Task Team Report: Realizing The Future We Want For All

In this report, the UN System Task Team lays out a vision for transformative change towards the future we want. The report was prepared to inform the open and inclusive consultations that are taking place in preparation for an ambitious development agenda beyond 2015..

Overview


Enormous progress has been made towards achieving the MDGs. Global poverty continues to decline, more children than ever are attending primary school, child deaths have dropped dramatically, access to safe drinking water has been greatly expanded, and targeted investments in fighting malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis have saved millions.

The MDGs are making a real difference in people’s lives and, with strong leadership and accountability, this progress can be expanded in most of the world’s countries by the target date of 2015.

After 2015, efforts to achieve a world of prosperity, equity, freedom, dignity and peace will continue unabated.

The UN is working with governments, civil society and other partners to build on the momentum generated by the MDGs and carry on with an ambitious post-2015 development agenda.

At the September 2010 MDG Summit, UN Member States initiated steps towards advancing the development agenda beyond 2015 and are now leading a process of open, inclusive consultations on the post-2015 agenda. Civil society organizations from all over the world have also begun to engage in the post-2015 process, while academia and other research institutions, including think tanks, are particularly active.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has established a UN System Task Team to coordinate preparations for beyond 2015 and to support the work of a High-level Panel that the Secretary-General will appoint to advise him on the post-2015 agenda. President Yudoyono of Indonesia, President Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister Cameron of the United Kingdom have accepted the Secertary-General's invitation to co-chair the High-level Panel.

The post-2015 agenda will reflect new development challenges and is linked to the outcome of “Rio+20” -- the UN Conference on Sustainable Development -- that took place in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

UNESCO contributed to the report. Check the UN website providing a number of resources related to the task force report.

UNESCO: Building Equitable, Inclusive Green Societies

“Achieving genuine sustainable development calls for more than green investment and low carbon technologies. Besides its economic and ecological dimensions, the social and human dimensions are central factors for success. Ultimately, we must focus our efforts on building green societies.” 
Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO.


Click here for more on UNESCO's support for sustainable development and Rio + 20, The Earth Summit.

Learning to address climate change

The newly released UNESCO video "Learning to address climate change" shows in four minutes why climate change education is important to shape sustainable development and how it works in practice.

It shows how education can help us understand the causes of climate change. It also gives examples of how teachers and students can get active and address the challenges of climate change.

The War On Doping - Trailer

In the run up to the opening of the 30th Olympic Games of modern times, in London, the United Kingdom, from July 27 to August 12, UNESCO will host, on June 7, 2012, a first-ever pre-release screening of the documentary film "The War on Doping." The film presents the first decades in the campaign against doping in sport.

This is a trailer of the one hour documentary about the fight on doping in sports. It shows some of the faces involved and touches some of the issues that has been going on for more than 40 years. In this film, and for the first time, the world's most respected authority in the subject, the renown doping hunter, Professor Arne Ljungqvist, will guide us through all of them. The big scandals. The big names. The inside story. A mirror of society.

More information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/anti-doping/sv15/news/one_month_before_the_launch_of_the_london_olympics_unesco_hosts_the_pre_release_screening_of_the_film_the_war_on_doping/

UNESCO-IHE Fieldwork Coastal Engineering

In June 2011 UNESCO-IHE Coastal Engineering students participated in a five-day fieldwork exercise at the coast of the Netherlands. The fieldwork is funded by the Building with Nature programme and focuses on swimmer safety around the mega sand nourishment that is currently being completed between Hoek van Holland and Kijkduin.

See also:

Coastal Zone and Port Development specialization page: http://www.unesco-ihe.org/hecepd
Website Building with Nature Programme: http://www.ecoshape.nl

Rio + 20 / UNESCO - The Future we want

Future water scenarios

William J. Cosgrove is Senior Adviser to the UN World Water Assessment Program for the 4th edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report and the Manager of the World Water Scenarios Project. Mr. Cosgrove is a former vice president of the World Bank, past-president of the World Water Council, and served as chairman of the International Steering Committee of the Cooperative Program on Water and Climate. He was one of the panelists in the UNESCO Future Forum on Global Water Futures 2050+ held on 12 April 2012.

Water Expert Appointed to National Commission

Commission member Rich Meganck on the Upper Deschutes River in Central Oregon 

Newly appointed to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO is Richard Meganck.

 

After a 34 year career in international development, including a 6.5 year stint as Rector for the UNESCO Institute for Water Education in Delft, the Netherland, Rich has resettled in Oregon with his spouse Janet and their three Pacific Northwest based daughters.

 

Besides his new appointment to the Commission, Rich serves as a member of the U.S. Committee for the International Hydrological Program and is a part-time Fellow at the Institute for Wather and Watersheds at Oregon State University with the support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers institute for Water Resources (IWR) in association with its International Center for Integrated Water Resource Management UNESCO Category II Center (ICIWaRM). Rich is also consulting with the Brazilian Government to develop a new UNESCO Category II Center in the State of Minas Gerais.

Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME)

Next week our Ambassador to UNESCO David Killion will be attending a meeting about SESAME, the Middle East's first major multi-country scientific research center, which is being developed under the auspices of UNESCO. You can read more here. 

UNESCO Engineering Fellows Visit the USA

Left to right: Mike Sanio (ASCE), Jamil Khalid, Hadi Rakin, Eric Woodard,
Dalia Akbarmir and from the State Dept: Eric Bone, Doug Walker, and Andy Reynolds

Two highly respected professionals from Afghanistan's Engineering community, Jamil Khalid and Dalia Akbarmir, are currenty visiting the U.S.A. through a UNESCO Fellowship program launched several years ago due to the efforts of many associated with our UNESCO Commission.

 

Jamil Khalid and Dalia Akbarmir had a chance to visit our Commission office last week and met with State Department officials to discuss their efforts to organize Engineering Civil Society in Afghanistan. Thanks for visiting Jamil and Dalia!

Petition Asking Congress to Fund UNESCO

There are several petitions available on Change.org asking the Congress to restore U.S. funding for UNESCO. The one with the most signatures reads:

Reinstate funding for UNESCO 

The US has stopped all funding for UNESCO as of Oct. 31, 2011. This is due to an outdated law mandating a cutoff of American financial support to any UN agency that accepts Palestine as a full member. Loss of funding for UNESCO hurts the philanthropic endeavors advance literacy, science, provide clean water and education, including sex education and promoting equal treatment for girls and young women. The loss of US funding for these programs is not only devastating for those in dire straits who benefit directly from them but to the US itself. This action has jeopardized economic benefits provided by UNESCO and has gone counter to our core security interests. Right this injustice immediately!

You can add your name to this petition here.... 

International Celebrations Coming Up

Earth Day, April 22
World Book and Copyright Day, April 23
NGO Day, April 23
International Dance Day, April 25
International Jazz Day, April 27
World Press Freedom Day, May 3

Herbie Hancock, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, plays jazz piano!

Click here for more online jazz posted for International Jazz Day.

Quoted from UNESCO D.G. Bokova's Speech on STI in Aftica

UNESCO is already working with over twenty African countries to review existing STI policies and formulate national frameworks.

We are helping Nigeria and Tanzania to reform their national science systems.

We are strengthening the capacity of researchers, policymakers, development partners and the private sector.

We have done so with seven countries of the Economic Community of West Africa States, and with Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

Effective policies need sharp and precise data.

This is the unique roles of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the global UNESCO Science Reports.

We launched recently the Science, Technology and Innovation Global Assessment Programme and the Global Observatory on Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Instruments to take this further.

UNESCO’s new Engineering Initiative to support engineering education has a focus on Africa.


UNESCO is also actively promoting links between science, technology, innovation and industry -- through our University-Industry Science Partnership Programme, on the governance of science and technology parks.

We are working also to help young scientists take part in research and development in biodiversity.

The World Association of Young Scientists, created by UNESCO in 2004, is active across the continent -- as is the network of UNESCO University Chairs. There is still a lot of work to do here.

These include UNESCO Chairs for Women in Science in Kenya, Sudan and Burkina Faso.

Women are a special focus of our work.

Just last week, I was honoured to award the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Prizes for Women in Science to five outstanding researchers, including Professor Jill Farrant from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

This year, as part of the L’OREAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Partnership, a young woman scientist from Kenya, Peggoty Mutai, benefitted from the UNESCOL’Oreal International Fellowships programme.

Last May, I launched a new Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education, in the presence of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Read the entire Address by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the opening of the Ministerial Conference African Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for Youth Employment, Human Capital Development and Inclusive Growth

A Report from the Executive Board Meeting

American UNESCO veteran and international education expert Leslie Limage recently attended various sessions of UNESCO's 189th Executive Board, which adjourned in Paris last month.

 

She shares her perspective about UNESCO staff morale, the Obiang Prize, and importance of U.S. engagement here.

Welcome to the Inter-America UNESCO Club

The Inter-Americas UNESCO Club of Houston (based in Houston, Texas) recently became one of our nation's newest UNESCO clubs.

Scientists name new dinosaur after UNESCO

In a new study, scientists have named two new horned dinosaur species based on fossils collected from Alberta, Canada. One of the new species, Unescopceratops koppelhusae, was named in honor of UNESCO. It is from the Leptoceratopsidae family of horned dinosaurs. More....

Africa on the Move

Interview of Lidia Brito, Director of Science Policy and Capacity Building, UNESCO

Science, technology and innovation (STI) are important issues for Africa, an increasingly dynamic continent. On the occasion of the First African Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for Youth Employment, Human Capital Development and Inclusive Growth, from 1 to 3 April in Nairobi, Kenya, Lidia Brito talks about the importance of STI in the African context and how it will contribute to sustainable development in Africa in the run up to the Rio + 20 conference in June 2012.

More on the U.S. Funding of UNESCO

Public opinion about U.S. funding for UNESCO continues to be alive and well this week.

 

Several articles on the subject appeared including this one from the Minnesota Daily and this one out of Boston University. 

Ambassador Susan Rice on Capitol Hill

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice was on Capitol Hill this week to speak with Members of the House about the FY 2013 Federal Budget.

 

During her time on the Hill, the Ambassador spoke about the current status of U.S. funding for UNESCO. You can find more details here. 

 

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen issued a statement in response, which you can seehere. 

 

How others see the U.S. action against UNESCO

The General Conference of UNESCO last fall voted, over America's opposition, to admit Palestine to membership. In response, and in keeping with laws passed in the early 1990s, the United States is withholding its contributions to UNESCO. Since the U.S. assessed contribution corresponds to 22 percent of its regular budget, this is causing a crisis in the Organization.

Here is a comment on the case by the Turkish publication, Todays Zaman:

Just by looking at UNESCO’s identity motto one can observe that something about the latest US decision is not quite right. 

Here it is: “UNESCO contributes to the building of peace, the alleviation of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.” And, one may add, it pursues these noble objectives across many underdeveloped countries all over the world. 

How is it possible then that the Obama administration has announced that it will stop payments towards such an institution? The US, also known as the land of possibilities, has knowingly decided to deny their support for an organization that courageously helps people in need all over the world. I don’t mean to be cacophonic, but this resolution implies, and that’s the worst part of it, the taking away of the possibility of a better life for people in need around the world. 

In other words, a lot of programs will be shut down.......... 

The controversy within the position adopted by the US seems to be merely of a legal nature. We know that the US has proved all along to be a loyal ally of Israel. We also know that in the ‘90s two congressional laws were created to expressly prohibit the funding of any UN organization that accepts the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a full member. The purpose of the laws was to encourage negotiation between Israelis and the Palestinians to reach a just and broad peace. What we might not know is that the laws are reversible, and the US Congress could abolish these laws if it wants to. It could vote at any given time to invalidate them, as declared by the president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.

Read the entire article titled "Why US decision to deny support to UNESCO is extremely controversial"
by Eleonora Galasso.