In commemoration of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP10, special events were held at the Education Hall on Nov. 4th to Nov. 6th, 2010. The Department of International Relations was in charge of the events which included the National Model Conference and UCC Competition. The National Model Conference was sponsored by Gyeongnam province and Korea Forest Service, and was supervised by CWNU and Gyeongnam Ramsar Environmental Foundation. The conference was supported by National Agricultural Cooperative Federation and Kyongnam Bank. A total of about 400 people, including local and foreign students and staff members, took part in the conference.

The purpose of holding the National Model Conference was to commemorate UNCCD COP10 which which will be held in Gyeongnam next year, from Oct. 10th to 21st, 2011. The aim of the UCC competition was to publicize the UNCCD COP10 and to raise awareness about combating desertification.

The events officially began when the opening ceremony for the National Model Conference was carried out on Nov. 4th. There were various activities such as welcome addresses and congratulatory messages from distinguished guests, the screening of prize-winning UCCs, and performance by students of the Department of International Relations among others.

On Nov. 5th, the National Model Conference officially began. The lengthy agenda of the conference included three items namely ‘Synergic strategies of the UNCCD and the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change) to combat desertification,’ ‘The improvement of the role and authority of the UNCCD to combat desertification,’ and ‘International cooperation for alleviating world-wide DLDD (Desertification Land Degradation and Drought) around development of clean energy.’ A total of 153 students took part in all the agenda, with 35 students in the first agendum, 59 students in the second, and 59 students in the third. After the conference, awards ceremony followed.

On the last day of the conference, Nov. 6th, the participants went to the ecological forest in Jinhae Dream Park in order to raise awareness about green space and tree planting. This trip to Jinhae was a wonderful way of concluding the event.

Ryu Seung-bong  nawow100@changwon.ac.kr

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