1 FORUM: General Conference IV (Culture) ISSUE: The protection of the rare animal species under threat in Galapagos Islands: the initial point of the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection Background Information: The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador. The archipelago encompasses over 50 islands of volcanic origin that are spread out over an area of about 4,500 square kilometers. Volcanic eruptions still occur in this region. Its most notable feature is its unique wildlife. Galapagos Islands make up one of the most remarkable oceanic ecosystems in the world. The distinctiveness of Galapagos wildlife contributed to Darwin's formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection. The islands are also known to be the “initial point of the Darwinian Theory of Natural Selection”. So in other words, these islands are famed for their vast number of endemic species which were studied by Charles Darwin, the first geologist to explore the exceptional biota of these islands. And Darwin was especially struck by the “differences between the inhabitants of the different islands” he wrote while he was on The Voyage on the Beagle. The islands are considered to be the natural habitat for many different species, and contain a large variety of different types of animals. From penguins to tortoises, the islands have the optimum conditions to host a large variety of “rare” species. And yet, it is extremely vulnerable to oil spills. Another problem is the Earth’s climate change due to greenhouse gasses. Most eggs are cracking too early as a large amount of animals are no longer healthy due to the alarming reduction of food in the islands. Related Countries:
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FORUM: General Conference IV (Culture)
ISSUE: The protection of the rare animal species under threat in Galapagos Islands:
the initial point of the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection
Background Information:
The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the
equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador. The archipelago
encompasses over 50 islands of volcanic origin that are spread out over an area of
about 4,500 square kilometers. Volcanic eruptions still occur in this region. Its most
notable feature is its unique wildlife. Galapagos Islands make up one of the most
remarkable oceanic ecosystems in the world. The distinctiveness of Galapagos
wildlife contributed to Darwin's formulation of the theory of evolution by natural
selection.
The islands are also known to be the “initial point of the Darwinian Theory of Natural
Selection”. So in other words, these islands are famed for their vast number of
endemic species which were studied by Charles Darwin, the first geologist to explore
the exceptional biota of these islands. And Darwin was especially struck by the
“differences between the inhabitants of the different islands” he wrote while he was
on The Voyage on the Beagle.
The islands are considered to be the natural habitat for many different species, and
contain a large variety of different types of animals. From penguins to tortoises, the
islands have the optimum conditions to host a large variety of “rare” species. And yet,
it is extremely vulnerable to oil spills.
Another problem is the Earth’s climate change due to greenhouse gasses. Most eggs
are cracking too early as a large amount of animals are no longer healthy due to the
alarming reduction of food in the islands.
Related Countries:
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The EU for example, has some of the highest environment standards in the world,
developed over decades to address a wide range of issues. Today the main priorities
are combating climate change, preserving biodiversity, and reducing health problems
from pollution and using natural resources more responsibly.
“Our focus is to ensure that there is a strong science and policy basis for our
environmental policy, to move the nation to greater reliance on clean energy and
increase energy security, to combat global warming while growing the green
economy, to protect public health and the environment, especially in vulnerable
communities, and to protect and restore our great ecosystems.”
– Chair Nancy Sutley
“Environmental protection will be one of the four priorities of the French Presidency of
the European Union, which begins on July 1, 2008. The challenge will be ensuring
the protection of the environment while supporting the continent’s continued
economic wellbeing. It is for this reason that the European Union’s environmental
policy will increasingly rely on the belief that the implementation of high
environmental standards will stimulate innovation and business opportunities.”
Possible Solutions:
First of all, some regulations or laws could be proposed to the Security Council on the
routes of the oil tankers to prevent further problems. However, these newly designed
routes should not be the reason for additional problems. If these laws are to cause
economical problems, then some member states will not vote for the acceptance of
such regulations. Also, voluntary workers could aid some of the problems that
employees are facing such as the oil spills. Many NGO’s are designing campaigns
and as always, they need funding.
UN Involvement:
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Acknowledging the risk of oil reaching the fragile ecosystems of the Galápagos
Islands chain, a UNESCO World Heritage site, spurred the government of Ecuador to
explore environmentally friendly power sources.
“The government partnered with the UN Foundation, the UN Development Program,
and eight of the world’s largest utilities, including American Electric Power, to develop
an innovative renewable energy project that would cut diesel imports by half to the
Galápagos.
The San Cristobál Galápagos Wind project was finalized in 2008 with the dedication
of a 2.4 megawatt wind farm that is also generating “certified emission reductions”
under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. The project is part of the
government of Ecuador’s larger plan to wean all of the Galápagos Islands off of fossil
Question: Promoting awareness over the modern cultural dilemmas caused by
colonialism in ties to the situation in South Africa and other regions of Africa such as
Zimbabwe.
Introduction Starting from the 15th century, the Kingdoms of the Old World, namely Europe saw
great expansion. After the discovery of the compass the sailors sailed across the
oceans to find alternative trade routes which would ensure the flow of cheaper raw
materials. In a short time, they have discovered “new” continents; primarily America
since Europeans have discovered them very “new”, these continents were “new”
according to their perspective yet they were not aware of the fact that these lands
had already housed millions of inhabitants. According to the inhabitants Europeans
were the “ new” ones.
In most cases, neither the Europeans who have just discovered the place nor the
inhabitants could get along well. The “new people” were there to make them work in
mines, burn furnaces; literally they were there to enslave them. Inhabitants on the
other hand, were introduced to a brand new culture, a culture Europeans perceived
as modern. The slaves were forced to learn new languages as well as they were
forced to dress in so called “modern clothes”. Assimilation is happening in every
single branch of their culture. The enslavement; however, did not last long.
Today, nations that used to be colonies are instable since they found themselves in a
new world order after the colonists left. No longer were the tribe leaders the political
power. Additionally, there was this new system called “democracy” Weapons were
deadlier than bows and arrows. This misinterpretation of western culture resulted with
wars. The war was their first culture clash. This culture clash resulted in poverty,
extremely high death rates and hunger. This misinterpretation of western culture is
causing more human rights violations, andmore prostitution than there would
possible be if they had preserved their own morals and culture.
The dilemma in this situation is based on the question whether the western culture-
or the culture that had been imported to these nations by colonists- makes their world
a better place or not? For sure, their own culture is more accommodating to their
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lifestyle yet, can the inevitable inclusion of foreign cultures be altered and suited in
something of their own? Would this be the best solution?
What is worse is that most of the people are unaware of this situation. In this forum,
we will discuss the ways of raising public awareness about this predicament, and
perhaps by increasing awareness these questions would be answered.
Definitions of key terms: Colonialism: Exploitation by a stronger country of weaker
one; the use of the weaker
country’s resources to strengthen and enrich the stronger country.
Neocolonialism: Domination of a small or weak country by a large og strong one
without the assumption of direct government.
Decolonization: The action of changing from colonial to independent status. Post colonialism: A term used to describe the study of cultures who have emerged
from colonial rule and who are undergoing the process of decolonization
Background Information about Africa
Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populated continent. The
continent shares borders with Mediterranean Sea to the North, Indian Ocean to the
southeast, and Atlantic Ocean to the West, Suez Canal and Red Sea to the
northeast. Africa is made up of 53 countries including Madagascar and various island
groups.
In the late 19th century Africa was invaded by the dominant European Empires. In
the quest to find more raw resources, and alternative trade routes to eliminate high
taxes taken during the journey, some brave Europeans took the courage and sailed
to the Ocean. Spanish and Portuguese were the first ones to find alternative routes.
Soon after, the colonization of the new-found-lands started. The Europeans landed
with their guns and built villages. This especially happened in Africa where resources
were abundant.
They have created various numbers of colonies. The natives were forced to
interiorize the language of the Europeans and other cultural aspects of the
Europeans. Most of them were moved away from their villages to the bigger cities. As
a result of Europeans’ integration movement, many of the people became more
European than African. However, the culture has to stay in a region to be permanent.
For example, US, a former British colony has incorporated the European culture that
best fits the people living in the region. They, however, did not take natives in
account. The case with Africa is the same; nations ignored the culture of the tribes
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living in Africa, and tried to force the culture and the lifestyle of the Europeans,
because they thought that it would be more appropriate and modern. However, this
started the independence movements in these colonial states after World War II. As a
consequence of the rebellion of the African States, European Powers were
weakened. The firs country which gained its independence was Libya. Libya got its
independence in 1951. Secondly, Tunisia and Morocco won their independence from
France. Most of the states became independent during the next decade.
Although most of the independence movements happened peacefully, some
countries such as Algeria went through a lot of difficulties for the sake of winning their
independence. South Africa was one of the 1st African countries who have attained
their independence; however, it remained under the rule of its “white settler
population.”
General Overview The question of raising awareness on such a topic would first require substantial
amount of information. What are the common problems, how did the culture mix
benefit the locals and how does it harm them?
Africa was, unstable for centuries and it is still very unbalanced. When nations gained
their independence, the shift from “white people” to natives was the biggest problem.
Since there were many tribes in the continent, living closely together, the idea of a
nation lead by a parliament or a president was an opportunity to clash the others.
When a tribe was a minority in one region, the other major tribe would take control of
the government and massacre the minority. This has happened quite a lot of times in
the continent and perhaps the most famous one of these is the conflict in Rwanda.
Another point the European culture is dominant is the languages. Since the
colonization, Europeans forced their language to be taught at schools and forced the
natives to learn it for proper communication. This went on for many years until it to a
came a point where more than half of the generation was speaking in a European
language rather than their own native language. With thousands of different
languages, African continent has very valuable languages that are now in the verge
of being forgotten. The language assimilation can be seen even in the names of the
countries such as Cote D’Ivore which used to be a Belgian/French colony.
The new generations in these countries are encountering a dilemma. They have their
traditional culture in front of them, and also the culture that Europeans brought in to
their nations. In other words, they are in between the two cultures that they were
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raised in. They were in a situation in which they had to embed their culture with the
modern day culture. UN and NGOs has to ensure that the African culture does not
get lost.
The economical, political instability, lack of access to safe drinking water, lack of
proper education are only few of the problems African countries are facing today, and
one may easily trace back the history to find out that the balance of powers in Africa
that caused these effects were after colonies became independent. When their
masters with a certain system left, they were left in the very dilemma that nations and
people of Africa is facing today.
It should be taken into account that Africa includes thousands of different cultures,
each with their own traditions, languages and even lifestyles. However, the inclusion
of the modern culture, or the global culture that can be called “cultural colonialism” is
threatening these cultures, that have already blended in with the culture that is
already present in that particular region. Now only a very few wears their traditional
clothes, most of the Africans are now wearing jeans if they can afford it, or any
fabricated clothing that is available to the rest of the world as well. This accelerates
the process of cultural identity loss in the African continent.
The problem with the African cultures is that the population that knows the culture
and is a part of it is significantly lower than other cultures in the world. This makes it
very hard to trace, and protect the culture itself.
People do learn about the situation in Africa from the news, perhaps not as clear as
the news from USA or Europe, but some of the events happening in Africa are on the
news. However, there are many, many things that get left out for the sake of more
popular news. People should be informed about the culture of African continent at its
full diversity, and they should know what they can help to protect this
unique but fragile mosaic of culture.
Related Countries Zimbabwe Currently, Zimbabwe is struggling with Cholera. Also it is facing economic, political
and humanitarian crisis. The political, economical, and humanitarian results of
cholera epidemic on Zimbabwean children as follows:
Lack of education Lack of health care Increase in hunger
Increase in morbidity and mortality
Zimbabwe’s problem can only be solved if the ongoing inflation, lack of willingness to
form a stable government, deteriorating, physical infrastructure; raising malnutrition
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and the terrible pandemic viruses HIV and AIDS are taken seriously and all the
necessary corrections are made. UNICEF has continued to respond to the
humanitarian requirements of powerless Zimbabweans with the help of WHO and
other related UN agencies and non- governmental organizations.( NGO). UNICEF
immediately needs $ 8,000,000 in order to address the needs of children.
It can be said that Zimbabwe’s problems arise from clash of cultures. The nation that
had no prior experience on how a government should be run, how economies should
be managed due to their colonial history will have to face economical difficulties.
Rwanda Rwanda has suffered a civil war, where millions of people were massacred by the
members of the tribe that has the majority. Rwanda is relatively stable at the moment;
however the cultural conflicts between two tribes still continue. The conflict in
Rwanda clearly demonstrates the political aspect of the differences and the dilemma
Africa is facing. The majority has misinterpreted the democracy which resulted in the
massacre of millions.
Sudan Sudan is a nation that faces conflict as well. The situation in Darfur is more than
critical and yet the instability due to the lack of education and the unawareness of the
people in the nation is one of the causes. Millions of people today in Darfur region
suffers from the side effects or direct effects of the conflict in that particular area.
UN Involvement There have been no previous resolutions published on this topic. However, UN
Organizations such as UNICEF, UNESCO are actively working in the African
continent to preserve these cultures. However, there are no actions from UN to raise
public awareness about the situation in Africa in regards to their political and cultural
situation; therefore UN is not active in the field of raising awareness and perhaps this
dilemma could only be overcome by the involvement of the UN.
Possible Solutions Possible solutions to raise awareness in about the cultural situation in Africa might be
solved according to the following principles:
1. Raising awareness in Africa about African cultures and emphasizing the
importance of their own culture compared to other cultures that were imported or are
being imported right now could be a possible solution.This would include adding
items into the curriculum, but one must be very careful to set this up carefully to allow
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all people, most especially elders with most cultural knowledge is reached.
2. Raising awareness the vulnerability of the culture present in the area. This
would allow people to be more careful about their culture.
3. Collectinginformationaboutcultures,creatingbooklets,brochures,and selling them all
over the world, and with the income, more projects might be funded.
4. Creating promotional short films reflecting the situation in the region, and how
cultures are being affected by them
5. Increasing coverage in the TV channels, demanding more frequent and larger
space from the newspaper to reach out for masses.
6. Holding conferences which will specifically focus on the situation in African