Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
Topic I: Livestock Systems at the Crossroads of Food Security and Climate Governance
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a biennial conference that brings together government delegates, ministers of agriculture, civil society organizations, and private-sector actors to advance global efforts to eradicate hunger and strengthen food security. Since its founding in 1945 at a historic meeting in Quebec City, Canada, the FAO has served as the central UN forum for coordinating international food and agriculture policy, with 194 member states and the European Union convening at its headquarters in Rome, Italy. While the FAO’s mandate has long focused on increasing agricultural productivity and improving nutrition, recent conferences have increasingly grappled with the growing intersection between food systems and climate risk. The 44th session of the FAO Conference emphasized innovation, sustainability, and climate resilience, reflecting mounting concern over the vulnerability of global food systems to environmental stress. At SECSY, delegates will engage with these challenges through the lens of livestock governance, developing strategies that balance nutrition, rural livelihoods, and climate resilience while addressing the outsized role livestock systems play in both food security and greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in regions most vulnerable to climate instability.
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Juan Carlos Gonzales
COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR
Juan Carlos Gonzalez (he/him) is a junior from Seattle, Washington, majoring in Economics and Mathematics. He serves as a Research Assistant at the Yale Budget Lab and is a competitive delegate on Yale’s Model UN Team.
In his free time, Juan Carlos enjoys playing and teaching chess as well as going on runs. He is excited to chair this committee and meet everyone!
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Laiba Effendi
COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR
Laiba is a first-year student at Yale University, majoring in Data Science on a Pre-Dental track. After two years of high school debate, she decided to branch out into Model UN and is thrilled to be competing for the first time this year as a member of MUNTY.
Outside of Model UN, Laiba is a dedicated volunteer for CodeHaven, where she works with New Haven fifth graders to teach programming fundamentals in Scratch and Python. She also serves as an intern at EducateUS, where she advocates for menstrual health education and equity, an issue she’s deeply passionate about.
When she’s not coding or preparing for conferences, you can find Laiba trying new outdoor sports like canoeing and adventure parks, exploring local matcha spots with her friends, or rewatching her favorite comfort shows and movies (she’ll never say no to New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, or Mamma Mia!).