Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Committee Profile

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a committee tasked with overseeing and handling some of the most prevalent and dynamic issues facing the international community. Access to sustainable food sources, strong agricultural frameworks, safeguards in relation to climate change’s effect on human viability, and successes within the intersection of the global economy and agribusiness are all exceedingly important components to a healthy, functioning global society. The FAO is the only international organization that manages all of these elements and hence has become one of the most crucial bodies of the United Nations.

The intricacy of topics relating to agriculture, nutrition, and sustainable accessibility will offer delegates of this committee thought provoking challenges that will contribute to a fun, engaging environment of debate. The looming inevitability of an impending food crisis mixed with economically pivotal regulations on illegal fishing practices are complex issues that will allow delegates to examine the international community with a new perspective, one that takes into account aspects and elements that might not have previously been considered. I am beyond thrilled to be able to facilitate intellectually creative deliberations on two topics that are imminently prevalent to our international community!

Chair Letter

Distinguished Delegates,

Welcome to the 2023 session of BruinMUN! I am thrilled to be chairing the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of this year’s conference! I am currently a third-year Biology major here at UCLA, minoring in Evolutionary Medicine, and I hope to pursue a career in the field of Veterinary Medicine!

My Model United Nations career has been a 7 year long journey. I fell in love with MUN as a young high school student and was delighted to find such a welcoming, committed MUN program here while in my first year at UCLA. I have both staffed UN Women and chaired Novice SPECPOL for our BruinMUN conference, as well as chaired DISEC in our most recent LAMUN college conference! Alongside my participation in MUN, I am a Bruin Ambassador working for UCLA Undergraduate Admissions as well as a member of Pre-Veterinary Society, the Bagel Appreciation Club, and the Lettuce Club.

With 195 member states, the Food and Agriculture Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works in over 130 countries with the ultimate goal of eradicating food insecurity and hunger worldwide. First established in 1945, the FAO operates under three overarching goals: to increase agricultural productivity, to improve nutrition, and to raise the overall standard of living in areas of rural population while contributing to global economic growth. The international community is threatened daily by the issues the FAO has been sanctioned to address. With a rapidly increasing population, access to food and all its surrounding mechanisms have become looming topics of urgency, fueled by the prevalent threats of food insecurity, malnutrition, climate change, and income discrepancy.

I foresee that over this weekend you will not only gain a better understanding of the proceedings that take place in the UN General Assembly fostered by the communicative nature of a dual delegate atmosphere, but I deeply hope that you will feel encouraged to examine the world and global issues with a new perspective, one with far greater empathy and a drive to foster change.

With that being said, good luck on the rest of your research, and welcome to the FAO.

Best,

Sydney Lester | Chair | BruinMUN 31

fao@bruinmun.org