ECOSOC Resolution 2
Group: ASIA1
Members present: India, Nepal, South Korea, and Japan
Subject: Improving water quality and access to water to better human health
Keeping in mind our goals as the representatives of ASIA1 to the Economic and
Social Council to improve the well-being of the people of our nations,
Understanding that access to clean, safe freshwater is essential for human health
by providing drinking water, improving sanitation, and supporting irrigation
systems for agriculture that provides food and nutrition1,2,
Observing that people living in more rural areas throughout our nations often
cannot easily access an improved water source, and that isolated communities
such as those along hilltops or mountainsides are especially impacted by this lack
of localized sources for clean freshwater1,
Noting that a dependable irrigation source may enable communities of Asian
countries to benefit from greater food security throughout the year, despite
regional weather and climatic differences3,
Knowing that the burden of collecting and transporting water from non-local
sources often falls on women in populations that do not have easy access to clean
freshwater4,5,
Remembering the Millennium Development Goals set forth by the U.N. to
improve safe drinking water and sanitation worldwide, “eradicate extreme
hunger and poverty,” and “promote gender equality and empower women,”
The Economic and Social Council
1) Encourages the domestic implementation of new technologies to
capture safe drinking water, including large fog collectors and rainwater
catchment systems, in isolated and rural communities, particularly those
at high altitudes along the Himalayan Range;
2) Proposes that the U.N. Water Council consider how the “water security”
and “water resource management” task forces could work toward the
installation or improvement of irrigation systems in agricultural areas,
especially those from which important regional crops such as rice are
harvested3;
1 3) Considers water to be part of the global commons, and recommends
that Japan and South Korea help fund aquatic ecosystem rehabilitation
projects in India and Nepal to improve the quality of surface and
groundwater sources throughout Asia;
4) Urges that future development of improved water sources be designed
with the priority of decreasing the burden of water collection that so often
falls to women, possibly by increasing the rights of women in Asian
countries to hold property and manage resources5.
Works Cited:
1) "Nepal Water for Health: Water, Sanitation & Hygiene in Nepal since 1992."
NEWAH.org. NEWAH: Nepal Water for Health, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
<http://newah.org.np/index.php>.
2) Gautam, U. “Nepal: Food Security, a Localized Institutional Irrigation
Perspective on Public Irrigation Systems.” Hydro Nepal: Journal of Water,
Energy and Environment, 11.1, (2012): 95-99. 01 Mar. 2014.
3) Cramer, Gail L., Hansen, James M., Wailes, Eric J.. “Impact of Rice
Tariffication on Japan and the World Rice Market.” American Journal of
Agricultural Economics 81.5: 1149-1156. 10 Apr. 2014.
<http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/81/5/1149.ful l.pdf>.
4) We Can End Poverty: Millennium Development Goals and Beyond 2015.
United Nations: UN Web Services Section, Department of Public Information,
2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. <http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/>.
5) Hogarth, Hyun-Key Kim. "Globalization and Women’s Property Rights in
South Korea." Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 9.1 (2010):
137-53.
2