cargo traffic, shipping over 5 million tons of goods each year. China has one of the world’s largest borders with 14 countries surrounding its territory – the most in the world.
United States • United States’ total GDP is 19.39 trillion USD.
• New York City is in the world’s top ten most visited cities, receiving over 13 million tourists each year.
• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta is a leading institution in global health, contributing essential research to develop cures for the world’s most deadly diseases.
• Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta is the world’s busiest airport servicing approximately 107,394,029 customers in 2018.
Sierra Leone • Sierra Leone’s total GDP is 3.774 billion USD.
• The modern state of Sierra Leone is one of Africa’s smallest republics and the 118th largest country of the world.
• Following the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping operations, Sierra Leone has fallen into a chaos spreading throughout sub Saharan Africa. • West Africa is historically vulnerable to infectious diseases, from 2014 to 2016 Sierra Leone was one of three countries to log over 28,000 cases of Ebola.
• Many citizens without internet or cable access are unaware of the zombie pandemic, and the UN fears a worst-case-scenario in which much of the continent becomes infected.
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• Sierra Leone has previously worked with the UN to develop early warning systems in order to reach the country’s most vulnerable citizens.
Afghanistan • Afghanistan’s total GDP is 20.82 billion USD.
• Except for the southwest, most of the country is covered by high snow-capped mountains and is traversed by deep valleys.
• In June 2002 a multiparty republic replaced an interim government that had been established in Dec. 2001, following the fall of the Islamic Taliban government.
Australia • Australia’s total GDP is 1.323 trillion USD.
• Symbolic executive power is vested in the British monarch, who is represented throughout Australia by the governor-general.
• The main exports of Australia include iron-ore, gold, natural gas and coal. They export most of their products to Japan, China, South Korea, New Zealand and the United States.
• 89% of Australia’s population lives in cities, 41% of their entire population live in Sydney or Melbourne.
Russia • Russia’s total GDP is 1.578 trillion USD.
• The country has recently created a citizen militia to defeat attacking zombies.
• Russia’s economic development has been very uneven in terms of geography - Moscow has grown considerably, while some of the more rural areas of the country are still very poor.
• The Russian military is one of the largest in the world with over 350,000 military personnel on the ground.
India • India’s total GDP is 2.597 trillion USD.
• Only 5 out of 29 Indian states have no international border or coastal line. Those long borders are shared with seven countries — China, Pakistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. India’s army is the third largest in the world, and they have been ranked as the seventh best armies in the world.
• Sharing a border with China, the zombie virus has spread rapidly throughout a highly populated India.
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• While some Indian citizens can flee to the mountains of the North, and through the bodies of water in the South, much of the country’s most populous areas have been devastated and are in desperate need of humanitarian relief.
United Kingdom • The United Kingdom’s total GDP is 2.622 trillion USD
• Agriculture is also a large part of the country’s economy. The U.K. grows over 60% of their own foods, and therefore keeps their food imports low. The United Kingdom also has a large amount of natural resources. Their lands are rich in iron, limestone, clay, gypsum, lead and coal.
• Today, the United Kingdom is also the 8th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity.
• Utilizing WWII era air raid shelters, and underground railway systems, nearly 50,000 Londoners were able to move underground before the zombie pandemic reached the United Kingdom.
• While the zombie apocalypse rages above them, the surviving British are desperately urging the UN to mobilize humanitarian relief efforts before they run out of food and water.