An Interview with the Director General

The Guardian Weekly has an interesting interview with Irina Bokova, the Director General of UNESCO. Among other things she states:

I shall be defending, alongside Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary general, and other UN agencies, the concept of a global initiative on climate change in line with the multidisciplinary approach we have been developing for several years.

This concerns four main sectors in which Unesco is particularly strong: science and knowledge about the climate; a cluster that includes the work of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the International Hydrological Programme and our network of water-related institutes and university chairs; education on sustainable development, which means changing the way teachers are trained and the content of teaching, and initiating training in green economics; culture and heritage, both natural and cultural, a field that is specifically ours. (The biosphere reserves, under Unesco control, cover 300,000 hectares of woodland worldwide). And the social and ethical consequences of global warming on refugees and women.

Unesco is preparing a statement of ethical principles on climate change. This helps us to look beyond Copenhagen, because we must do a great deal more than cut CO2 emissions. We have to change education, our way of life, our economies.

Read the full interview!