Tiko Bdoyan, Press Corps 23
SOCHUM, General Assembles — The UN Summit is currently underway, and tensions are high in the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee as they discuss the issue of climate change and cultural extinction. The topic at hand is a pressing matter that affects us all, but the lack of consensus among nations is causing chaos and disunity.
Panama has proposed changing the Paris Peace Accords to prioritize climate action, while Belgium wants to provide more land rights to indigenous people. The Central African Republic is focusing on uplifting underdeveloped countries, and the U.K. is looking to improve the Paris Peace Accords.
Chad has proposed giving indigenous people a voice in the conversation, and Belize wants to implement carbon credits. Jordan, on the other hand, has suggested implementing a carbon tax. Angola emphasized how oil pipelines run through indigenous land, and Lesotho gave an extremely passionate speech about the UN simply being ineffective because no one can agree on anything. That same delegate from Lesotho said “nothing is happening and nothing is going to happen if we keep acting this way.”
Delegates from Pakistan emphasized their own countries efforts in fighting climate change and how other countries should also take individual approaches while delegates from Jordan emphasized more collective international approaches to the problem.
A delegate from Albania said “What we need in this conference is some unity” when asked how it was going so far. His block, which was unnamed as of then, focused on the most technological solution to climate change.
The lack of unity in the committee is palpable, with nations having wildly different ideas on how to tackle the issue. The discussions are becoming increasingly heated, and it seems like a solution is further away than ever.
A delegate from Saudi Arabia stated “It’s important to us that countries continue using oil” soon after a delegate from Belize commented on the dangers of oil and oil pipelines.
One proposal that stood out was Australia's suggestion of developing mushrooms that absorb carbon. They opened with “In Australia, there are a lot of fun guys, but what we need is some fungi!” However, even this idea met with skepticism and criticism from other nations.
One of the meta issues facing the conference was a surplus of working papers. With over one hundred and fifty delegates the committee boasted a whopping eighteen working papers to start. This proved to be problematic considering there had been a limit set of only ten. By the end of the second session this number had been reduced to thirteen. It remains to be seen if the remaining groups will be able to overcome their pride and stubbornness for the sake of progress.
The world is at a critical juncture, and the discussions in the Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian Committee are a clear indication of the challenges we face in tackling the issue of climate change and cultural extinction. It is clear that we need a unified approach to this problem, but it is also clear that there is no easy solution.
The world is watching, and it is up to the committee to find a way forward. We can only hope that they can put their differences aside and come to a consensus that will benefit us all. Until then, chaos and disunity will continue to brew in the committee, and the future of our planet will remain uncertain.