Van Nguyen

MUN
Fritzenshaft 2
Ecuador
9/20/16
My country, Ecuador, has faced several environmental conflicts that are connected to
health issues. One of the major environmental conflicts is clean water. Ecuador has faced major
oil exploitation, which has contaminated drinking water. The contamination of drinking water
has led to birth defects, diarrheal infections, and cancer in several instances. Also agricultural
practices are affecting health. Due to the amount of antibiotics that are being fed to animals
there has been a rise in resistance to antibiotics in villages.
The biggest health concern due to environmental issues is contaminated water. In
Ecuador 45% of water resource have been privatize, but 1% of those using water resources
consume 64% of water available and 86% of Ecuadorians consumes only 13% of the countrys
water. A majority of water used by Ecuadorians are more likely to be contaminated unlike the
water used by private owners. Ecuador has had some accomplishments in maintaining clean
water like the lawsuit against Chevron in 2011. In this lawsuit Ecuador sued the company
Chevron to compensate for the damages they has made while the company was producing in the
country. Chevron abused the Largo Agrio and Yasuni rainforest by leaving toxic waste on the
forest floor and dumping 16 billion tons of crude oil into the Amazon River contaminating the
drinking water. The contamination of drinking water lead to birth defects, miscarriages, and
cancer in locals. Ecuador won the lawsuit and Chevron had to pay the government $18 billion to
pay for the cost of restoration. This isnt the only thing Ecuador has accomplished in maintaining
clean water. They also have increased the amount of protected land in the highlands area. A large
portion of this area is filled with creeks and rivers in the Andes. This preservation has benefited
Quito and surrounding areas greatly due to the fact that the highlands is their main source of

Van Nguyen
MUN
Fritzenshaft 2
Ecuador
9/20/16
water. A large population of people, as much as 1.5 million people, depend on these water
sources, and if these water sources are contaminated there will be a high chance of an outbreak.
Because these lands are protected, the chances of the water being polluted are decreased
drastically.
The other environmental change that is affecting the health of Ecuadorians is the
agricultural practices. There has recently been a shift from range free to grain fed poultry which
may be the cause to why there is a high antibiotic resistance in residents. There is no knowledge
of resistance on a national state, but there are local studies that are publish in journals. The
Ministry of Public Health in Ecuador have been making an effort understand the severity of the
problem and how they can improve. Ecuador has started a central lab that will collect all
resistance cases and data from all over the country and provide a reliable source of data to
control outbreaks. The lab has found extremely high levels of resistance in the coop areas of the
community farm. A majority of residents were found to be resistant to antibiotics found in
chickens and multidrug resistance. Reference labs in Ecuador have identified more than 150
strands of resistance. There has been a decrease in outbreaks due to the development of the lab.
Ecuador, coherent with its vocation for environmental protection and its cutting-edge
proposals in the geopolitical process in the fight against climate change, joins the 178 states that
have already signed the agreement, which in order to come into force, at least 55 countries that
account for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions should ratify it, says the diplomat
representing Ecuador in the UN after Ecuador had officially signed the Paris Accord on July 27th
of this year. Even though Ecuador only accounts for 0.1% of total CO2 emissions, they are

Van Nguyen
MUN
Fritzenshaft 2
Ecuador
9/20/16
affected greatly by climate change. The Ecuadorian government believes that every nation
should play their part in combating climate chance expressing the idea of climate justice.
Ecuador also regrets that although the agreement binding, greenhouse gas emissions reduction
goals are not. (Andes Info) (Andes Info)Another international effort Ecuador has tried to make is
the Yasuni-ITT initiative, where the government would implement the cap and trade policy. This
policy would leave 900 million barrels of oil in the ground preventing 410 million tons of CO2
emissions, but the plan did not follow through due to lack of funding from other nations and
Ecuadors financial state. This has left Ecuador no other choice but to use these barrels of oil to
help grow the countrys economy.
Ecuador has faced environmental issues that have influenced health including
contaminated water and resistance in antibiotics. To solve these issues we have held large
companies accountable for their misdeeds in harming our environment, preserved water sources
preventing them from future contamination, and started research facilities to combat outbreaks of
resistance in vaccines. Our proposed solution is to preserve already safe water to protect it from
further contamination and put forth money into research labs that will research for a solution to
the problem. Say the country in question does not have enough money to fund a research lab we
should, as a comity, help the country in question and aid them in any way possible.

Van Nguyen
MUN
Fritzenshaft 2
Ecuador
9/20/16
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