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Amerimuncvi BG Kiribati.Pdf © 2018 American University Model United Nations Conference All rights reserved. No part of this background guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without express written permission from the American University Model United Nations Conference Secretariat. Please direct all questions to [email protected] Hayden Schutt Co-Chair Hello Delegates, Welcome to AmeriMUNC and the Kiribati committee! My name is Hayden Schutt, and I will be one of your co-chairs this session. Abby and I are so excited to meet all of you and to get started! Whether this is your first conference or last, I completely understand all of the emotions that can go along with stepping into a new environment or saying goodbye to something that has been very impactful on your life. I am a freshman here at American University and am currently pursuing a major in CLEG (Communications, Economics, Law, and Government). I call Minnesota my home, so please feel free to laugh or acknowledge my accent that becomes present whenever I say words with“long vowel” sounds (*Bagel, Bag, *Minnesota, etc.)! While in high school back in MN, I was heavily involved in the YMCA’s Youth in Government program. As a senior, I served as the YMCA’s Youth Governor for their Minnesota program and attended many state and national conferences. Government is one of my passions, and I am looking forward to going back to Model United Nations with all of you! Throughout this conference, I encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. This could be anything from making a new friend, including someone in your conversation, or speaking up more in committee! AmeriMUNC works best when everyone is prepared to participate and have fun! Please be respectful, engaged, and kind in every situation and interaction you encounter during this conference! Please feel free to reach out to Abby or me if you have any questions or need advice! Best, Hayden Schutt Co-Chair | [email protected] Abby Grifno Co-Chair Hello Delegates, I am so excited that you all will be participating in this Crisis Committee. I believe that climate change and the problems relating to it will only become more relevant, and learning about this unique and urgent situation will be extremely beneficial. I hope you all enjoy your conference and feel comfortable getting to know me as one of your Chairs. The goal of our committee is to become more informed on the Kiribati situation and be comfortable analyzing it from multiple angles so that we can come to lasting solutions. Furthermore, I hope involvement in this crisis committee can add to your overall experience in high school MUN and can aid you in learning about climate change and social justice issues. This will be my first time chairing a high school conference and I am beyond excited. I have been involved in Model UN since my freshman year in high school and have grown to love it more and more, now competing on the collegiate level. If any of you have questions regarding MUN in college, please feel free to talk to me. I am majoring in International Studies and am always open to discussing politics and current events. If you have question about International Studies at American, please feel free to reach out to me. I encourage you to use this background guide as a starting point and to learn more information about your actor’s unique position and goals. I hope you all have a wonderful experience this AmeriMUNC, and if there is anything I can to do to further contribute to your experience, please let me know, Sincerely, Abby Grifno Co-Chair | [email protected] KIRIBATI EVACUATION FORCE 01 KIRIBATI EVACUATION FORCE ABOUT KIRIBATI From July 2015 to April 2016, Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, lost 80% of its coral due to a devastating process of climate change called coral bleaching. This is the longest stretch of coral bleaching to occur on any single reef. Environmental Changes: Land apparent, there are many issues Biodiversity with the rising sea levels and effects of “A day waiting is a day too climate change on the islands of Kiribati many,” spoke Kiribati president Taneti that this committee must take into Mamau. The urgency here is centered account before looking at options for around the impending rise in sea levels evacuation. If there is a chance to due to climate change. This impede the destruction of Kiribati on environmental disaster is decreasing any scale, it is this committee’s Kiribati’s coastlines and therefore responsibility to follow those avenues increasing the chance of an entire before the worst case scenario plays island-state being drowned. Kiribati out. consists of 33 islands made of coral From July 2015 to April 2016, detritus, or atolls, but its total Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, lost 80% decreasing land mass is only 309 of its coral due to a devastating process square miles - roughly the entire area of of climate change called coral New York City - and decreasing bleaching. This is the longest stretch of incrementally. The islands are only coral bleaching to occur on any single about 3 to 4 meters above sea level, so reef, and since Kiribati is a cluster of the 114,395 I-Kiribati (pronounced coral islands, this phenomenon does ee-kiribati) who currently live there are not stop at the coasts of Christmas in great danger of losing their homes. Island. Corals undergo bleaching when Moreover, for a country that so heavily unusually hot water alter the symbiotic relies on fish and fruit such as coconut algae that live inside corals’ tissue, for exports and sustenance, the threats causing them to become toxic and to biodiversity on land and in the sea become a major cause in the through coral reefs affect the very disappearance of coral reefs across the livelihood of the I-Kiribati. As is 02 03 KIRIBATI EVACUATION FORCE world. The latest culprit was El Niño, a Tamana island has seen an eighth of its series of complex weather patterns that population of about 850 people sustain occur between every two to seven property damage or losing their house years that, that, in 2016, pushed altogether. temperatures in the Pacific ocean Coastal erosion is also difficult to enough above average to yield a eliminate` in the short-term since it is massive bleaching of coral reefs in predominantly based on uncontrollable Oceana, including Kiribati’s. weather patterns. Scholars often look at In 2013, Kiribati exported $84.75 ways to rebuild land or divert and break millions worth of fish and coconut up the waves away from endangered products, and the loss of their coral coral reefs. Development in reefs, a major source of the former, will island-states like Kiribati cannot in turn greatly stunt the economy of a exclude coastal processes since the reliant market. While El Niño is a natural idea of building new infrastructure is process, there are ways to hinder its moot without a literal foundation to effects. Scientists support it. Investments in advocate for researching Moreover, new technology to new ways to make coral decrease the power and more resistant to flooding frequency of these waves bleaching. Governments has caused should also be looked at. should also condemn I-Kiribati to Sustainable overfishing as Development Goal (SDG) 15 decreasing populations move is devoted to “protect, that are being constantly inward… restore and promote fished have less chance sustainable use of terrestrial of reproduction, leading ecosystems, sustainably to their extinction. manage forests, combat Not only are rising sea levels desertification, and halt and reverse an issue for Kiribati, but the land degradation and halt biodiversity consequent height increase and loss.” Kiribati, which has faced a frequency of waves have led to land decrease in livable water habitats, land erosion on the atolls. This has lead habitats, and the food available in those to plots of land being destroyed, and areas, needs efforts from SDG 15 to coconut trees, papaya trees, and protect its waning biodiversity. This is other vegetation used for caused by human-induced issues such sustenance and exports are as climate change, overexploitation, rendered useless. Moreover, pollution, land use change, and flooding has caused I-Kiribati to invasive alien species coming to the move inward, increasing population island. Kiribati’s most recent legislation density which in turn creates a to protect its biodiversity is reflected in myriad of other problems connected the Environment (Amendment) Act of to rapidly forced migration. As of 2007, but there is no adequate 2015, more than 2.9 meters flooded explanation of how to prevent it more lower Kiribati islands, and it is than a why. There is no major attention predicted that the flooding will be by biologists towards the threat to increasing in the coming years. wildlife in Kiribati, and no large-scale projects 04 have been implemented. which is quickly displacing citizens and The rising of sea levels is not a deeply hurting their developing single-variable issue to Kiribati. The economy, are widely disputed. This encroachment of water on these coral committee must act quickly and shores do not only affect those living on thoroughly to ensure that the the 33 small clusters of islands. As seen degradation of Kiribati is either in these case studies, humans, flora, mitigated and further prevented, or that and fauna are threatened. An entire Kiribati residents have a place to ecosystem ranging from I-Kiribati to potential flee when needed. coconuts to turtles are forcefully trying Kiribati’s issues range from to adapt to a way of life that is economic problems to political uncertain, and therefore, acclamation tensions, all becoming increasingly and rebuilding currently have no place obvious as they struggle to find in Kiribati.
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