Enigmas of the universe

The new edition of The UNESCO Courier highlights astronomy in this International Year of Astronomy.


400 years ago Galileo took the dark stains on the surface of the moon to be seas. He was wrong. Today, we are sending missions to the moon in search of water. These technological advances have been extraordinary: in the past 20 years 350 planets have been discovered outside of our solar system and several months ago the first images of them reached us via satellite. Yet, the universe remains largely unknown.

From Alhazen Ibn Haitham’s theory about the dark spots on the moon (11th century) to the recent discovery of exoplanets in April 2009, this issue, published on the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy, traces these steps in our long history of observing the stars. Read the editorial

The New Issue of The UNESCO Courier

© Laurent Testot

Man and Nature: living in harmony

2009 - Number 6

Of the 32 billion tons of CO2 we produce globally, our natural ecosystems can absorb approximately 18 million tons. Without this natural sponge, the global ecological situation would be far more desperate.

In the past 30 years the planet’s natural resources have diminished by 30% - due to over-consumption, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

This month’s edition focuses on several of the 22 new biosphere reserves within UNESCO’s world network, which now has a total of 553 sites. Scattered among 107 countries, these vast regions consist of land, coastal and marine ecosystems internationally recognized as important.

Maintaining biodiversity, finding the right balance between human activities and environmental protection, safeguarding inhabitants’ traditional rights and preserving wildlife: these constitute the main challenges for the sustainable management of these sites. Read the editorial.

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Laanecoorie reservoir, Bendigo (Australia)
© Rodney Dekker

The UNESCO Courier: 2009 - Number 3: Troubled water

Increased demand, waste and insufficient investment: water shortage may come sooner than we think. Although water covers three-quarters of the world’s surface, only 0.0075% of this immense volume is available for humanity’s use. Some countries have already reached the limits of their resources.

We must act now, warns the just-launched United Nations World Water Development Report, “Water in a changing world”, which assesses the global water situation. The UNESCO Courier examines some strategies for better management.

Read the editorial

Contents:

• The water we eat

• Blue Scorpions against water corruption

• The Yangtze or a journey through time

• Australia’s water revolution

• Water in a Changing World

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New Issue of the UNESCO Courier: Submerged memory

Underwater remains dating back to the first century B.C. (Croatia)
© D.Frka/Courtesy of the Ministry of Culture, Croatia

More than three million shipwrecks are lying on the ocean floor today. Hundreds of underwater decorated caves, towns and monuments remain to be discovered. How can we make use of the knowledge contained in these remains? How can they be presented to the general public? This issue of the Courier tackles these questions.

This issue was prepared in collaboration with UNESCO’s Section of Museums and Cultural Objects. It coincides with the entry into force of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage this January and the first Meeting of States Parties to the Convention, which will be held 26 and 27 March at UNESCO.

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UNESCO Courier: Claude Lévi-Strauss

A recent issue of the UNESCO Courier is devoted to remembrance of Claude Lévi-Strauss, the great Anthropologist who published often in The Courier, was very close to UNESCO during his life, and was even in his 90's an active participant in the celebrations of UNESCO's 60th anniversary in 2005.

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Quotations:

“The efforts of science should not only enable mankind to surpass itself; they must also help those who lag behind to catch up.”

“No doubt we take comfort in the dream that equality and fraternity will one day reign among men, without compromising their diversity.”

“Nothing indicates racial prejudices are diminishing and indications are not lacking to suggest that after brief local respites, they surge up again elsewhere with renewed intensity. Which is why UNESCO feels the need periodically to take up again a struggle whose outcome is uncertain, to say the least.”

“But who better than UNESCO can draw the attention of scientists and technicians to the fact (which they so often tend to overlook) that the purposes of science are not only to solve scientific problems but to find answers to social problems as well.”

The New Issue of The UNESCO Courier is Online

The UNESCO Courier 2008 - number 5

Claude Lévi-Strauss: The View from Afar

This month's Courier, published in his 100th year, pays special tribute to Claude Levi-Strauss, the trail breaking social scientist whose views have influenced people all over the world. It offers a selection of articles written by him and published in the magazine since the early 1950s. It also includes unpublished documents, along with his photographs and sketches from the 1930s.

Listen to "Race and Culture" read by Claude Lévi-Strauss in French at UNESCO in 1971.

Watch the video coverage of his last public speech, made on the same podium in 2005.

Laurent LEVI-STRAUSS, Claude's son and UNESCO's Chief of Museums and Cultural Objects Section was recently in Washington, representing UNESCO at the annual meeting of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO.

UNESCO Courier: Special Edition for the 2007 General Conference

Six hundred and thirty-one million dollars – this is the minimum amount UNESCO needs to operate for the next two years. The budget will be set at the 34th session of UNESCO’s General Conference, which brings together - in Paris, from 16 October to 3 November - the representatives of the Organization’s 193 Member States who will also determine the 2008-2009 programme. A preview of the Organization’s future priorities is presented in this issue of the UNESCO Courier.

Related materials

• Budgets
• The General Conference in 20 dates
• 60 Years of UNESCO's History

Click here to go to the Special Edition of The UNESCO Courier.

The New Issue of the UNESCO Courier is Out

© UNESCO/Stefan Hoeh
Sydney Opera House

From Herders to Architects: Man's Imprint on World Heritage

Six thousand years separate the Sydney Opera House from Twyfelfontein. These two sites just inscribed on the World Heritage List add to its extraordinary richness, which the UNESCO Courier aims to illustrate. Among twenty-two new sites, the Courier focuses on five that reflect the diversity of world heritage down through the ages. (More)

Contents:

“C” like Community: interview with Tumu Te Heuheu

Grave engravings

The grand old lady and the plastic chairs

Shah Jahan’s heaven and hell: the Red Fort in Delhi

The Diaolou of Kaiping

People for the university - the university for the people

The dawn of human life

The World Heritage international safeguarding campaigns

World Heritage readings