Topic: Impact of War on Agriculture
Country: China
Delegate Name: Lauren Walkiewicz
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All China position papers GLIMUN 2008 committees
The international community’s agricultural is under enormous pressure because of the current world food crisis. China, with a population of over 1.3 billion, or almost a quarter of the people on the planet, has in the past struggled to feed its population. Today, with the added pressures of war, many nations’ have had their food supplies seriously disrupted, with adverse affects for their people. Because humans naturally live in a web of interdependence, war affects more than the lives of soldiers killed in combat, but disrupts nations’ agricultural output. The ravages of war are detrimental to things such as seed acquisition, planting, fertilizing, watering, harvesting, and disturbs the harvest of crops. War also negatively impacts the agricultural workforce, which furthers the problem.
For millennia, China has faced the threat of starvation, never so much as when wars disrupted crop production. China believes that in the face of disruption of war, developed nations should be willing to support the production and food needs of developing nations in order for to help them restore their crop yield. China feels that developed nations should supply food aid for nations whose populaces may face malnutrition or starvation. China urges all nations to work in conjunction with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in order to maximize global food reserves. Developed nations and food exporting nations should take a leading role in food relief for regions affected by war which face food shortages.
