United Nations Environmental Programme

Hi all!

If you have not yet received your rubrics or edits to your papers, please send an e-mail to me and we will get back to you by Friday. Again, you can find my e-mail address on the topic synopses.

Cheers,
Beth
Head Chair

Hi Delegates,

Just in case you missed closing ceremony, here are the award winners for our committee (in no particular order when listed together…):

Best Delegate: France

Outstanding: China, Russia, UK

Commendation: Liechtenstein, Kuwait, Cote D’Ivoire, Denmark, Japan

If you did not pick up your award at closing ceremony your award will be sent to you  within a few weeks.

I hope you all had a great time at BMUN and I look forward to seeing all of you again at BMUN 59 (or around Cal if you’re a graduating senior

-Halea

Hello Delegates,

Hopefully this is the last reminder before conference!

Just want to let you know that BMUN is a sustainable conference meaning there will be NO plastic water bottles available!

Please remember to BRING A WATERBOTTLE/CANTEEN to conference!

If you don’t currently own one, we will be selling BMUN canteens (which are quite lovely) for $10.

Hope all your preparations are going smoothly! See you in two days!!

Halea

Hello Delegates,

Hope your preparations for BMUN 58 are going well.  BMUN 58 is less than one week away!  As the week-end approaches, I want to give you all a quick guide as to how you should be spending your last few days before the conference.

Monday, March 1 (Today):

• Finish up researching; check out sources you haven’t used yet.  Googlebooks is a great place to find printed information.
• Make a few fact sheets, about your country and about each topic, to reference during conference.
• Comment on the comments blog.
• Check the news!

Tuesday, March 2:

• Make a few “Solution Sheets”, where you list different possible policies that your country would like to see adapted for each topic.
• Comment on the comments blog.
• Check the news!

Wednesday, March 3:

• Update and revise your reference sheets.
• Comment on the comments blog.
• Check the news!

Thursday, March 4:

• Pack!  See the Delegate guide for a complete packing list.  Make sure to bring canned goods and an outfit for the Delegate Dance!
• Check the news!
• Get a good night’s sleep; you’ll need it.

Hope that helps with all of your preparations.  Please e-mail me with any questions that you might have.

Best,

Beth

Hi Delegates… just about 5 more days till conference!!!

As you did your research for sustainable development you probably came across the idea of carbon sequestration, but how does this connect to whaling?

Researchers from the University of Maine and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute are asserting that whaling has contributed to the release of carbon into the atmosphere as whales that would normally decompose at the bottom of the ocean instead were converted into things like lamp oil…

This research is still in its early stages, but it provides some good food for thought on how linked are two topics actually are.

See the article below for more info.

Looking forward to seeing you all very soon!

-Halea

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8538033.stm

Hi Delegates!

We’re just about a week away from conference, hope you’re all super excited and are bringing your A game

Just a few observations from position papers and some pointers of things you might want to look into before coming to conference. The vast majority of you did excellent research on past UN action (yay!) and wrote very convincing delegation positions but… this is where the title comes in, we need SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS to discuss in our committee. (don’t get me wrong some of you already came up with some great stuff).

So these are the things you should do if you like to:  a) be very prepared for BMUN b) look super smart c) make your chairs smile or d) all the above

Cite SPECIFIC UN resolutions that you want to change or provide precedent for your proposed actions

Propose the use of SPECIFIC technologies you may want to implement

Look for SPECIFIC styles of meetings/conferences you would like to emulate

ALL of these things will greatly bolster your arguments.

One last thing, make sure everything is ON POLICY, you may not agree with your nation’s position on certain issues but sometimes it’s fun to play devil’s advocate…

Good luck with your final preparations, we’ll see you  soon!

-Halea

Some helpful cites:

The UN’s Research Guide: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/

To search for Specific Resolutions: http://documents.un.org/

BMUN is happy to announce that this year’s theme for the Saturday Night Delegate Activities will be “Let’s CAN Hunger” where decorations and costumes will represent favorite foods from around the world. In support of this year’s conference cause, World Food Program, the theme aims to show solidarity in the fight against world hunger. Any food related-wear is appropriate and some possible things to dress up as include fruits, salt and pepper, M&M’s, the color representing your favorite food group, food mascots, your favorite Wheatie’s champion, or even farmers from around the world –although, creativity is definitely encouraged!

This year’s activities will include the delegate dance, entitled “You Are What You Eat,” and a casino with Blackjack and Roulette. There will be raffle prizes, a free photo booth and a refreshment stand. Of course, there will also be a dance floor and a DJ.

To address hunger in our own local community, BMUN will also be having a canned food drive Saturday night. Delegates who bring in canned and other non-perishable foods will be given an extra $50 worth of BMUN casino money for every item they donate.

The activities will take place on Saturday, March 6th. The doors to Pauley Ballroom will open at 8:00 p.m. and all activities will end at 11:00 p.m

The end of Japanese Whaling may be near. This at least is the sentiment that has arisen from a recent assessment of government spending. The modern economic recession has had far reaching international effects, and many countries have been forced to reign in spending and find ways to cut costs. Japan is no exception to this rule, and has established a spending review committee for this very purpose. One target of the Spending Review Committee is research whaling, with the Committee recommending that the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Fund have its funding revoked. The OFCF claims it needs 70 billion yen a year to stay afloat, but these are high sums to dole out to a program with questionable intents and effectiveness.

For one most people have concluded that “research whaling” is simply a cover for commercial whaling. Scientists have come forth stating that there are various none lethal methods to do the same DNA research on whales, but Japanese whalers have pushed for their own “research” method as a way to continue whaling. Aside from the obvious long term negative environmental consequences of continued whaling, there are long term negative economic consequences of whaling.

The market for whale meat has been steadily declining in Japan, partially as a result of changing Japanese cultural norms, and an attempt to adapt a more Western culture, and partially as a result of increased awareness of the harmful consequences of whaling. This declining market, combined with more expensive whaling methods has led to a failure of whaling institutes such as the Institute for Crustacean Research to default on government loans. Even the Japanese Foreign Ministry has spoken out against the continued financial backing of floundering Japanese whaling institutes.

Ultimately it seems that the end of Japanese whaling may be near. While governments are rarely motivated by strictly altruistic or environmental reasons, the fact that the Japanese economy is struggling, and the whaling institutes are defaulting on repaying loans, means that it won’t be long before whaling is seen as an unsustainable industry and loses its government funding.

-Hewa

Link: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/whaling-victory-in-sight-in-japan-121109

Hi Delegates,
Please remember to turn in your position papers to the unep gmail account by tomorrow in order to qualify for ANY committee awards!
Cheers,
Beth

Hello Delegates,

I want to thank all of you who have participated on the comments blog and encourage those of you who have not yet checked out the blog and posted a comment to do so.  The delegations of Cameroon, Belgium, and Cote d’Ivoire have already raised some interesting questions to get you all started on thinking about the specific types of  you may want to discuss during committee.  Please also use this space to address any comments you may have about any of the particular posts found on the general UNEP blog (here).  My vice chairs and I will also be checking the comments blog regularly and will address any comments or concerns you may have.   And again, the url for the comments blog is: http://bmun58unepcomments.blogspot.com/.

Happy researching and happy blogging!

Cheers,

Beth