The Big Bad MUN Guide I: "Those Wishing to Be Added to the Primary Speakers' List Will Please Raise Their Placards!"

Delegates!

I hope you're enjoying your well-deserved break from studies. What a wonderful time to lean back, enjoy the season, look forward to next semester's classes (Practical Aspects of German Applied Linguistics is gonna ROCK!), and relax.

Wait... relax? How silly of me! What I meant to say was that this holiday break means time to HONE OUR MODEL UNITED NATIONS SKILLS! WOOHOO! (I can hear you all cheering along with me right now.) Let's get to work!

Well, okay: perhaps it will be permissible for you to kick back just a little these next couple of weeks, but when that unavoidable, itchy "I-need-my-dose-of-global-dynamics-and-international-politics" feeling hits you, we're here for you. As promised, this post brings to you the first installment of the "Big Bad MUN Guide". I hope you enjoy it, huddled up warm inside as I'm sure you all are right now. If anyone spots errors, omissions, or even merely has a humourous comment, by all means, e-mail me. Alright, then, without further ado:

The Big Bad MUN Guide (Microsoft Word file)

So, I guess that`s about it. Maybe just one last thing: not that the information itself is anything new to you, especially if you`ve been following this blog, but I was reading Reader`s Digest the other day, and came across and article that focused on exactly what we`ll debating this February. If for no other reason than that I was simply excited to encounter it so unexpectedly, here`s the article:

E-Waste (Reader's Digest) *

Happy New Year, All!

*The URL for that RD article seems to change; make sure the last digit is 0, not 1.

Who Wants a Climate Change Glossary?! (Answer: All of you)

Delegates!

I was just cuisine around the BBC’s website, as I’m sure many of you do religiously as well, when I found a very informative CLIMATE CHANGE GLOSSARY. Yes, you heard correctly, someone has taken the time to compile a helpful list of all the scientific and otherwise associated terms being tossed around the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. I would highly recommend that when you find a term you don’t quite understand in your research that you check here to find it!

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8314171.stm

Although the discussions in Copenhagen may seem very far away right now, come February you will share in many of the same problems that the leaders and representatives of the world now face in their discussions.

“The first week of the United Nations climate meeting has unfolded more or less as expected: with much posturing, minor progress and punctuated moments of drama — inside and outside the meeting’s venue.”

1. Dealing diplomatically in a conference full of setbacks while trying to work within the constraints of a limited amount of time.

When you look at our conference’s length in hours compared to the Copenhagen conference’s length in days, time constraints are definitely an obstacle faced by both. Add in procedural matters (all I can say is, start practicing your placard raising delegates so your arms won’t get too tired in the conference!), positions stated and re-stated and re-re-stated, unavoidable deadlock, and all of the joy and frustration that comes with any kind of negotiation, and you’ll wonder how anyone can solve anything in so little time, particularly something as complex and important as the environmental problems we face.

“But as the enthusiasm gave way to actual deliberations, and amid a flurry of negotiating texts for a pact, alternative texts and somewhat secret alternatives to the alternatives, familiar stumbling blocks quickly emerged.”

2. A lack of options.

Sure, we all know what the problems are, and how important the effects of those problems left unsolved could be, but who actually has any idea how to solve them? Delegates, I would strongly urge you to come to the conference not only understanding the issues and your county’s position on it them, but also with some initiative. What are your country’s policies domestically? How effective are they? Can they be applied internationally? Even if you think that the answers are “not at all,” and “probably not,” you’d be surprised by how often you’re able to merge and fuse these policies as you interact with other delegates.

“Poor and vulnerable countries — represented, for the most part, by the Group of 77 (which actually counts 130 developing countries among its members) and the Alliance of Small Island States — quickly adopted a hard stance, insisting that the talks would be threatened if rich countries did not commit to steeper reductions of greenhouse gases and higher levels of financing for poor ones so that they could adapt to a changing climate and change their carbon profiles.”

3. The schism between North/South and Developed/Underdeveloped Countries

Once you finally find some shaky common ground on which to build a resolution, the question comes: who is going to pay for it? This question can be divided a million ways: who “SHOULD” pay for it (the richest countries? The highest producers of toxic and biohazardous waste? The countries with the most to lose?) and then, of course, who CAN pay for it?

These are all obstacles that you will face (and hopefully, overcome!) both in your research, and in the conference. Good luck!

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/business/energy-environment/14iht-green14.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Brr... Winter's Arrived, I See. Is Global Warming So Bad?

Delegates!

It’s been a while! We, the UNEP Dais Staff, apologize for our apparent disappearance this past number of weeks. We also bring to you an excuse: final exams. We hope you understand. (I`ve just got calculus on Monday, and then I`m DONE! WOOHOO!)

So, what’s happened since we’ve been ‘gone’? Well, “Madrid” is behind us, and that big bad “Copenhagen” is upon us! I had planned a post showing the developing nature of Canada’s role in this conference (noting a number of really good articles from the Edmonton Journal, the Gateway (the U of A`s student newspaper), and other publications), but, again, finals happened, and that fell by the wayside. So now we find ourselves here, well into December, and with the end of the year fast approaching, I note with excitement that HSMUN 2010 CAN`T BE FAR BEHIND (YAY!). (We`ll get those background papers to you soon. Promise. Just doing some final editing right now…)

In this light, my thoughts have turned a little from the environmental issues you’ll be debating to the technical nitty-gritty stuff of the conference. Now, I know that many of you are seasoned veterans of HSMUN, and have no fear at all of marching off into the battle that is caucus. Others, however, have never participated in a Model UN, and I don't think I'd be entirely wrong to say that a number of you are a little unsure of what to expect. What do you do when you first get to the conference? What kinds of thinks will you find yourself involved in doing? And, very importantly: how on earth does debate run in this crazy MUN thing? Well, empathizing with those of you who do have these questions, you'll be seeing in the next little while an EXCITING (maybe) and INFORMATIVE (hopefully) series of posts that will be designed to walk you through what you need to know to shine at February's conference, with a special focus on rules of procedure. So keep your eyes peeled for that.

While you're waiting... I'd like to direct your attention again to The HSMUN 2010 UNEP Foreign Policy Index. Still in its beginning stages, there are only a small number of articles indexed, but it is still a resource worth checking out to get clear statements of foreign policy (even for some more obscure nation-states).

If you have an article that you'd like to share, or want to draw our attention to anything that ought to be indexed, by all means, feel free to help out! Send us what you've got. In a similar vein, if there's something you'd like to get cleared up, or if you have any ideas for a 'feature' you'd like to see in this blog, we'd love to hear from you! Let us know- you can e-mail us by clicking on our names in that top right-hand corner box.

I'll leave you with just two more items:

1. Canada's role at Copenhagen. I can't help it: I know I've fallen behind and I've pretty much abandoned the idea I mentioned (above) about tracking this, but I still just want to turn your attention to two Journal articles, with kind of contrasting topics:

a) Canada Mocked and Praised At Copenhagen

b) Canada Working Constructively At Copenhagen

2. Research at the University of Alberta. So, I was searching for articles pertaining to this year's topics of debate, and found an interesting article (similar to previous ones posted, but with some new information) I wanted to share (see a) below). I got to thinking about why I'd never heard of this "School of Energy and the Environment" before, but then though, why would I have? A university setting is a goldmine of information and research, and that's about when I found the list of experts at the U of A (b) below) that's I've given the link for. Not quite sure of key issues? Having troubles with your research? Go ahead and contact these folks! That's what they're there for! And it's all so easy- you can just fire off a quick e-mail...

a) Climate Change and the Environment

b) University of Alberta Experts Listing