My First MUN Conference

One month ago I joined the MUN club at my school hoping to learn how real life decisions are made about our world in the United Nations. This Saturday, I attended my first conference discussing UNFCCC action steps to reach emission reduction targets, securing a safer future for life, infrastructure, and health. The goal of the UNFCCC is to keep the average global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees annually. Over several decades, since the first Industrial Revolution, mankind has dug a hole into the climate crisis, and that pit now overflows with a future of uncertainty. The burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity, manufacture goods, and transportation produces 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases form a blanket around the Earth, trapping heat in the atmosphere responsible for negative health effects. By 2050, global warming is predicted to cause 250,000 more deaths annually. Furthermore wildfires have taken a toll with a recent fire spanning more than 850,000 acres in Texas.  

I represented Japan in the MUN conference and a vital part of the discussion was if nuclear energy should be used to reach reduction goals. International concerns included the danger of radioactivity, capacity issues, and not enough funding for presently developing countries. Japan proposed the use of fusion nuclear reactors instead of fission nuclear reactors, for radioactivity can be controlled through magnets in fusion reactors. This proposal changed many countries’ views on implementation of nuclear reactors. Japan put forth a multilateral extension to the Paris Agreement in which parties implement a minimum number of fusion nuclear reactors to have 7% of their total global energy come from nuclear energy. 7 percent was introduced due to being a feasible and attainable goal for all countries. The Paris Agreement has previously relied on nationally determined contributions to ensure that countries are actively working towards the climate crisis, but Japan’s internationally mandated approach guaranteed improvement. 

Almost all countries were on board once I had developed my thoughts through motions of the debate. When the time came to write resolution papers, several negotiations were made. Firstly, the fact that many countries do not have the capacity to implement large nuclear reactors due to high populations was addressed. Renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy were discussed. Amends were made that 7 percent of total energy generation of all countries should come from either renewable energy or fusion nuclear reactors annually. Fusion reactors are still being researched as they have mechanical issues such as the magnets of the reactor deteriorating because of radioactivity. Countries of the United States, China, France, and Japan offered to recruit scientists from these countries to perform research. Once research is completed all new nuclear reactors are to be fusion reactors for safety reasons. These same countries and more, agreed to give a certain sum of money to currently developing countries such as Bangladesh to help reach climate reduction goals. Lastly, preventative measures were also proposed to avoid nuclear reactors developing into nuclear arsenal.

Overall, my first MUN experience was extremely memorable. I enjoyed passing notes to other delegates, making new friends, and practicing public speaking skills. At the end of the conference I was awarded the Outstanding Delegate award and I look forward to my next debate.