Topic:
Country: Guatemala
Delegate Name: Maya Neblett
Guatemala is ready to stand with the United Nations and talk about the issues at hand, and although Guatemala is not directly involved with these troubles as there has not been a major conflict since the Guatemalan Civil war in 1996, it deeply cares about the tragedies happening around the world due to these nuclear reactors in conflict zones from Kyshtym to Three Mile Island to Chornobyl. At this moment Guatemala does not use any nuclear energy because Guatemala is primarily fueled by hydropower and oil as well as biofuels (wood). While hydropower is Guatemala’s main energy source, oil is needed because it is a very important exporter to many other countries in the world, releasing CO2. This is balanced out by its immense forestry covering about 33.7% of the country. Therefore Guatemala leans towards the preference of not using nuclear energy because it does not have the money and time to build new nuclear power plants that are not needed in the country. But Guatemala understands various situations of each country. Guatemala is situated near the equator and the Pacific ocean and notices that not all countries can sustain themselves off of hydropower or forestry and does understand the need for nuclear energy in some places and how useful it is. Guatemala agrees that when in an instance of using nuclear energy and/or building nuclear power plants it is crucial to protect it in case of conflict or war to prevent the happenings of Chornobyl and other like-wise situations. It is exciting to be gathered with other delegates to come up with a comprehensive resolution that looks at the unique views and needs of countries to come to a much-needed conclusion. Guatemala is ready and excited to be invited to this important discussion.
Guatemala believes that to resolve these problematic issues there must be safety precautions in place as well to keep the people who live there informed. Possible solutions are looking at the risk factors before implementing any laws. For instance, Guatemala does not need to place anything on Nuclear energy because they do not have nuclear energy or reactors but a place such as the United States may need to implement things, in other words looking at what places need help and what places don’t as well as assessing where the power plants should be built and how the power plants to should be built safely. Also, another solution to this may be educating the public on this primarily unknown topic and teaching them how to respond and what’s going on, and how it can affect and change everything. Maybe some places have bunkers and/or tunnels, leading to a safer place with no radiation. This will at least protect the people in the area as well as keep food and water down there and keep them alive. The last possible solution may be to have the military from the country guarding the nuclear power plants so that the risk of a nuclear reactor being hit is lowered to 0%. Overall Guatemala knows that there are more amazing solutions to this problem and is ready to listen to other delegations’ opinions and solutions.
