Committee: Special political committee

Country: Brazil
Topic: International River Dispute

The issue of International River Dispute is complicated because it can affect the energy
production level in an area, due to hydroelectricity but it can also affect the economy and water
levels. Once a river is dammed up it floods areas upstream which can cause lots of people to have
to relocate, and cause places downstream to have a limited amount of water, this also causes the
ecosystem to be thrown off balance. Which in some places is good, in some it is bad. In order for
countries to use more sustainable resources, they need to be able to dam as they please on their
land. Daming can also create a constant supply of water for area’s that have limited amounts of
water.

We, the country of Brazil have lots of rivers and water, which makes us perfect for hydropower.
Eighty percent of our country's electricity comes from hydropower. But due to lots of protesting,
we have been forced behind schedule on many damns, which in turn is causing us to lose money
daily. While we the government likes dams, and the economic and energy power they give us and
the majority of the people in our nation agree with us. Although there are certain Brazilian groups
that do not agree with dams, we can compromise by staying away from the historic and native
areas that people are concerned about. The reason that we need more electricity and water is our
population keeps growing and growing, and we don’t have enough water to help with agriculture
and as we grow we are needing more and more electricity.

My country, Brazil, would like to see the following things happen to help the situation. The first
step to create international river peace would be to make a rule that states “cannot build a dam
within a certain distance from the country border.” For example, the distance could be 10 miles
from any country border. Then the next step would be to determine if dams that have already been
planned would be affected and what to do with them. If a dam is already in the certain distance it
would be allowed to stay until it is decommissioned. There could be one exception to this rule, If
both countries want the dam and both sign sometime of contract or treaty with one another. One
example of how countries could work together is the Itaipu Dam on the Brazil/ Paraguay border.
Some limitations could be if it is on native land, important environmental area or an area with
endangered species.

Bibliography
“Brazil Announces End to Amazon Mega-Dam Building Policy.” Conservation News, 8 Jan. 2018,
news.mongabay.com/2018/01/brazil-announces-end-to-amazon-mega-dam-building-policy/.

McCarthy, Julie. “Brazil River Dispute Highlights Larger Issue.” NPR, NPR, 29 Aug. 2007,
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14004755.

Bowater, Donna. “'Water War' in Brazil as Rio's Supply Threatened.” The Telegraph, Telegraph
Media Group, 14 Aug. 2014,
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/11033846/Water-war-in-Brazil-as-
Rios-supply-threatened.html.

“Itaipu Dam” wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itaipu_Dam

“Brazil May Be the Owner of 20% of the World's Water Supply but It Is Still Very Thirsty.”
World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/07/27/how-brazil-managing-water-
resources-new-report-scd.