RED CEDAR MODEL UNITED NATIONS. Table of Contents. Letter from the Chair Question of Water Security in Africa: Lake Chat...

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2 Table of Contents Letter from the Chair... 3 Question of Water Security in Africa: Lake Chat... 4 Introduction to Water Security in Africa... 4 History of Water Security in Africa... 5 Current Issues... 8 Current Positions Conclusion Questions to Consider SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 2

3 Letter from the Chair Dear Delegates, On behalf of all MSUMUN Staff, I am so pleased to welcome you to RCMUN VIII! My name is Jack Boyce and I am the chair of your committee, the African Union Summit of I am from Traverse City, Michigan, and am a current Sophomore in the James Madison College program at MSU! I am currently studying Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy and International Relations, and this is my second year with RCMUN, and our sister organizations, the International Relations Organization, and MSUMUN. Last MSUMUN, our high school conference I was an Assistant Chair in the DISEC 1962 committee. Despite the reputation of political science majors, there are activities I also enjoy outside of politics, as I am a two-year active member of the Spartan Izzone for our basketball team, been to most of the home hockey games, and I have rarely missed a Spartan football game. I am also joined by three junior staffers on my dais: Hi, I m Caleb Langlinus and I m a freshman at MSU applying to the Eli Broad College of Business where I plas to study accounting and marketing. This is my first year on RCMUN staff. Hey everyone, I m Sean Gibbons, a current Sophomore in the James Madison College Program studying International Relations. I was a junior staffer for the Emergency European Council at last year s MSUMUN, our high school conference, and am looking forward to staffing RCMUN this year. Hello, I am Chittawan Boonsitanon, a current freshman at MSU applying for Eli Broad College of Business where I plan to study Supply Chain Management and Finance. This is my first year as RCMUN staff and I look forward to working with everyone in the committee. As delegates in the African Union Summit of , you will each represent an individual head of state from member states of the 54-member Union - this is not a United Nations body. Due to the high stakes nature of debating access to dwindling fresh water supplies, and the national security implications that come with it, if any solution is to be found to this pressing matter, it is imperative that the solution is persuasive enough to encourage cooperation, and not division. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have when researching, or in general, at specialized1@msumun.org. I very much look forward to seeing all of you in February! Sincerely, Jack Boyce Chair African Union Summit SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 3

4 The Question of Water Security in Africa: Lake Chad Introduction to Water Security in Africa Africa, a continent whose countries have enjoyed the highest economic growth in over a century now faces a huge problem. A continent which has faced severe droughts and floods in the past few decades is seeing their water supply decreasing at a significantly fast rate. With climate change, deforestation, over consumption and water pollution, access to clean water and loss of water supply have become a larger problem than anyone had anticipated. Water has always been an important part of the Continent s economy. Hydroelectric dams support over 32% of Africa s energy needs and water has been directly and indirectly used in every nations industries from fisheries to transportation, tourism to manufacturing. Any further disruption to Africa s water supply will have a significant impact on the continent s economy and public infrastructure potentially leading to uprisings and social unrest within nations most affected by lack of access to water. It seems that no African country is able to ignore this issue, regardless of the size of their economy. In Cape Town, South Africa, water crises forced the city municipal to shut off its water supply once a day every month to prevent the city from running out of the water. While some countries in Africa are able to overcome such challenges, the ongoing Cape Town water crisis has demonstrated Africa s water security is much more dangerous than previously understood. Despite efforts by foreign nations, non-governmental organizations and the African Union to solve the issue, efforts to increase water supply has been plagued by inconsistent governmental support, lack of adequate water infrastructure, and social and political instability in Africa. We hope that through working together and conversation between nations of the African Union we can reach an agreement on a framework that will create development on the continent. Hopefully improving the issue of water security and making sure that Africa s water is secured for future generations. SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 4

5 History of Water Security in Africa Geography of Africa In order to, understand the issue of Africa s water security, you must understand the geography of the continent. Africa can be divided into eight main regions with entirely different climates, the Sahara Desert, the Sahel (a mix between Savannah and desert), the Ethiopian Highlands, the savanna, the Swahili Coast, the rainforest, the African Great Lakes and Southern Africa. Sahara The countries in the Saharan Bloc are: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. The Sahara Desert located in the northern region of continental Africa spans from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. In Saharan regions, springs and wells are called an oasis. They are critical to irrigation in those regions, essential to the local food supply, and incredibly scarce. In total, over 75 percent of the Saharan population lives near oases despite oases accounting only half of a percent of the landmass of the Sahara regions. In coastal countries such as Libya, fresh water comes from aquifers located deep underground and are a non-renewable resource. The country has taken steps to reconsider how farmers extract water from the ground, considering implementing desalination plants to desalinate sea water or treatable water such as wastewater, and further implementing better water use practices to avoid wasteful consumption of an already scarce resource. ( Sahel Many of the Saharan bloc countries are also in the Sahel region of Africa, countries include: Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, central Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Ethiopia. This sub-saharan region between Northern and Southern Africa is called the Sahel. It is important to note that this is not a voting bloc, it s a geographic region of Africa separate from the Saharan Bloc above it (geographically) and from the further sub-saharan countries below it (Geographically). A main issue faced with this geographic bloc SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 5

6 is the desertification of the Niger River, which threatens the fertility of the region adjacent to the river, the water of the Niger River itself, and its wetlands. It is also important to consider that this region is characterized by strong variations in its climate - long term weather patterns in this region are close to unpredictable and are getting dryer and dryer each year. Tensions from countries in this region are being fueled by these erratic climate conditions and government inaction. ( Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is home to some of Africa s highest mountains. The Highlands mainly consist of grasslands and woodlands with areas of 1800 to 3000 meters of elevation and very fertile land hillsides. Despite having higher elevation than most of the rest of its African counterparts, the Highlands of Ethiopia can play into issues seen in low lying countries. The difference between Highland Ethiopia and lowland Sudan, is that: there are numerous, smaller sized springs, water has a higher rate of restoring itself through rainfall, and demand is relatively smaller. The major shortfall specifically within Ethiopia and its highlands are that its government has devoted very little resources to understanding and tracking the links between food and water security, and how to mitigate these pressing issues. ( Savannah Countries in the Savannah Bloc are: Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa. 50% of Africa is covered with savannas and they make up the entirety of central Africa spanning south Sahara, the western Sahel to the horn of Africa in Ethiopia. Water security has affected all of these countries negatively, but a major aspect of the issue is that of the migration of animals across protected area boundaries and the spread of infectious diseases. There is direct connection between droughts, and the health of animal species and the overall health of the cities downstream. When faced with drought, animals migrate SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 6

7 closer to streams which then affects the quality of water downriver. Most of these countries have protected regions for animal species, so therefore animals migrating out of these protected regions is a major problem that needs to be addressed 1. If animal species migrate outside of their protected areas in large numbers, poaching will become untraceable which is a problem for two reasons: governments will not have jurisdiction to persecute poachers, and there will be no reliable way to track the number of animals in species that are affected by the poaching. This would lead to the acceleration to extinction of several species already close to it, such as the African Lion, Pygmy Hippopotamuses and mountain gorillas. Rain Forest As understood by many foreign researchers, the majority of Africa's native rainforests have been removed by cities, the expanding agriculture industry, and wood demands regionally and abroad. The majority of today s rainforest in Africa is concentrated along the Congo River basin in Central Africa. Almost 90% of West African Forests have been destroyed and deforestation in the Congo River basin have only accelerated since Through satellite technology and partnerships with Global Forest Watch, African nations whose economy are deeply connected to the health of their rainforests can track their forests and identify problem areas or areas that are being illegally logged 2. African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes contains about 25% of the world s unfrozen fresh water supply. The great lakes are on the Rift Valley lakes and the East African rift close to Ethiopia. These lakes are critical to the water supply draining from the River Nile, the Congo River, and the Shire River. These great lakes are very important to the Great Lakes region states which consist of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, where freshwater fishing has contributed to nearly 5-7 percent of the GDP growth in Burundi and Rwanda SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 7

8 While there are more examples of water scarcity and lack of water security in vastly different regions, these are the major themes that delegates should be aware of. Delegates should come to realize that while water scarcity and water security are not exactly the same topics, they share common themes and issues, and in order to solve both issues, similar resolutions are required. Current Issues The most pressing example of a water security issues in Africa is Lake Chad. Lake Chad, which spans across 8 nations, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Libya, and Sudan now consists of only one-tenth of the area it once had in The fluctuations of Lake Chad represent one of the largest policy failures of the Lake Chad region states; dramatically losing fresh water supply in the region that will no doubt be affecting a region with a population of over 30 million people 3. Lake Chad is in the before mentioned Sahel region; surrounded by mountain ranges, its water supply is strictly regulated by the inflow of the rivers and rainfall which are in its watershed 4. With changing weather patterns in Sub Saharan regions, despite its peak of precipitation from July to September, there are still water shortages and coupled with widespread drought in the region, the dry season between November and March have become increasingly tormenting to farmers living near the river affecting the agriculture sector of the regions economy. Scientists have also complained about the lack of quality ground-based measurements on water and wildlife from Lake Chad making it highly challenging for scientists to investigate the issue due to increasing political instability and geopolitical issues. While Lake Chad s water supply has improved slightly from the 1990s, there is still more work to be done by Lake Chad region states. Region countries (Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria) should do more to manage 3 Abdel-Hamid, Hoda. "Shrinking Lake Chad to Worsen Hunger Crisis in Africa." GCC News Al Jazeera. February 26, "Africa's Vanishing Lake Chad Africa Renewal Online." United Nations /africa s-vanishing-lake-chad. SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 8

9 fluctuating water supplies in the region in order to, make sure that Lake Chad water supply continues to increase in the long run. Having a secured water supply will ensure regional stability, preventing mass migrations and political instability in the future. Furthermore, while Lake Chad has shrunk significantly, this created another problem. The New Yorker called Lake Chad s problem, the World s most complex humanitarian disaster 5. With Boko Haram insurgents continuing to harass villagers in the region, Chad military has forced villagers to evacuate resulting in food shortages, health issues, increasing poverty, and wide range corruption. Through the lens of African Union member states, Lake Chad is not just one specific problem. It is one of the many examples of depleting water supplies all over the continent. While resolutions may focus on solving the problem of Lake Chad, it should also be noted that the successful implementation of the resolution will be applied to other locations whose depleting water supplies may be more pressing than Lake Chad itself. The second and equally pressing issue that faces the African Union is the threat of desertification. Desertification is much more than the slow movement of the Saharan desert in any direction; currently due to intense logging - illegal or legal - large swaths of forests are disappearing. The loss of these resources is catastrophic due to the fact that the trees are a major asset in the fight against desertification. African countries have long put profit over protection, or simply do not have the power to exercise their authority over their natural 5 Taub, Ben. "Lake Chad: The World's Most Complex Humanitarian Disaster." The New Yorker. June 23, SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 9

10 resources, and they are seeing the negative effects of this in the declining cleanliness of surface water to over extraction of aquifer water. Current Positions Over the past few decades, the United Nations and Lake Chad region countries have undertaken measures by doing the following: Forming Lake Chad Basin Commission Lake Chad Basin Commission was founded on May 22, 1964, consisting of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Libya and Sudan, while Egypt, Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo maintains an observer status 6. The commission's mission is to regulate and control the use of water and other natural resources in the basin with an annual budget of $1 million dollars contributed by member nations 7. However, Lake Chad continues to shrink and the commission has been claimed by many insiders to be underfunded and misguided. Efforts by the United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme has undertaken measures to slow down the advance of the Sahara Desert and carried out development projects to improve resource management within Lake Chad making sure that region countries are doing their part to contain it. Water Diversion Project In 2017, Nigeria and Chad drafted a $50 billion plan to recharge and refill Lake Chad, which during the sidelines of the African Union Congress, has requested support from the African Union and other international donors 8. Its goal was to fill up Lake Chads basin by diverting the stream in Rankin River into the lake which 6 "The Lake Chad Basin Commission." Geography The Lake Chad Basin Commission. 7 "Better Governance of Underfunded, Poorly Managed Lake Chad Basin Key to Resolving Conflict, Suffering across Region, Speakers Tell Security Council - Nigeria." 8 "Recharging Lake Chad Key to Ending the Conflict Between Nigeria's Farmers and Herders - Nigeria." ReliefWeb. SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 10

11 have divided into half by evaporation. However, during high monsoon season, Lake Chad failed to merge back into a single body of water despite the friendlier climate due to irrigation and drought. Geologists argue that if the merger were to ever work out, cooperation between the public and private sector must occur. Boko Haram Insurgency While efforts are on the way to prevent Lake Chad from shrinking further, the rise of Boko Haram in the region has significantly slowed down the progress on research and development of such projects. While Chad has been leading the international joint task force to fight against Boko Haram, the insurgents continue to attack dried up islands in Lake Chad which are now occupied by innocent villagers. Conclusion Africa s water security is becoming a larger problem as Africa's population continues to exponentially increase in the next few decades. With the majority of African countries economies finally growing for the first time after many political and social turmoil faced in the 20th century, they must now turn attention to catching up with rapid urbanization and industrialization of the economy. With desertification of the Sahel coming southward, expanding irrigation and rapid industrialization, water security is posing huge political and social risk to the country with over 30 million people at stake, should Lake Chad continue to shrink as it does right now. While the Lake Chad region members recognize the risk to their economies, other African Union members must also recognize that a change to one specific sub region in Africa can have a negative effect on their own water supply. Scientists warned that if Lake Chad ceases to exist and dries up, there can be a domino effect; affecting the water supply in Lake Victoria which flows into the River Nile, another critical water source for Northern African nations. The success of containing Lake Chad might also determine the fate of other water sources in the continent. SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 11

12 Questions to Consider What has your country done to ensure that they have adequate water security? What expertise/resources/lessons does your country have to assist the efforts in retaining Lake Chad? The depletion of water in Lake Chad has created a long-lasting effect on the population surrounding Lake Chad. What humanitarian responses can your country take to fight these issues? How should the African Union respond to Lake Chad s problem and what strategies can make existing plans more effective? Despite the organizations in place to take charge of the initiative, it still failed to do its job, in what ways can the African Union solve this? SESSION VIII BACKGROUND GUIDE 12

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