UNSAN MUN 2025

Topic

How are Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Threatened by Climate Change?

About the committee

The goal of this session will be to build upon the General Assembly’s 2013 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and adopt a resolution focused specifically on addressing the impact of climate change on indigenous populations. As pointed out by the Special Rapporteur in his 2023 report, there is a need to include indigenous rights in the mechanisms of adaptation and mitigation that are developed to fight climate change. To adopt this resolution, the Council will survey the different instances in which indigenous rights are affected by climate change. These situations often revolve around threats to their traditional ways of life (with the issues of land rights and the encroachment on their resources). They can lead to relocation and a loss of knowledge and traditions, which are often deeply rooted in their environment. A prime example can be found in the cases recently brought up by the Sámi populations against the construction of a wind farm on their traditional lands. This Council may use these cases as a jumping-off point to find a way, through international diplomacy, to prevent such situations before they arise. Note: This is a teamed committee! Each delegation will have two delegates, so we encourage pairs to apply together in teams! Equally, if you'd like to apply but do not have another person to team up with, we can allocate you with another single applicant to make a delegation of two.

Countries

Topic

International Displacement as a Consequence of the Climate Crisis

About the committee

The consequences of climate change are causing displacement in more ways than one. Scarcer resources and sea levels rising are forcing populations to abandon their homes, as in the case, amongst many examples, in the Maldives or the State of Tuvalu. Climate change is also ‘amplifying vulnerabilities’, as put by Andrew Harper, Special Advisor on Climate Action for UNHCR, and is worsening conflict, poverty and persecution, indirectly ensuring the uprooting of even more people. The goal of this session will be to discuss the consequences of such displacements on human rights and the execution of UNHCR’s Strategic Plan for Climate Action 2024-2030 (which seeks to protect people forcibly displaced by climate change). Ideally, this session will conclude with the adoption of a resolution containing guidelines to promote the effective implementation of this Plan, as well as the varying proposals Member States see fit to make on this matter.

Countries

Topic

The Recognition of Climate Change as a Factor in Conflict: a new addition to the Security Council’s agenda?

About the committee

The Security Council has addressed the issue of climate change and its impact on conflict in the past: however, not all members agree on the role it should play. There is doubt as to whether climate change can even be considered as having an impact on security and whether climate action should be left to other forums such as the Conferences of Parties of the UNFCCC. These disagreements are such that Russia went as far as to veto a 2021 thematic resolution on the matter. However, many States (and other actors) believe that climate change falls within the Security Council’s peacekeeping mandate, as they consider it to be a ‘threat multiplier’. The goal of this session will be to discuss the Security Council’s role in this matter and adopt a resolution which will outline its action in the future. Members will be expected to present their stance on the topic and engage in debate with other delegations to reach a compromise. As a jumping off point, delegates will be invited to discuss the example of water scarcity. Indeed, its link to climate change and its impact on conflict creation are often investigated, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. One of the most notable examples is the role of the prolonged droughts which led to the conflict in Syria.

Countries