Committee: Special Political Committee

Country: Germany
Topic: International River Disputes

The issue of river disputes is largely due to a lack of regulation. As dam

construction increases, more issues arise between countries that have connecting rivers.
Dams built in countries located upstream have the ability to cut off water access to the
nations downstream. The nations upstream don’t see the dams as an issue because it
allows for them to prevent flooding and provide river navigation, water supply,
hydroelectric power, wildlife habitat, and waste management. Until recently, there
hasn’t been much discussion about this issue. This is largely due to the fact that most
dams built in the past were constructed in rivers that didn’t pass through other nations.
However, recent construction in the US, Ethiopia, India and China has brought this
issue to attention on a global scale.

In the past, Germany has had some experience with river issues. In the 1950’s
through 70’s, pollution in the german rivers were increasing at an alarming rate. Dams
built in the Rhine and Danube to allow river navigation and create hydroelectric power
also brought plenty of industrialization along the rivers. This led to tons of chemicals
being dumped into the water, making it extremely polluted. But efforts to restore the
rivers are slowly being made. In the 80’s, Germany finally acknowledged their severe
pollution problems. Germany teamed up with other european countries clean up the
rivers, and since then we are now working to monitor the rivers, and assure that
pollution levels don’t increase. This delegation’s rivers provide a reference to other
countries, giving them the chance to foresee the environmental damage dams can bring,
and allow for measures to be taken ahead of time to prevent pollution.

Germany encourages this international committee to consider putting in place

environmental and humanitarian limitations on funding for dams to regulate
construction. While this delegation isn’t opposed to building dams, nor are we
overlooking the benefits of them, countries should only be allowed to cut off a certain
amount of water access, and not completely stop the natural flow. This would allow for
downstream nations to still have water access, as well as not completely disrupt certain
ecosystem’s river migrations. This delegation believes this will be an equitable
compromise to these disputes.
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