UNYEC 21

The '2021 UN Youth Environment Congress' was co-hosted by the United Nations Environment Program (UN Environment), Eco Mom Korea, and the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA). Crisis & Zero-Waste). The 2021 UN Youth Environment Assembly, which marks its 9th anniversary this year, was held as an online general assembly in which 330 youth and university students from both domestic and foreign countries participated. The UN Youth Environment Conference program is a program to form a consensus on the need for environmental conservation and to derive practical alternatives to solve the global environmental crisis through the eyes of young people.

In accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) set by the United Nations, it was held in the form of a mock UN General Assembly, and is divided into 6 sub-committees according to the online environment and operated in Korean and English. At this year's UN Youth Environment Conference, Ban Ki-moon, the 8th UN Secretary-General, delivered a keynote speech, and Incheon Metropolitan City Seo-gu Commissioner Lee Jae-hyun and environmental journalist Della Kinnele delivered a special speech.

It was a 3-week program where there were different experiences made. The first experience was independent. There was a mission provided by the UN Youth Environmental Conference at the orientation session, August 14th.

First, there was an introduction of the chairs and the delegates as well; name, interests, treasures, and TMI (too much information) about yourselves. Next, was an explanation of how to use zoom and an online ice-breaking session with fun games: Balance Game (Would you rather?) and Guess the Song!! (A set of emoticons that demonstrate the title of the song). Then, there was a discussion about the MUN Rules and Procedures. With these introductions, the conference moved on to the last activity which was a breakout room discussion about two agendas: What are the real difficulties in achieving zero waste in our daily life? What are the specific action plans to solve them? There were fruitful discussions made and based on this idea, as a delegate, I was able to grasp some more knowledge about each countries' stance and ready to prepare more for the actual conference.

Based on the overall conference, I was able to learn that there are different stakeholders for the environmental issues and as in bringing up a consensus, there should be countless discussions done since it all connects together with all kinds of aspects. In addition, I was also able to learn that "Think Together, Act Now" is one of the key points in creating a better society. Conferences especially have this theme set up because the delegates all think together with countries' stances and solutions that bring up resolutions.

Therefore, we should all act at least by now or else it will be too late. Thank you everyone for the wonderful discussion and I am really happy that I received the Best Position Paper Certificate as well! :)