Introductory General Assembly (IGA)

Issues:

Nuclear Energy Global Warming

Members:

• Region A
• Region B
• Region C
  
  

IGA Request Form

Directors:

Ryan Olivia MacDonald Year: 2013 Major: Political Science Fact: I am not good at coming up with facts. Email: ryan.macdonald@hope.edu	Derek Jager Year: 2012 Major: Political Science & Psychology Fact: I played trumpet at Carnegie Hall Email:  Derek.jagger@hope.edu

The General Assembly program is the single largest organ of the Hope College Model United Nations conference. The General Assembly sessions serve to introduce students to the nature of the United Nations system and give them an awareness of some of the issues this body debates.

The Introductory General Assembly is for beginning students who want an introduction to the UN simulation. The Introductory General Assembly considers resolutions that have been drafted by Hope College students.

The issues facing the Introductory GA include: Global AIDS Epidemic and the U.N. Definition of Terrorism. This resolution has been created especially for the Introductory General Assembly and is not an actual UN resolution. Students participating in the IGA are expected to research the topic and resolution to which they are designated, and prepare amendments to be submitted.

The following is a change to the IGA as of 2004. On Thursday night an optional event for overnight IGA delegates will be provided. This will entail a speaker, as well as a captivating documentary, both of which will deal with the IGA issues.

On the day of the Model UN, delegates will arrive in the morning, hear panel discussions on their topics, give a brief statement on their standing on the issues, caucus for support of their amendments, and submit their amendments to the steering committee. After lunch, the General Assembly will then hold a plenary session on each topic and discuss the selected amendments. All delegates are expected to accurately represent their countries in submitting and cosponsoring amendments, debating, and voting.

In the caucusing portions of the morning, the time will be devoted to obtaining support from other countries, and compose amendments. There will be two delegates per country; therefore they both should be equally qualified to support their amendments during the caucusing period and during the actual debate.

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear energy policy is a national and international policy concerning some or all aspects of nuclear energy, such as mining for nuclear fuel, extraction and processing of nuclear fuel from the ore, generating electricity by nuclear power, enriching and storing spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Nuclear energy policies include the regulation of energy use and standards relating to the nuclear fuel cycle. Other measures include efficiency standards, safety regulations, emission standards, fiscal policies, and legislation on energy trading, transport of nuclear waste and contaminated materials, and their storage. Since nuclear energy and nuclear weapons technologies are closely related, military aspirations can act as a factor in energy policy decisions. The fear of nuclear proliferation influences some international nuclear energy policies.

Questions to Consider:

Helpful Sources:

Resolution Preliminary Draft: Subject to Change

Global Warming

Over the last hundred years, the average temperature of the earth’s surface has risen by 0.6 degrees. By the end of the century, it is expected to increase by another 1.4 to 5.8 degrees. Scientists are predicting that this increase in temperature could trigger major environmental changes that would affect everyone on the planet; in the areas of climate change, agricultural production, human health issues, famine, animal extinction, and the spread of diseases. The United Nations is playing a central role in clarifying the science of global warming and preparing a global plan of action to deal with it. The World Metrological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are two United Nations organizations that established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The panel does not do its own research. Its job is to bring clarity to the highly political and controversial debate over global warming and its causes. Member countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiated the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Protocol, each country agrees to reach a national reduction target. The goal is a combined effort from all the countries to cut total greenhouse-gas emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2008-2012. The United States withdrew its support for the Protocol, arguing the economic costs are too great compared to the benefits and argues China and India should be required to reduce their emissions as well. The Kyoto Protocol was never intended to be the complete solution for dealing with global warming and it expires in 2012.

Questions to Consider:

Helpful Sources:

Resolution Preliminary Draft: Subject to Change