Committee Background Guide

Topic Description

Climate change is one of the largest threats posed to sustainable development. However, the conversation around climate change often focuses primarily on fields such as transportation and energy. This committee focuses on an underexamined driver of climate change: global food systems and the animal agriculture industry. Though food may seem like an unlikely culprit, global food production, distribution, and consumption systems all have large impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. This impact has only increased as population growth, urbanization, and more all force agriculture to be more industrialized and more punishing than ever before.

Delegates in this committee will not only identify ways to reduce the environmental costs of agricultural practices across the world and ways in which they can be implemented, but also other impacts to human health such as zoonotic illness and disease. Throughout this process, delegates are expected to account for differences in developed and developing countries and cultural variations while thinking critically about innovative solutions.

Rohith Raghavan - Director

Rohith Raghavan is a sophomore at Harvard College studying Math and Computer Science, with a secondary in European History. Hailing from Sharon, Massachusetts, Rohith has long been interested in international relations and politics, serving as Secretary-General of his high school’s Model United Nations club. At Harvard, he competes on behalf of the Harvard Intercollegiate Model United Nations (ICMUN) team and serves as a director for the HMUN Boston and HNMUN conferences.

Apart from MUN, Rohith is a campus tour guide with the Crimson Key Society and a research assistant at the Harvard Systems and Theory Group. On campus, you can find Rohith visiting new restaurants with friends or taking walks around the Charles River. He looks forward to meeting delegates for a weekend of new perspectives and constructive debate at HMUN Dubai!