United Nations Environment Program
Dear Delegates,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to BruinMUN 2012’s United Nations
Environment Programme.
My name is Sarah Kirk, and this is my second year at UCLA. I am a history major, and I am looking to focus specifically on the history of colonial Latin America and the repercussions of the Spanish Conquest on the indigenous peoples of the Americas. I am also fascinated by environmental studies, and have performed field research on the health of kelp forests while SCUBA diving off the coast of California. Model UN has been a true passion for me over the past six years, and having travelled to conferences in places like the Netherlands and Chicago, I can truly say that it broadens your horizons to creative solutions to the world’s numerous problems. Aside from MUN, I also work for UCLA’s Office of Residential Life as a Student Leader to create events and programs to enrich the experience of living on campus for students.
The work that UNEP does is central to the future health of the planet and the human race. Today, the human species is the most significant agent of change on our planet. Our technological and industrial advances have taken us to the moon, and to the deepest depths of the ocean, but we are demanding too much from the finite resources of the planet. Our committee will be discussing two of the main challenges that Earth faces: Sustainable Urban Development in Developing Nations and Resource Depletion.
As populations grow, and countries develop industrial economies, cities emerge. The high density of urban life is a nexus of disease and crime, but if they are developed sustainably, then these repercussions can be avoided. That is why the sustainable development of urban areas is so important; we must make a strategic plan for the cities of tomorrow.
Countries demand natural resources in order to fuel industry and maintain quality of life for the populous. The exponential growth of the human population in the developing world coupled with the overconsumption of resources from the developed world places too great a demand on the Earth’s abundant, yet finite resources. This rate of consumption will not last forever, and that is why it is imperative to find practical solutions to resource depletion.
I am looking forward to hearing your input into how we will face these environmental challenges together. If you have any questions about the conference, feel free to contact me at my personal email: smkirk.ucla@gmail.com. For submitting your position papers, please send them to the official committee email: UNEP@bruinmun.org. Good luck, and I’ll see you all at BruinMUN 2012!
Sincerely,
Sarah Kirk
UNEP, Chair
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