Delegate: Haashir Ali
Country: Syria
Committee: Environmental
Topic: Access to Water
Clean water is a major issue the United Nations seeks to solve, as it is essential for establishing the roots of human civilization and initiating the course of development in many areas. It is crucial for life and without it there would be no civilization to live in. The United Nations must take urgent action to provide a solution that would offer swift results and end the suffering of the nearly 2 billion people who do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.
The Syrian Arab Republic has an expanding population in a mostly arid part of the world and thus seeks to benefit from the solutions proposed in the United Nations. The Syrian economy also has a very prominent agricultural sector that could make use of such agreements. Because of these factors, it is absolutely vital for our country to have an ample amount of safe water to drink, use in agriculture, and supply our growing industrial ambitions.
The Syrian Arab Republic strives to fulfill this noble purpose of providing its citizens with universal access to high-quality drinking water. As of 2007, 94% of our citizens living in cities had access to clean drinking water and as do 78% of citizens living in the rural areas. In the past 30 years, Syria has set into motion a comprehensive plan of action as to how water would reach the entirety of our population. This involved the creation of the man-made Lake Assad Reservoir and the overhaul of infrastructure providing water to include more extensive pipeline networks and better drilling equipment to gain access to the groundwater, springwater, and to create more wells. However, due to the recent developments in the civil war, may areas have been cut off from this network and will continue to be as such until government forces regain control of these areas.
One solution the delegation Syria proposes is to utilize international diplomacy. Many borders are formed by rivers dividing two nations, such as Syria’s border with Iraq along the Tigris River. Many of these rivers’ resources are under-utilized because due to the lack of deals or mutual agreements between countries as to how the resources should be divided in a manner that is fair and presents an acceptable amount of resources available for each side. Syria encourages the development of a platform in which internationally-shared resources may be discussed and agreements may be made so countries can maximize their usage of the resources available.
Another solution that the Syrian delegation proposes is a comprehensive plan of development assistance. Poverty in countries is often the main barrier as to why proper infrastructure cannot be developed. To counter this, an NGO or UN-sponsored should be established in order to counter the main root causes of these issues to solve the problem at hand.
- Haashir Ali
