U.S. Delegation Attends IHP Intergovernmental Council

Former U.S. Mission Science Attaché Will Logan, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); Head of Delegation Matt Larsen, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Ambassador and Mrs. Killion; Eugene Stakhiv, USACE; Verne Schneider, USGS; Jody Eimers, USGS

The Intergovernmental Council (IGC) of UNESCO's International Hydrological Program (IHP) met at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris July 5 – 9.  It was a noteworthy occasion for the United States, which recently became an IGC member and was elected to the seven-member IHP Bureau at the outset of the weeklong meeting. 

The IHP has been a leader in the field of hydrology since it was established in 1975 in order to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation in water sciences and water resource management.  Today, the IHP places a particular emphasis on hydrology as a component of sustainable development.  To meet its objectives, IHP coordinates water centers around the world, including the new International Center for Integrated Water Resources and Management (ICIWaRM) in the United States. 

Read more about the delegation and meeting.

Read more about Will Logan.

Congressional Research Service UNESCO Related Reports

The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress has from time to time produced reports on UNESCO related topics. Here are links to some of them:

• UNESCO Membership (November 20, 2003)
• Tsunamis: Monitoring, Detection, and Early Warning Systems (May 10, 2007)
• International Convention Against Doping in Sport: Issues for Congress (August 11, 2008)
• Biosphere Reserves: Fact Sheet (October 03, 1997)
• BIOSPHERE RESERVES AND THE U.S. MAB PROGRAM (June 4, 1999)
• Ocean Commissions: Ocean Policy Review and Outlook (August 9, 2006)
• WORLD CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE, JUNE 26-JULY 1, 1999: PURPOSE AND ISSUES (May 24, 1999)
• The UNESCO Wold Heritage Convention: Congressional Issues (January 07, 2009)

Also of interest with respect to UNESCO:

• Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint Drought: Species and Ecosystem Management (April 9, 2008)
• Tsunamis (May 10, 2007)
• Tsunami Detection and Warnings for the United States (May 28, 2008)
• U.S. Public Diplomacy: Background and the 9/11 Commission Recommendations (Updated May 1, 2006)
• Science and Technology Policymaking: A Primer (June 20, 2008)
• Diplomacy for the 21st Century: Transformational Diplomacy (January 29, 2008)

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development

Leading lights from industry, civil society, UN agencies and the creative sphere, who together comprise the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, have emphasized the critical role of broadband networks in future global development. The meeting was co-sponsored by the ITU and UNESCO.

Click here for more information.

Clinton puts science at heart of US development strategy

"Moves by the the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to put science, technology and innovation firmly at the centre of its aid efforts have been enthusiastically endorsed by a rousing speech from secretary of state Hillary Clinton, in which she described herself as "a friend of science".

"'Innovation, science [and] technology must again become fundamental components of how we conduct development work,' Clinton told a high-level meeting of international development and science experts in Washington DC this week (14 July).

'The meeting, entitled 'Transforming Development through Science Technology and Innovation' (STI), was originally billed as a consultation to help map out a "bold new" science strategy for the US Agency for International Development (USAID)."

Read more of the SciDev.Net article by Yojana Sharma.

World Social Science Report 2010

Social science from Western countries continues to have the greatest global influence, but the field is expanding rapidly in Asia and Latin America, particularly in China and Brazil. In sub-Saharan Africa, social scientists from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya produce 75% of academic publications. In South Asia, barring some centres of excellence in India, social sciences as a whole have low priority. These are a few of the findings from World Social Science Report, 2010: “Knowledge divides”.

Produced by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and co-published with UNESCO, the Report is the first comprehensive overview of the field in over a decade. Hundreds of social scientists from around the world contributed their expertise to the publication. Gudmund Hernes, President of the ISSC, Adebayo Olukoshi, Director of the United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Hebe Vessuri, Director, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), and François Héran, Director of Research, National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), France, are among the experts who presented the Report during its official launch at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 25 June 2010.

Go to the Report website.

Say No To Racism

The teams from the Netherlands and Brazil at the World Cup supporting FIFA's campaign, Say No to Racism!