WCNF 2023

3-5 NOVEMBER

TWENTY NATIONS
ONE GOAL:
1.5°C TO STAY ALIVE

Apply today!

ABOUT

WCNF, run by students for students, is a simulation of the UN’s global climate negotiations. It’s not a debating competition, or a Model UN conference: delegates are put in the shoes of a representative of one of twenty nations from around the world, and tasked with representing that nation’s interests in informal, supported discussions. Delegates agree policy commitments that we, the WCNF team, use to predict the potential impact of delegates’ decisions on the climate crisis in the real-world – seeing the consequences of trade-offs that would play out over decades to come in real-time. Delegates also participate in a dynamic programme of speakers and workshops, designed to broaden your awareness of the challenges inherent in addressing the climate emergency and help you develop the skills to be part of the solution.

forum themes

This year, in addition to the Forum's core focus on emissions policy, we'll be introducing delegates to five core themes allied to the core issue of the Climate Crisis

Migration

Millions have already been displaced by the Climate Crisis - but this is the tip of the iceberg. Global movement of vulnerable populations is expected to be an increasing challenge for the world's governments as sea level rise and impacts from increasingly-extreme weather events mount: so how can we sure migration induced by global heating is properly addressed?

Capacity & Technology

The disparity between the capacity of the Global North and Global South to scientifically evaluate, predict, and develop management strategies for climate change is huge - as is the difference in ability to deploy technology to mitigate emissions and adapt to its effects.

Debt, Loss & Damage

Questions of unequal financial capacity and power are intricately connected with how we address the Climate Crisis - as well as to histories of empire and contemporary neocolonialism. Whether, and how, the Global North will take financial responsibility for the consequences of its early industrialisation and historical emissions is an urgent - and unresolved - challenge.

Rights to Nature

Governments and courts around the world are increasingly considering whether and how to implement legal rights to access nature, concomitant with rights to life and a healthy environment, with the NUS' 2021 'Mock COP' recommending a new international crime of ecocide.

Devolution, Localism &

Community

Responding to the Climate Crisis is not just a question of top-down policymaking: how we implement emissions reduction, and arguably more so how we adapt to the effects of climate change, is increasingly a question of local implementation.

TEAM

TODD OLIVE

President

I'm most looking forward to the very start - seeing everyone gathered together for the first time and all of the team's fantastic work about to pay off. It's a rollercoaster from there, but it's a hell of a feeling!