Iranian National Commission for UNESCO

ABSTRACT Arid and Semi‐Arid Lands have witnessed a surge in extreme climatic events with devastating environmental and livelihood effects. Understanding the dynamics of these extreme events, including drought, is essential for anticipatory action among resource‐dependent communities. This study utilised Earth Observatory Systems and Google Earth Engine to analyse 24 years of Normalised Difference Drought Index trends in the Narok West landscape of Kenya across six timeframes (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, and 2024). It revealed that the Normalised Difference Drought Index ranged from −0.489 (April 2000) to 0.469 (August 2005). Additionally, it established that during June–July–August dry seasons, there was an increase in the proportionate area under severe drought from 11% in 2000 to 24% in 2024 (average 19.17%, SD: 8.43%); and a decrease in the proportionate area under non‐drought (good conditions) from 57.5% in 2000 to 40.5% in 2024 (average 40.5%, SD: 7.43%) respectively. Temporal increase in drought events was observed to be increasing from 2015, with extremes witnessed in 2020. Moreover, we established that season dry season rainfall averages 147.2 mm (95% CI: 100.7–193.8) and is decreasing at a rate of 1.25 mm annually. It is anticipated that the frequency and severity of drought across the landscape might increase due to weather variability, predominantly attributed to climate change. The increase could have a detrimental effect on water quality and quantity, public and ecosystem health, mental health and wellness, peace and protection, and rangeland ecology. Our study contributes to the body of research on future drought scenarios, which could assist with methodological and empirical studies and corrective actions. To adapt to and manage the effects of changing climate, these scenarios necessitate interdisciplinary community and landscape strategies, including the need for communities to develop a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of climate change and plan for the sustainable management of water resources.

This chapter is based on a study that was conducted in public Early Childhood centres in Nairobi City County, Kenya, that aimed at investigating the influence of parental involvement in pupils’ learning programmes on children’s learning outcomes. The problem that made the study necessary was that, a number of parents do not seem to understand that their involvement in the education of their children at the early childhood level is significant. Furthermore, teachers do complain of lack of parental support in the learning of their children at the early childhood centres. The objectives of the study included an assessment on the extent to which parents were involved in pupils’ learning programmes and the influence of parental involvement in children’s learning programmes on learning outcomes. The study was a descriptive survey targeting the 21 public stand-alone early childhood education centres, 2243 children aged 3-5 years, 21 head teachers and all teachers at the learning centres. Data was collected by use of structured interview schedules for head teachers, closed questionnaires for teachers, and document analysis guide to process pupils’ learning outcomes (performance). After the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data, the conclusion was that, whenever parents were involved in the learning programmes of their children, learning outcomes were higher. Based on the conclusion, the study suggested that, it would be necessary for various governments and education stakeholders to develop a framework for engaging parents more significantly in the learning programmes of their children at the early childhood centres. There is also need to enhance the head teachers’ management skills to improve their planning capabilities.  

Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the global expansion of access to education has been remarkable. In 1950, only around 47 per cent of the world's 540 million children aged 5–14 were enrolled in school. Today, it is estimated that about 90 per cent of primary school-aged children and 86 per cent of lower secondary school-aged children are enrolled in education. Yet progress remains deeply uneven. Some 272 million children and youth are still out of school; worldwide net enrolment rate in pre-primary education is at 54%, learning outcomes remain alarmingly low, with 70% of children in low-and middle-income countries unable to read a simple text by age ten. Declining public budgets, the intensifying impacts of climate change, the rapid acceleration of digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI), escalating conflicts and geopolitical instability, as well as major demographic shifts are re-shaping educational demands in unforeseen ways. These pressures risk entrenching inequalities, undermining learning outcomes, and further marginalizing those already left behind, particularly women, girls, and learners in crisis-affected contexts. Compounding these challenges are chronic financing gaps: in many countries, debt repayments now exceed education spending, exposing structural fragilities and eroding the foundation of the right to education. At this critical juncture, a renewed global commitment is imperative: one that reaffirms education as a public common good and a human right, mobilizes sustainable financing, and harnesses accountability mechanisms and innovation to deliver on education's transformative promise for all and throughout life.

Sustainable tourism is recognized for contributing to community development and biodiversity conservation globally. Promoting sustainable tourism is at the core of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as an international tool for sustainable development, especially in marine and coastal ecosystems. This study assesses the potential of tourism activities for marine conservation through the case of the Malindi Watamu –Arabuko Sokoke Biosphere Reserve, coastal Kenya. This Biosphere Reserve includes coral reefs, rocky sea beds, sandy sea bed habitats, and mangrove forests. The site hosts a rich biodiversity including 6 taxa of endemic butterflies, 354 fish species from 56 families, 113 species of coral in 45 genera, 4 species of marine turtles, 9 species of mangroves and 71 species of aquatic birds. The study employed a mixed method approach combining a pre-analysis of local and international issues, review of key management plans, reconnaissance survey, and round tables and focused group discussions with key informants in environment and wildlife sectors, policy makers, civil society actors, and local communities. The study identified key challenges facing the ecosystem as climate change, rapid population increases, land degradation, waste management and low visibility of the Biosphere Reserve. The study indicates that the active participation of local communities in the Biosphere Reserve through tourism activities has sustained the ecological integrity and functioning of the Biosphere Reserve over time in line with UNESCO statutory documents including: the Seville Strategy (1995), the Madrid Plan of Action (2008) and MAB Strategy (2016-2025) as well as Convention on Biological Diversity, and Global Biodiversity Framework in conserving biodiversity, restoring and enhancing ecosystem services, and fostering the sustainable use of natural resources. A major output of this study is an ecotourism strategy for 2025-2030.Key words: Biosphere Reserve, Climate change, Local communities, Marine and coastal ecosystems, Sustainable tourism.

Journal Article Responses to the decision by Get access John E. Fobes John E. Fobes 1Former Chairman of the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO (December 1979–1981); former UNESCO Deputy Director General (1971–1977) Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Communication, Volume 34, Issue 4, December 1984, Pages 163–167, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1984.tb02217.x Published: 07 February 2006

Te Ararau o Tangaroa, e rere ki te papa-uru-nuiThe hundred waterways of Tangaroa, flow into the great ever filling seabedRecent developments and initiatives globally have seen the significant uplift in the reclamation and revitalisation of indigenous knowledge and the restoration of the application of that knowledge in innovative new ways. This is also true in terms of our connection and relationship with the ocean, with numerous examples internationally of indigenous and first nations communities leading the activation of indigenous approaches, both independent of, and in harmony with contemporary science and other forms of knowledge.In Aotearoa New Zealand we have seen the evolution of unique ways to create and hold space for indigenous Māori approaches, knowledge and practice in marine governance and management. The aim of this evolution goes beyond decolonising aspirations, and focusses on being informed by the wisdom of the environment itself, our ancestral connections to our land and seascapes, and applying that wisdom to achieve improved outcomes for us all. Critical to this is the restoration of our ability to read the vast library which is our taiao (environment), and to hear, understand and be able to respond to its voice as our ancestor. Exploring these concepts and approaches provides a valuable opportunity within the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development to draw upon the full suite of options available to us to respond to the significant challenges we all face. We can draw on the learnings and insights from Aotearoa New Zealand’s Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge. Research focussed on indigenous leadership in the development of models to enable a rethinking of the role and relationship of science and indigenous wisdom to reconnect us to our oceans to improve collective wellbeing.

Tellement à la mode depuis quelques années, le mot de créativité est peut-être déjà démodé. La publicité, la médiatisation, le tintamarre des symposiums, des rencontres, des séminaires l'ont déjà usé au point qu'il n'y a rien de moins créatif aujourd'hui que de parler de créativité ! Cependant, sous les flottements du vocable se loge l'une des questions les plus pressantes de notre temps : les sociétés, les groupes sociaux, les individus sont-ils capables d'émergences inattendues, de nouveaut...

<p>In the years 1926-1929, the International Committee for Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) developed a variety of activities to support international cooperation in linguistics. It carried out projects aimed at standard setting, for example for grammatical terminology or abbreviations of periodical titles, and international cooperation in different fields of linguistic bibliography such classical studies and general, oriental, and romance linguistics.<br></p><p>At the first international congress of linguists, which took place in The Hague, The Netherlands, in 1928, the linguistic community organized itself in a professional association named the <em>Comité International Permanent des Linguistes</em> (CIPL). Cooperation between CIPL and the executive agency of ICIC, the Paris-based <em>Institut International de Coopération Intellectuelle</em> (IICI), began forthwith.<br></p><p>Amongst the recommendations of the The Hague Congress was a request to governements and the competent bodies of the League of Nations to organise a global survey of languages and dialects, as many of these were disapearing before they had been studied. This recommendation had been prepared by a group of linguists that had been invited by the IICI to discuss problems of linguistic biography in March 1928, one month before the Congress. The CIPL established a <em>Commission d’Enquête Linguistique</em> under the chairmanship of Antione Meillet, in order to prepare this survey. The Sub-Committee for Science and Bibliography of the ICIC charged the IICI to organise an expert meeting to study the question of ‘exotic languages in the process of extinction’ in more detail.<br></p><p><br></p>

Abstract Since the mid-2010s, conflicts at UNESCO over the interpretation of Japanese colonial rule and wartime actions in the first half of the twentieth century in Japan, South Korea, and China have been fierce. Contested nominations include the Meiji Industrial Revolution Sites for the World Heritage List (Japan), the Documents of Nanjing Massacre for the Memory of the World (MoW) Register (China), and two still pending applications on the Documents on the Comfort Women (South Korean and Japanese NGOs). This paper examines the recent “heritage war” negotiations at UNESCO as they unfolded in a changing political, economic, and security environment. Linking World Heritage and MoW nominations together for a holistic analysis, this paper clarifies the interests of State actors and of various non-State actors, such as NGOs, experts, and the UNESCO secretariat. We discuss the prospects for these contested nominations and recommend further involvement of non-State actors to ensure more constructive and inclusive heritage interpretation to enable a more comprehensive understanding of history.

Le Dialogue de Genève sur le droit à l’éducation s’est tenu les 18 et 19 juin 2024, et a été organisé en partenariat avec l’UNESCO, l’Université de Genève, le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l’Homme et le réseau REGARD. Les riches sessions ont permis d’examiner les tendances, les défis et les opportunités liés à l’accès équitable à une éducation de qualité. Les discussions ont porté sur l’impact de la privatisation, de la digitalisation et des situations de crise sur le droit à l’éducation, ainsi que sur l’efficacité des mécanismes des droits de l’Homme pour relever ces défis du 21ème siècle. Cet article synthétise les principales discussions et formule des recommandations pour l’avenir.