WYCOMAC Arctic Council

WASAMUN is delighted to be hosting its own Model Arctic Council — the Wycombe Model Arctic Council, or WYCOMAC. Delegates to WYCOMAC will play the roles of diplomats attending a cycle of meetings of the real-world Arctic Council, a high-level international forum dedicated to good governance and regional cooperation in the Arctic.

Today, as the climate changes, Arctic is one of the most fascinating and important regions on the planet. It is at once a vast and pristine wilderness and a storehouse of great natural wealth, a seemingly remote frontier and an ancient indigenous heartland. Over four million people live there, and the serious environmental and social issues they face are by extension serious issues for the world as a whole. WYCOMAC offers delegates the opportunity to grapple with these issues, and to explore in depth a special place that many of their peers have yet to discover.

While delegates with MUN experience may find some aspects of the simulation familiar, WYCOMAC offers a distinctive format for model diplomacy. Unique amongst international organisations, the Arctic Council brings together both the countries of the Arctic and its indigenous peoples. Delegates will have the opportunity to represent both governments and non-governmental indigenous organisations. The Arctic Council is also unusual in making all decisions by consensus rather than majority vote, and it has a reputation for cooperation and collegiality even at times of stress elsewhere in the world. Delegates will rise to the challenge of finding the bridging solutions that bring people together, rather than lobbying enough support to win half the room plus one.

WYCOMAC will use its own distinct rules of procedure to simulate these unique features of the Arctic Council. A Delegates’ Guide and Research Briefs will be available on this page in due course.

WYCOMAC is directed by Dr Anthony Speca, who lived and worked in the Canadian Arctic as a senior civil servant, and who developed and runs the world’s only Model Arctic Council programmes for secondary schools.