I’m so sad the conference is over! You guys were all really amazing and I had a lot of fun chairing for you this weekend! I just wanted to post one last time on the blogs to again thank you guys for your great attitudes and to post the awards for our committee in case your school had to leave before closing ceremonies.

Receiving Commendations were United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, DPRK, Colombia, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, and Syria.

Receiving Outstandings were China, United States, Czech Republic, Haiti, and Belgium.

And receiving the Gavel was Cuba.

I was really impressed by all of your creativity, hard work, and dedication this weekend. Hope you all decide to come back to BMUN next year!

Ariana Afshar

I hope you guys are all ready for BMUN 56 ECOFIN! =) We’ll be seeing you all in less than two days!! I just wanted to warn everyone to bring your umbrellas…we’re expecting some rain this weekend. Other than that, we have your position papers graded, your placards ready to go, and a few cool surprises waiting for you this weekend!

Ariana Afshar

Hope you guys are getting excited for the conference! The energy at BMUN is crazy and we’re all really looking for to next weekend!! =) I wanted to share something I just discovered which I think is really cool and will hopefully be really helpful for you guys. For those of you who are regular iTunes users, you might have noticed the semi-newish iTunes University feature. If you haven’t noticed it, go into the iTunes store and look on the left side of the page where there is a little box with options like Music, Movies, Tv Shows…Click on the iTunes U option and it will open a new page with a list of universities which allow you to download their course lectures onto your ipod. It’s so cool! =P In any case, if you click on the MIT courses and then scroll down to the Public Lectures section, you will find a lecture series on Environment and Energy that I think is particularly useful for our discussions. Also, not that I ever like to seem pro Stanford or anything…but it appears likely that there might be something remotely interesting (possibly) if you follow the iTunes U path from Stanford-International Relations-International Economics. Those audio programs might not be terribly bad…=P

I really encourage you guys to explore the iTunes U feature and maybe post other relevant lectures you find in the comments section of this post. Good luck! Keep checking and posting on the blogs!

Ariana

Hope you guys are having a great week! I found just a few more websites with news updates I think might be helpful to you all. Please be sure to continue checking the blog and to comment on any of the past blog posts. My vice chairs and I are sure to notice your comments and will take them into consideration when we are evaluating your performance in committee.

Ariana Afshar

Secretary-General urges ministers to usher in new era of climate change solutions

News by topic: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Trade, Investment, Technology

UK Centre for Economic & Environmental Development

Be sure to check out the EcoFin quick links page that has just been added to this blog! In it you will find a useful list of websites that will continue to grow as the conference draws near! Be sure to keep checking the general blog as well as the quick links page at least once a week or else you may be missing out ;).

Ariana

Hope everything is going well with school and your MUN work. Things at BMUN are getting very hectic as we all eagerly prepare for the conference. I recently ran across some more articles and publications that I hope will be of interest to you.

• Ban Ki-moon urges US business leaders to support “green” economics
• Official website for the Feb 11th and 12th climate change debates
• Press release regarding the Feb 11th and 12th climate change with a live webcast
• World Economic Situation and Progress website with an updated 2008 world report
  
• Updated publication regarding development strategies, specifically look at the trade policy notes

That’s all for now. Best of luck!

Ariana Afshar

My fabulous vice chairs have written their introductions =). I will be posting them here as I receive them.

Hi Everyone,
I am Theresa Cable and I will be one of your vice chairs for this year’s Economic and Financial Committee. I am sophomore at UC Berkeley and I am majoring in Peace and Conflict Students with a concentration in Global Poverty. I love to travel and will be extending my studies in Spain and Costa Rica in the following year. I am bit of an adrenaline junkie. Jumping out of planes and off bridges are a few of the interests I partake in when not learning about the economic issues which threaten the international arena. I look forward to meeting you all in March!!

Theresa

_______________________

Hey Delegates.

My name is Nic (No K) Walder and I am really excited to be a vice chair in the conference I attended as a delegate in high school. EcoFin will be an interesting committee this year, and I am especially enthusiastic to hear your ideas on sustainable development. Currently I am a freshman at UC Berkeley and I plan to double major in Rhetoric and Environmental Science (focusing on conservation and resource studies). Outside of school and MUN, most of my free time is spent on running trails, in restaurants and (sadly) napping in my bed. My biggest joys in life are going to the beach, listening to music, and driving. During summer, I am often found driving my surfboard along the coast, listening to classic rock in my baby (a 1990 red Mazda Miata, in case you’re interested).

I look forward to seeing you guys, and I hope we can make BMUN as fun for you as it was for me.

-Nic

_____________________

Hey Guys,

My name is Aditya Kashyap and I will be vice-chairing for the EcoFin committee at BMUN 56 this year. I am currently a second-year here at Cal double majoring in Philosophy and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In my spare time I like to sail, eat bagels, and best of all, learn about international issues so I can have fun at BMUN! When I’m not doing one of these, then it means it’s probably the weekend and I’m catching up on sleep. But one weekend I’ll be wide awake is BMUN 56, where I get to meet all of you awesome delegates and hear your great ideas!

Best,

Aditya

I hope to be receiving some amazing position papers in the next few days, so don’t disappoint me! I was just browsing online and found a few articles I think are interesting and might be helpful to some of you.

I’d love to hear your comments.  If you post on the blog, it’ll give you a chance to impress me without having to wave your placard in the sea of 200 other placards in order to be called upon.

Ariana Afshar

S Africa MPs debate energy crisis 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7218071.stm

At World Economic Forum, Ban Ki-moon pledges action on water resources

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25398&Cr=davos&Cr1=

Mining in Tanzania poses health, environmental threat – UN expert

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25449&Cr=tanzania&Cr1=

U.N. Warns of Climate-Related Setbacks, November 29, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/28climate.html?ex=1197003600&en=2ac470844c99582d&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Interesting maps on different aspects of development. November 28, 2007
http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/

ODI, Rethinking Rural Development:

http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/briefing/rural_develp.pdf

Breaking Through Poverty with Microfinance - Grameen Fdn

 http://youtube.com/watch?v=s3I9ThVww3k

World Development Report 2008, Agriculture for Development: Overview: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2008/Resources/2795087-1192112387976/WDR08_01_Overview.pdf

Hopefully, it’s not as cold and rainy wherever you are! I walked halfway to class today and thought very seriously about turning around and going back to bed =P. Well, on to BMUN business! I wanted to give you guys some tips while you’re starting to work on your position papers.

1. Do your research!

This really can’t be emphasized enough. It is immediately evident to us when we read your papers whether or not you have a firm grasp on the country you are representing. The more research you do, the more likely it is that your paper will be in line with your countries policies and also, the more likely that you will be able to use historical insights from your country when you are coming up with resolutions.

2. Don’t Procrastinate!

Procrastination is evil! Please Please start your paper as soon as possible. Even if you are simply browsing articles for 15 minutes every night, anything is better than starring at a google page with a million hits for your country the night before the position papers are due.

3. Be sure to cite everything that you use!

We will be extremely picky and strict regarding citations and references. Do not plagiarize. Do not copy something from the web directly into your paper without a citation and hope that we won’t notice. It is typically very obvious, and it is also very easy for us to do a search on a suspicious sentence.

4. Keep your paper structured and organized.

Your paper should flow logically and not leave us lost and confused after a page, wondering where the heck you’re going with the rest of your paper. You must include a description of the topic, past UN actions, and your delegation’s policy and solutions

5. Make sure you are accurately representing your country.

This is probably redundant, but really key! You might want to look at official documents that have been released by your countries in order to get an idea of the typical language that is used, especially if there is something unique about the diplomatic language of your country.

6. Have someone proofread your paper before you submit it.

While we are grading your paper on its substance, it will be much harder to concentrate on the substance if every other word we find ourselves circling a spelling mistake or stumbling over awkward grammar. Sometimes, when you read your own writing, it’s easy to gloss over any mistakes because in your mind, you see how it’s supposed to look. If you finish your paper ahead of time *ahem ahem* it will give another person the chance to say, “Um, when you say the ‘country’s border’…you spelled it boarder…like a snow boarder…”

7. Pay attention to deadlines.

BMUN is very strict on deadlines. If you would like to be eligible for a research award, then you must submit your paper by February 1, and in order to be eligible for general awards, they must be postmarked by March 1. In addition, the earlier you submit your paper, the more time we have to grade it.

8. Follow our guidelines.

Position paper requirements are discussed extensively in our delegate guide. Please follow our paper guidelines:

• 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper
• 1 inch margins on all sides
• typed
• double spaced
• 12 point Times New Roman font
• stapled in upper left corner (no bindings or folders)
• 3 page minimum length per topic

So that was just some general advice that hopefully got you motivated to go start working on your position papers!…right? =)

-Ariana

Welcome to the blog for this year’s Economic and Financial Committee! This is your Head Chair, Ariana Afshar, and I am so excited for this year’s conference to begin! With the help of my Vice Chairs Theresa Cable, Aditya Kayshap and Nicolas Walder, we will be delving into the murky waters of the international economic issues that pose serious challenges to the world community. We are looking forward to reading your position papers, as well as hearing your arguments and ideas in committee.

To give you a little information about myself, I am currently a senior at UCB, double majoring in economics and political science. I am very interested in international economics and politics, and am actually involved in several research projects this year with Berkeley faculty regarding international economic policies. When I’m not hiding in the Berkeley libraries, I like to play with my kitten, Nyx, and watch Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I also have a not so secret infatuation with the show Smallville. =) I really enjoy reading, and am a big time Harry Potter fan, as well as a fan of Phillip Pullman and Louise Rennison’s books. Well, I hope that information makes me less intimidating as a chair, and makes you more likely to post on this blog and come talk to me at the conference! =D

Ariana Afshar