Weekend at RomeMUN 2013: a melting pot of ideas

Rome, 11^th March – During the weekend all committees and networks were working at Luiss University, Viale Romania campus. Topics have been hotly debated, in order to issue resolutions. In the meanwhile, guests kept on arriving and intervening in the meetings. The most important one was the Italian Minister for the Environment, Corrado Clini, who gave an informative and inspiring speech to the General Assembly and the UNEP.

 

CNN International has been granted an interview with Minister Clini. He felt that it was a great opportunity to talk to RomeMUN delegates, make the youth aware of the environmental issues and the developing goals, and eventually inspire the audience to make a global impact. He also stressed that rather than limiting the environmental contribution to a specific country, for example Italy, it is more crucial to focus on a global scale.

 

The journalists too had the chance to meet some experts. They first listened to Emanuela Del Re, a professor and freelance reporter with long-term career in conflict zones. She gave some hints about this profession, for example, the fact that you cannot always rely on statistics, because governments often ideologically distort them. She focused on the various kinds of interviews: they can either be focused on a single topic, or about a personal history. In this last case, the journalist needs to be very careful and patient, in order not to be too intrusive or direct. Her speech was followed by another workshop, lead by Eric Salerno, former Middle East correspondent for the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.

 

Concerning the UNEP committee specifically, its Chair never stopped being optimist about the advancement of resolutions. Indeed, regarding topic 7A, two drafts have been issued. Italy, France, Germany and People’s Republic of China supported one of these, while the Commonwealth of Australia, Argentine Republic and Chile produced the other one. Saturday at the end of the day the two drafts were fused in a single proposal concerning the incorporation of sustainable development in national policies and reverse the loss of environmental resources, which was approved by acclamation the morning after. Safe drinking water issues and basic sanitation were discussed afterwards. “It was a very short but intense session”, stated the Chair.

 

Ludovica Buri, Sofia Franzoso, Melania Sebastiani, Jalila Dobere, Anahit Arzoyan, Yiyang Lang and Céline Schoen, for CNN International.