BGA/9/13
Sponsored by Christopher Peck, Keerthana Rajesh, Megan Zarring of Page High School
The delegates above represented the Delegation of Mauritius.
This legislation was filed in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural category
Presented as part of the MUN B 2023 conference
| 1 | To the General Assembly, |
| 2 | |
| 3 | Reminding delegates of the United Nations’ goal to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas |
| 4 | and marine resources” and the Barbados Program of Action, a UN policy to “address the economic, |
| 5 | environmental, and social developmental vulnerabilities facing islands,” |
| 6 | |
| 7 | Deeply Concerned by the current trend of increasing temperature’s impact on the coral reefs of all |
| 8 | coastal areas, |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Acknowledging the most recent coral bleaching event in 2016, killing around 30% of the world’s |
| 11 | coral and 40-50% of coral around Mauritius according to UN estimates and a massive oil spill in |
| 12 | 2020, spilling 1,000 metric tons of fuel and affecting 30 kilometers of coastline, |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Emphasizing that the UN recognizes reefs as a major contributor to Mauritius’ economy, |
| 15 | accounting for 22% of employment, 60.3% of service exports, and 36% of the nation’s GDP |
| 16 | through tourism before the COVID-19 pandemic, |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Highlighting the importance of Mauritius’ reefs in maintaining beaches and preventing coastal |
| 19 | floods, being able to negate around 97% of incident wave energy according to USGS estimates, |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Calling attention to the effects of beach erosion in particular parts of Mauritius, in which the coast |
| 22 | has retreated by around 1.6 feet every year, |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Conscious of Mauritius’ debt, incurred by the complete shutdown and post-shutdown decline in |
| 25 | tourism in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Further reminding the General Assembly of coral reefs’ importance in biodiversity, hosting 25% of |
| 28 | all known marine species, |
| 29 | |
| 30 | The Delegation of Mauritius hereby: |
| 31 | |
| 32 | Requests the financial assistance of fellow UN member states whose citizens are major |
| 33 | contributors to Mauritian tourism to help reconstruct and protect Mauritius’ coral reefs; |
| 34 | |
| 35 | Calls for this capital to revitalize previous UN reconstruction efforts and begin new programs |
| 36 | |
| 37 | Recognizes the cost of these programs to be 4.8 million USD, or around 20 USD per square meter |
| 38 | of coral arks and fish habitats 2 meters in height; |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Decrees that these funds would be sourced by the nations contributing to tourism the most in |
| 41 | Mauritius, these countries being France, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates; |
| 42 | |
| 43 | Declares that such a grant would revitalize both Mauritius’ economy, combat unemployment |
| 44 | trends, prevent beach erosion, and rebuild Mauritius’ coral reefs. |
| 45 | |
| 46 |