Tag Archives: UNESCO

Earth

Ocean Warming and Sea Level Rise Double at Alarming Rates- UNESCO

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With contributions from more than 100 scientists from nearly 30 countries, UNESCO’s State of the Ocean Report 2024, published with the support of Iceland, reveals alarming new data on threats facing the ocean. This comprehensive assessment provides an evidence-based review of challenges including ocean warming, rising sea levels, pollution, acidification, de-oxygenation, blue carbon and biodiversity loss. This UNESCO report shows that climate disruption is having an increasingly strong impact on the state of the ocean. Temperature, acidification, sea level: all the alarm bells are ringing.

In addition to implementing the Paris Climate Agreement, we call on our Member States to invest in the restoration of marine forests and to better regulate marine protected areas which are important reservoirs of biodiversity. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General The rate of ocean warming has doubled in 20 years. While atmospheric temperatures tend to fluctuate, the ocean is steadily and constantly heating up. The State of the Ocean Report indicates that the ocean is now warming at twice the rate it was twenty years ago, with 2023 seeing one of the highest increases since the 1950s. While the Paris Agreements pledged to keep global warming below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, ocean temperatures have already increased by an average of 1.45°C, with clear hotspots above 2°C in the Mediterranean, Tropical Atlantic Ocean and Southern Oceans.

One dramatic consequence of this warming is an increase in sea levels across the globe. The ocean absorbs 90% of the excess heat released into the atmosphere, and as water heats up it expands. Warming ocean temperatures now account for 40% of the global rise in sea levels, and the rate of rising has doubled over the past 30 years totaling 9cm. Coastal species are suffocating from declining oxygen levels. Since the 1960s, the ocean has lost 2% of its oxygen due to warming temperatures and pollutants, including wastewater and agricultural run-off. Coastal areas are especially impacted, with species finding themselves on the frontline of a battle to breath: roughly 500 “dead zones” identified where almost no marine life remains due to a dwindling oxygen-content.

Rising acidity is also a major cause for concern: with 25-30% of fossil fuel emissions absorbed by the ocean, this overabundance of CO2 is reshaping the very chemical composition of the ocean. Since pre-industrial times, ocean acidity has increased by 30%, and will reach 170% by 2100. UNESCO’s findings reveal that once again coastal species are the hardest hit: while the high seas are steadily becoming more acidic, coastal waters are seeing dramatic fluctuations from high- to low-acidity, which young generations of animals and plants too fragile to survive, causing mass die-offs.

Blue Carbon and MPAs: Beacons of hope. Marine forests including mangroves, seagrass plains, tidal marshes are able to absorb up to 5 times more carbon than forests on land. As well as being vital harbours for biodiversity, they represent one of the best ramparts against global warming. However, UNESCO reveals that nearly 60% of countries still do not include marine forest restoration and conservation in their Nationally Determined Contribution plans.

Marine Protected Areas[1] are known to protect biodiversity, harboring 72% of the 1500 endangered marine species on the IUCN Red List. UNESCO’s new data evidences that the higher the level of regulation in an MPA, the more it is effective at protecting local ecosystems.

UNESCO is leading the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, from 2021 to 2030. Since the start of the Decade, more than 500 projects have been launched in all regions of the world and more than a billion dollars has been mobilized to improve knowledge and protection of the ocean.The Organization is supporting dozens of scientific cooperation programs in all regions of the world, combining data sharing, high-definition mapping of the seabed, prevention of natural disasters and the search for innovative solutions to protect ecosystems. Through its more than 230 marine biosphere reserves and more than 50 marine sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, UNESCO is also the guardian of unique ocean sites which are home to critical biodiversity.

[1] A marine protected area is a defined region designated and managed for the long-term conservation of marine resources, ecosystems services, or cultural heritage.
Earth

Quickening Ecological Restoration On St. Kitts

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May, 2024. UNESCO. On International Day for Biological Diversity, we highlight the remarkable efforts underway to accelerate ecological restoration at St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve on the island of St. Kitts. Home to thousands of species, this UNESCO-designated site spans vast marine areas, forested ridges, agricultural hills, cloud forests, mangroves, and coral reefs. Despite its rich biodiversity, 32% of the land is degraded, necessitating urgent restoration efforts. St. Mary’s is the first site to benefit from the expertise of volunteer scientists from the UNESCO Earth Network project, aimed at collecting key data, implementing restoration plans, and identifying sustainable livelihood opportunities.

St Mary’s Biosphere Reserve’s main challenges

Like many Caribbean islands, the socio-economic history of St Kitts and Nevis was marked by a heavy dependence on the lucrative sugar trade. Thanks to governmental efforts to diversify the economy since 1970s, the federation turned to tourism development, which brought unprecedented opportunities to improve the livelihood of locals. However, when the tourism industry came to a near standstill between 2020 and 2021, St Kitts and Nevis saw a 14.5% drop in its GDP, followed by another 4.3% contraction in 2021.

In addition, as a Small Developing State (SIDS), it faces a number of natural challenges accentuated in the last decade by climate change, with more frequent and violent natural disasters, including hurricanes and seismic events. The effects of climate change highlight the need to protect tropical forests and promote resilient and biodiversity-friendly agriculture.

What does agriculture have to do with biodiversity conservation?

UNESCO/Joan de la Malla

One of the primary goals of St Mary’s Biosphere Reserve is to conserve biodiversity, particularly one of the most emblematic species of the area, the critically endangered leatherback turtle. It may not seem obvious, but this goal is closely related with sustainable agricultural practices.

As explained by Dr Kimberly Steward (Ross University), leachate and chemicals used in farming end up on the beach and affect nesting zones as well as the algae, food and refuge for the leatherback and other turtle species.

What were the objectives of the UNESCO Earth Network mission to the biosphere reserve?

UNESCO/Joan de la Malla

With the generous support of the Government of Italy, the Earth Network project embarked on a mission to St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve site to promote and work on ecological restoration. The initiative addressed specific challenges associated with agricultural practices, tools and methods of the St. Mary’s Biosphere Reserve site: cultivation, preservation and monetization of sustainable and biodiversity-led agriculture processes.

Furthermore, an inventory of biodiversity loss, i.e., soil-erosion, tropical forest depletion, diminished mangrove cultivation, extent of fauna and different species of birds, bees and other pollinators etc., was prepated. The mission also analysed potential employment opportunities based on sustainable, biodiversity-friendly agriculture practices and tools, i.e., better use of tropical forests as sources of new fruit and vegetable cultivation, and introducing new seed varieties more tolerant to heat and drought; and examined opportunities for the creation of small enterprises associated with sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity.

Development of the mission and its first achievements

UNESCO/Joan de la Malla

The mission was conducted in two phases, both led by volunteer expert, Dr. Haydi Berrenstein. The first field mission took place from 20 – 24 February 2023 to collect data, assess the situation and exchange with local experts, as well as to interview local stakeholders.

A second mission took place in August 2023, when the Earth Network volunteer expert and local community members worked together to formulate technical advice towards an ecological restoration plan in line with available good practices and assess the feasibility of a local biodiversity inventory.

Additionally, in August 2023, a plan to improve their practices began to be implemented, through the creation of a Seed Bank, the development of natural fertilizers and a whole Biodiversity Agricultural Reforestation plan. The overall aim is to embrace better use of tropical forests, enhance the cultivation of new fruits and combat soil erosion.

Furthermore, the knowledge generated through the mission was consolidated and included in the UNESCO Biodiversity Portal, which provides real-time data from UNESCO-designated sites, as well as top-notch solutions.

Featured image- St. Kitts/Nevis natural springs.

Sci-Tech

Seven Steps For Countries To Regulate Generative AI In Education

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Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools have far-reaching implications for education and research. 

Yet the education sector today is largely unprepared for the ethical and pedagogical integration of these powerful and rapidly evolving technologies.

A recent UNESCO global survey of over 450 schools and universities showed that less than 10% of them had policies or formal guidance on the use of GenAI applications, largely due to the absence of national regulations. And only seven countries have reported that they had developed or were developing training programmes on AI for teachers.

That is why UNESCO has developed and released the first-ever global Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research to support countries amidst the rapid emergence of GenAI technologies.

The new guidance, recently launched during UNESCO’s flagship event Digital Learning Week in Paris, calls on countries to implement appropriate regulations, policies, and human capacity development, for ensuring a human-centred vision of GenAI for education and research. 

What the guidance is proposing

The guidance presents an assessment of potential risks GenAI could pose to core humanistic values. It offers concrete recommendations for policy-makers and institutions on how the uses of these tools can be designed to protect human agency and genuinely benefit students, teachers and researchers.

The guidance proposes seven key steps for governmental agencies to regulate the use of GenAI in education:

Step 1: Endorse international or regional General Data Protection Regulations or develop national ones. The training of GenAI models has involved collecting and processing online data from citizens across many countries. The use of data and content without consent is further challenging the issue of data protection.

Step 2: Adopt/revise and fund national strategies on AI. Regulating generative AI must be part and parcel of broader national AI strategies that can ensure safe and equitable use of AI across development sectors, including in education.

Step 3: Solidify and implement specific regulations on the ethics of AI. In order to address the ethical dimensions posed by the use of AI, specific regulations are required.

Step 4: Adjust or enforce existing copyright laws to regulate AI-generated content: The increasingly pervasive use of GenAI has introduced new challenges for copyright, both concerning the copyrighted content or work that models are trained on, as well as the status of the ‘non-human’ knowledge outputs they produce.

Step 5: Elaborate regulatory frameworks on generative AI: The rapid pace of development of AI technologies is forcing national and local governance agencies to speed up their renewal of regulations.

Step 6: Build capacity for proper use of GenAI in education and research: Schools and other educational institutions need to develop capacities to understand the potential benefits and risks of GenAI tools.

Step 7: Reflect on the long-term implications of GenAI for education and research: The impact and the implications of GenAI for knowledge creation, transmission and validation – for teaching and learning, for curriculum design and assessment, and for research and copyright.

A human-centered vision for digital learning and AI

The guidance is anchored in a humanistic approach to education that promotes human agency, inclusion, equity, gender equality, cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as plural opinions and expressions. In line with UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence in Education, it also responds to the flagship report, Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education which calls to redefine the relationship between humans and technology.

UNESCO is committed to steering technology in education, guided by the principles of inclusion, equity, quality and accessibility. The latest Global Education Monitoring Report on technology in education highlighted the lack of appropriate governance and regulation. UNESCO is urging countries to set their own terms for the way technology is designed and used in education so that it never replaces in-person, teacher-led instruction, and supports the shared objective of quality education for all.

Earth

Great Barrier Reef: Australia to put in place urgent safeguarding measures requested by UNESCO

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Paris, June, 2023 – UNESCO welcomes Australia’s decision to implement urgent new protection measures to safeguard the Great Barrier Reef recommended by UNESCO. The measures include a ban on fishing with gillnets. The Australian government formalized its commitments in a letter addressed to Audrey Azoulay, the Director General of UNESCO this week.
 
“The Great Barrier Reef is a fragile jewel of world heritage. For many years, UNESCO has not ceased alerting the world to the risk of this site losing its universal value forever. We have proposed several concrete measures which provide a roadmap for tackling the problem. I am delighted that the dialogue between our experts and the Australian authorities has now resulted in a set of formal commitments,” said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General.
 
For many years, UNESCO has sounded the alarm on the Great Barrier Reef.
In 2021, with regard to very worrying data on the reef’s poor state of conservation, experts at the Organization went as far as to recommend the site was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. This warning had global resonance.  

The fruits of a long process of discussion  
In March 2022, a UNESCO-IUCN joint mission travelled to the Great Barrier Reef in order to examine the reef in even greater detail, and to dialogue with all the relevant actors: public sector decision-makers, scientists and non-government organizations (NGOs). In their report, the experts confirmed that due to the threats posed by pollution, over-fishing and the rise in sea temperatures, the outlook for the Great Barrier Reef was worrying.   UNESCO and the IUCN also emphasized that the implementation of corrective measures could significantly improve the state of conservation of the reef, listing ten precisely-defined actions the Australian authorities should take.   In July 2022, Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General, met with the new Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese and recalled the urgency of taking action. A discussion between UNESCO experts and the Australian authorities followed, with the aim of establishing an implementation plan for the ten priority measures including costs and timetable.   This process has just been completed. In a letter addressed to Audrey Azoulay, the Minister of the Environment, Tanya Plibersek announced that the urgent new measures for the protection of the Great Barrier Reef UNESCO had requested, would be carried out.
 
Key Measures  
In the letter the Australian government committed notably to: Create no-fishing zones in a third of the World Heritage site by the end of 2024, and to ban gill net fishing altogether by 2027; Reach water quality improvement targets by 2025, by significantly reducing pollutant discharges from farmers and industrialists, and restoring flora and fauna in drainage basins; Set successively more ambitious CO2 emissions reduction targets, in alignment with efforts to limit global temperature increase to 1.5°C. This comes in addition to the measures already announced by the Australian authorities in recent months.   UNESCO will closely monitor the effective implementation of these measures. The state of conservation of the Great Barrier Reef will be examined again by the World Heritage Committee at its 45th extended session (September 10-25, Saudi Arabia).
https://youtu.be/bb01n4uQZL0
Art

AI Induced Shifting Subtexts- What Is And What Isn’t Art?

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Let’s go back to 2016 and re-consider how the works highlighted below are more relevant today than ever when asking “What is and isn’t art?”.  The recent surge in AI and chatbot produced ‘art’ has created new challenges in recognition, interpretation and validation. Or has it? [J.Barker Content Producer for The Silo]   It became immediately apparent that the rephrasing of the question “What is art?” to “What isn’t art?” signaled a dissolution of the boundary separating metaphor from reality.

Since, citizen and artist alike have been plunged headlong into the bacchanals of postmodernity, and the question has been obscured under a heap of incongruous discourse and subtexts.

Eva Davidova multimedia installation view
Eva Davidova multimedia installation view

Two curious and intrepid artists offer their answers to this exhausting and illuminating question in their discussions of unexplored spaces and shifting subtexts.

Painter and multimedia artist Eva Davidova  tests the digital waters of virtual reality through immersive, programmatic experiences. Articulating the conviction that emerging technology is obliged to transcend commercial application, Davidova’s phantasmagoric 3D renderings attempt to draw the strings away from the hands of big business. Topics mentioned include the beauty of academic reciprocity, the fiscal realities of living in the metropolis, and the future of collaborative artistic environments.

julie mehretu dispersion
Julie Mehretu’s Dispersion

Behind the meticulous and sweeping abstract landscapes from the mind of Julie Mehretu are subtle societal and historical cues, which inform and enrich the surface of her paintings. In her ebullient interview, Mehretu speaks of the benefits and restrictions that arise from using architectural semantics to ground explorations of political and social change.

Wrought from countless painterly quotations, the identity of Mehretu’s brushstroke vanishes the moment it falls under interpretation.

The elusive and curious nature of the Ethiopian artist’s aesthetic experiments, coupled with a steady ethical subtext make for an engaging and memorable listen.

Featured image- “A Questionable Tale(#1)” 2022 Marina Zurkow/DALL-E (AI) 

For the Silo, Brainard Carey.

Culture

Children Worldwide Call For Promises Of Universal Education

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New York – Through an innovative, children-led campaign delivered by the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), crisis-impacted girls and boys worldwide are sharing “Postcards from the Edge” to call on world leaders and public and private sector donors to make good on promises to ensure education for all by 2030 as outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.

These first-person accounts and drawings offer inspiring and thought-provoking portraits of the challenges facing girls and boys caught in conflict and protracted crises around the world.

“They are inspiring and compelling stories of hope and an incredible resilience in the face of adversity and testaments to the amazing power of education to transform lives. We must listen to the world’s children. They deserve their human right to an education. Their voice must speak to our decency, they deserve to be heard,” said Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait.

To date, more than 50 letters, drawings and videos have been received from crisis-affected girls and boys supported through ECW-funded programmes across more than 20 of the world’s toughest country-contexts.

ECW’s strategic partners – including Educo, Plan International, Save the Children, Street Child, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Vision and many others – continue to collect these first-person accounts to highlight the singular power of education to end violence, hunger and poverty, and build a more peaceful world for generations to come.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lucas*, a 14-year-old refugee from the Central African Republic recounts the story of seeing his mother murdered and his village burnt to the ground.

Through a multi-year resilience programme delivered by UNHCR with funding from ECW, the boy is now back in school and dreams one day of becoming a doctor.

In his postcard, Lucas makes an impassioned plea for world leaders “to think of us refugee children and provide funding to let us finish our studies.”

Worldwide 222 million girls and boys like Lucas are having their futures ripped from them by the converging impacts of conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises. Girls and children with disabilities are especially at risk.

Several letters were submitted from girls and boys in Afghanistan. With new rules banning girls from education and denying women their human rights, it is not clear if Zehab* from the Uruzgan Province will be able to continue her education. But for now, with the support of ECW and Street Child, she is still able to attend a non-formal community-based learning programme.

“I want to get education and become a well-known doctor. But I am wondering that I might not achieve my dreams, as girls are not allowed to attend schools in Afghanistan,” she says in her postcard. “I call on the world leaders to help us and give us the opportunity to learn and lead our future.”

Leaders across the globe will come together at the Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference on February 16 and 17 in Geneva, Switzerland, to make good on commitments to ensure every child, everywhere, is offered a quality education.

Throughout the event, youth advocates and global champions will read the Postcards from the Edge to ensure the voice of the world’s most vulnerable children are heard.

Education Cannot Wait is calling on donors, foundations and high-net-worth individuals to mobilize US$1.5 billion over the next four years. With this funding, ECW and its strategic partners will reach 20 million children and adolescents with the safety, hope and opportunity that only quality education can provide.

*Names have been changed for privacy purposes.

#PostcardsFromTheEdge  – Letters from Children

POSTCARDS
“For me, #education is the only hope I have left to achieve my dream of becoming a doctor.”~Lucas, 14, 🇨🇫 refugee in #DRCongo.
Read how @EduCannotWait+@UNHCR_DRC help children like Lucas achieve their dreams!👉bit.ly/3XTpzEf#PostcardsFromTheEdge
Darline, 14, from #Haiti🇭🇹 demands change & an #education!
@EduCannotWait’s #PostcardsFromTheEdge Campaign amplifies the voices of girls & boys like Darline ahead of #HLFC2023.Read Darline’s powerful letter📨http://bit.ly/3ixhKoX @UNICEFHaiti#222MillionDreams✨📚
“I want to be an architect in the future to help build & reconstruct my country #Syria🇸🇾 & all the countries that are affected by war & destruction.” ~Kamil, 12, refugee in #Iraq.
Read @EduCannotWait’s #PostcardsFromTheEdge delivered w/@SavetheChildren.📨 http://bit.ly/3kui6Nt 
“I aspire to be a #teacher because I feel I have a heart to care, ears to listen, time to give & ideas to share” ~Huma, #Pakistan🇵🇰.
Read her #PostcardsFromTheEdge to hear how @EduCannotWait+@UNICEF_Pakistan is making #222MillionDreams✨📚 come true.📨bit.ly/3R7l4UE
11-year-old Zawad, a refugee in #Bangladesh🇧🇩, wants his community and family to prioritize education. With support from @UNICEFBD+@EduCannotWait his dreams are coming true. 
Learn more in his inspiring #PostcardsFromTheEdge 👉bit.ly/3DcFl5s
“I call on the world leaders to help us and give us the opportunity to learn and lead our future.” ~Zehab, #Afghanistan🇦🇫. Read Zehab’s @EduCannotWait’s #PostcardsFromTheEdge 📨https://bit.ly/3CTEpmh
Like & retweet if you agree #EducationCannotWait for #Afghan girls!


Culture

Landmarks of Ancient Yemen added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List

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Paris, January, 2023 – The World Heritage Committee meeting in an extraordinary session on Thursday inscribed the Landmarks of the Ancient Kingdom of Saba, Marib (Yemen) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.


The Landmarks of the Ancient Kingdom of Saba, Marib, is a serial property comprising seven archaeological sites that bear witness to the rich Kingdom of Saba and its architectural, aesthetic and technological achievements from the 1st millennium BCE to the arrival of Islam around 630 CE.

Yemen’s recorded history started when it was known as Saba/Sheba three thousand years ago, on the main spice route from the east to Europe, and was rich and powerful. The Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon appears in both the Bible and the Koran.


They bear witness to the complex centralized administration of the Kingdom when it controlled much of the incense route across the Arabian Peninsula, playing a key role in the wider network of cultural exchange fostered by trade with the Mediterranean and East Africa.


Located in a semi-arid landscape of valleys, mountains and deserts, the property encompasses the remains of large urban settlements with monumental temples, ramparts and other buildings.

The irrigation system of ancient Ma’rib reflects technological prowess in hydrological engineering and agriculture on a scale unparalleled in ancient South Arabia, resulting in the creation of the largest ancient man-made oasis.

Marib Dam photos before and after the destruction. photo: German Archaeological Institute/Burkhard Vogt


The World Heritage Committee used an emergency procedure to inscribe this site on the List of World Heritage in Danger, due to threats of destruction from the ongoing conflict.


The List of World Heritage in Danger provides access to enhanced international assistance, both technical and financial, and helps mobilize the entire international community for the protection of sites.

Culture

Ukraine: How UNESCO Supports Odesa’s Heritage & Cultural Life

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Paris, 30 August 2022 – At a meeting with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay at the Organization’s Headquarters, Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information, announced that his country will request the inscription of Odesa on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. For its part, the Organization will deploy new measures to protect Ukrainian cultural heritage, particularly in Odesa and L’viv.

Since the beginning of the war, UNESCO has been deploying emergency measures in Ukraine as part of its mandate for education, culture, science, information and communication.

The Organization has mobilized close to $7 million USD/ $9.17 million CAD to date, provided numerous in-kind grants and made its experts available to advise professionals on the ground.

A working meeting was held at UNESCO Headquarters on Tuesday between Ms Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, Mr Tkachenko, Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information, and Ernesto Ottone, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, to ensure the proper implementation of these actions in the field of culture. On this occasion, the Minister also expressed new needs which UNESCO is committed to meet.

Image via artreview.com Artist I. Levi modifies existing artwork to reflect changes to old works caused by wartime damage that have occurred since the Ukraine War began. Inga Levi, March 15, 2020: The Willow’s Catkins have Blossomed, Klaipėda/ The House Window in the Obolon District after a Direct Airstrike, Kyiv, 2022, pencil

Inscription of Odesa on the World Heritage List

Oleksandr Tkachenko announced Ukraine’s decision to submit t the nomination of the Historic Centre of Odesa for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Nationally recognized and protected, this site is located only a few dozen kilometres from the front line and has already been struck by artillery fire. On 24 July 2022, part of the large glass roof and windows of Odesa’s Museum of Fine Arts, inaugurated in 1899, were destroyed.

At the request of Ukraine, UNESCO has already mobilized international experts to provide technical support to the country so that this nomination can be examined urgently by Member States sitting on the World Heritage Committee, with a view of inscribing it on the World Heritage List and on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The World Heritage Committee will also be recommended to add UNESCO’s World Heritage sites of Kyiv and L’viv, which are also under threat, to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Image via artreview.com Inga Levi, March 5, 2022: Lviv’s view from the New Building / People are Hiding under the Ruins of the Bridge from the Russian Aircraft and Artillery, Irpin, 2022, pencil

UNESCO completes its emergency measures on the ground

In parallel to these steps and in view of the new needs expressed by professionals in the field, the Director-General announced at this meeting that UNESCO would strengthen its support to the city of Odesa by providing:

  1. Funding to repair the damage inflicted on the Odesa Museum of Fine Arts and the Odesa Museum of Modern Art since the beginning of the war, and to finance the hiring of additional staff dedicated to the protection of collections.
     
  2. Support for the digitization of at least 1,000 works of art in Odesa as well as the documentary collection of the Odesa State Archives, through the  provision of appropriate hardware.
     
  3. New equipment to the Odesa Regional Administration for the in situ protection of cultural property: protective panels, sandbags, fire extinguishers, fireproof fabrics and gas masks will be delivered to the Department of Culture, Religion and Protection of Architectural Heritage. They will allow the recovery of public monuments and sculptures, which has been underway since the beginning of the war, to continue.

With a view to boosting the recovery of Ukraine’s cultural sector, the Director-General also offered the Organization’s support for the creation of a UNESCO Cultural Centre in L’viv, as requested by the city mayor. It would be a place for artists to meet and share experiences, and would host training programmes, various activities and events. A budget of $1.5 million usd/ $1.96 million cad has already been earmarked to finance its opening and operational costs over several months.

In addition, the Director-General of UNESCO decided to deploy a liaison officer in Kyiv to coordinate these actions. The officer will complement the team of local experts already working in the field. For the Silo, Clare O’Hagan/UNESCO.

Art

How UNESCO Supports Exiled Ukrainian Women Artists

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Paris, 9 June 2022 – UNESCO is launching a scheme to support Ukrainian women artists who have had to flee their country because of the war, in partnership with the NGO Perpetuum Mobile. It will enable them and their children to be hosted and cared for by a cultural institution in the country where they have found refuge.

“The war has driven millions of Ukrainians into exile, the vast majority of whom are women and children. Among these people, women artists who have been forced to suspend their creative activities often lack material and financial resources to resume their work in their host country,” says Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General.

For this reason, UNESCO decided to launch a programme dedicated to Ukrainian women artists in exile, born of a partnership with the NGO Perpetuum Mobile, initiator of the Artists at Risk platform, which brings together cultural institutions in over 15 countries.

Audrey Azoulay

The artists concerned will be supported for a minimum of three months by a cultural institution in their host country.

They will be taken care of with their children in artistic residencies, and will benefit from support in terms of networking, visibility and the conception of new cultural projects.

(Left) Ukraine electro-pop duo Bloom Twins: “It has really affected us,” said singer Anna Kuprienko. “We’re talking to our family, we have a lot of friends and our second manager living there. We go back to the Ukraine quite a lot. We were only there two months ago. We were hopeful that this situation with Russia wouldn’t go where it has and that it would resolve.” (Right) Ukraine singer Khrystyna Soloviy : “We are a generation that has never seen the Soviet Union and was born in a free Ukraine. Ukrainians are not Russians, as said by the Russian government. We have a difficult, depressed history of Russian colonisation.”

The scheme will aim to provide them with the means to become autonomous by the end of their hosting period, whether they then choose to return to live in Ukraine or to settle permanently in their host country. UNESCO has already set aside $140,000 usd (about $177,000 cad at time of this publication) to finance the scheme, which should initially benefit some 30 artists and their children.

A new link in UNESCO’s emergency response

The programme complements the range of emergency measures already deployed by UNESCO since the beginning of the war to safeguard tangible and intangible cultural heritage, secure museum collections and combat illicit trafficking in cultural property.

UNESCO partner Freemuse

Moreover, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, UNESCO has been monitoring the situation of artists in close consultation with artists’ networks and cultural actors in the country. This work is also carried out in coordination with international organizations involved in supporting artists at risk: PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection, Perpetuum Mobile/Artists at Risk, ICORN, Freemuse, Prince Claus Fund and the PAUSE programme. For the Silo, Lucía Iglesias Kuntz, UNESCO Press Service.

Featured image: Face of War (Putin in bullets) co-created by Daria Marchenko, 35 now exiled Ukraine woman artist.

Culture

Ukraine: UNESCO Statement Following UN General Assembly Resolution

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Paris, France 3 March – Following the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Resolution on Aggression against Ukraine, and in light of the devastating escalation of violence, UNESCO is deeply concerned by developments in Ukraine and is working to assess damage across its spheres of competence (notably education, culture, heritage and information) and to implement emergency support actions.

The UNGA Resolution reaffirms the paramount importance of the UN Charter and commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and it demands “that the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine.”

The Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, fully concurs with the opening remarks made by the Secretary-General at the Special Session of the General Assembly, during which he said that “this escalating violence — which is resulting in civilian deaths, including children – is totally unacceptable.”

In addition, she calls for the “protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage, which bears witness to the country’s rich history, and includes its seven World Heritage sites – notably located in Lviv and Kyiv; the cities of Odessa and Kharkiv, members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network; its national archives, some of which feature in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register; and its sites commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust.”

“We must safeguard this cultural heritage, as a testimony of the past but also as a vector of peace for the future, which the international community has a duty to protect and preserve for future generations. It is also to protect the future that educational institutions must be considered sanctuaries.”

Consistent with its mandate, UNESCO demands the immediate cessation of attacks on civilian facilities, such as schools, universities, memorial sites, cultural and communication infrastructures, and deplores civilian casualties, including students, teachers, artists, scientists and journalists. These include women and children, girls especially, disproportionately impacted by the conflict and displacement. 

In the field of education, Resolution 2601 adopted in 2021 by the UN Security Council states that UN Member States are to “prevent attacks and threats of attacks against schools and ensure the protection of schools and civilians connected with schools, including children and teachers during armed conflict as well as in post-conflict phases”. The General Assembly Resolution of 2 March expresses grave concern at reports of attacks on civilian facilities including schools. In this regard, UNESCO strongly condemns attacks against education facilities, with the damaging of at least seven institutions in the past week, including the attack on 2 March on Karazin Kharkiv National University.

The nationwide closure of schools and education facilities has affected the entire school-aged population — 6 million students between 3 and 17 years old, and more than 1.5 million enrolled in higher education institutions. The escalation of violence hampers the protective role of education, and the impact may be far-reaching including in neighbouring countries.

In the field of culture, UNESCO underlines the obligations of international humanitarian law, notably the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two (1954 and 1999) Protocols, to refrain from inflicting damage to cultural property, and condemns all attacks and damage to cultural heritage in all its forms in Ukraine. UNESCO calls also for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2347.

In this respect, UNESCO is gravely concerned with the damages incurred by the city of Kharkiv, UNESCO Creative City for Music, and the historic centre of Chernihiv, on Ukraine’s World Heritage Tentative List. UNESCO deeply regrets reports of damage to the works of the celebrated Ukrainian artist, Maria Primachenko, with whose anniversary UNESCO was associated in 2009.

UNESCO condemns also the attack that affected the Babyn Yar Holocaust memorial, the site of one of the largest mass shootings of Jews during World War II, and calls for the respect of historic sites, whose value for education and remembrance is irreplaceable.

In order to prevent attacks, UNESCO, in close coordination with the Ukrainian authorities, is working to mark as quickly as possible key historic monuments and sites across Ukraine with the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention, an internationally recognised signal for the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict.  In addition, UNESCO has approached the Ukrainian authorities with a view to organising a meeting with museum directors across the country to help them respond to urgent needs for safeguarding museum collections and cultural property. In cooperation with UNITAR/UNOSAT, UNESCO will be monitoring the damages incurred by cultural sites through satellite imagery analysis.

In the field of access to information and freedom of expression, UNESCO recalls its previous statement underlining obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 2222 to protect media professionals and associated personnel. It further notes, as in the same resolution, “media equipment and installations constitute civilian objects, and in this respect shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals, unless they are military objectives”.

In this respect, UNESCO is deeply concerned about reports of the targeting of media infrastructure, including the shelling of Kyiv’s main television tower on 1 March 2022, with multiple reported fatalities, including at least one media worker, as well as cases of violence against journalists and attempts to restrict access to the Internet.

In a conflict situation, free and independent media are critical for ensuring civilians have access to potentially life-saving information and debunking disinformation and rumours.

At the request of a group of Member States, the UNESCO Executive Board will hold a Special Session on 15 March “to examine the impact and consequences of the current situation in Ukraine in all aspects of UNESCO’s mandate”.

UNESCO designations and sites in Ukraine

Featured image: One of the 7 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ukraine (Crimea): Ruins of Chersonesos. Photo: Dmitry A. Mottl Creative Commons.

Culture

UNESCO Puts Spotlight On Women’s Voices In Imagining World To Come

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Paris, May—UNESCO has invited leading women thinkers, artists and activists from fields ranging from climatology to international relations through physics and African studies, to voice their views on the challenges and opportunities the world will face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first six short videos published today provide a female perspective on questions regarding the environment, education and international relations that are coming to the fore during the current global crisis. UNESCO chose to highlight female perspectives in its first videos as the thinking about these pressing issues remains dominated by male voices all too often and in all too many parts of the world.

The first six inspiring women featured in UNESCO’s Forum of Ideas are: Katharine Hayhoe (Canada), Climate Scientist, Director of the Texas Tech University Climate Science Center, Professor of Political Science and UN Champion of the Earth, Fadia Kiwan (Lebanon), Political Science Professor, General Director of the Arab Women Organization, Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UNESCO-MOST Programme, Sara Purca (Peru), Researcher at the Peruvian Sea Institute, winner of Peru’s National L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science (2017) Prize, N’Dri Assie-Lumumba (Côte d’Ivoire), Professor at the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UNESCO-MOST Programme, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Japan),Professor of International Affairs, Director of the Oslo University Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health, and Márcia Barbosa (Brazil), Physicist, Director of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, laureate of L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science (2013).

New contributions from prominent women and men working in all parts of the world in a rich variety of disciplines will be added to the UNESCO Forum of Ideas platform over coming months.

In producing its Forum of Ideas series, UNESCO fulfills its mission as an open and inclusive laboratory of ideas, destined to contribute to strategic thinking about the Organization’s programmes. UNESCO also hopes that the series will inspire national policy-makers and provide a positive contribution to global governance. For the Silo, Clare O’Hagan.

UNESCO Forum website: en.unesco.org/forum

Earth

World Heritage Committee Adds 29 New Sites Including Alberta On UNESCO’s World Heritage List

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Baku, Azerbaijan, July—The city of Fuzhou (China) will host the next session of the World Heritage Committee in 2020. This decision concluded the work of the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Baku since 30 June.

During this year’s session, the World Heritage Committee inscribed a total of 29 new sites on the World Heritage List (one in Africa, two in the Arab States, ten in the Asia Pacific region, 15 in Europe and North America including Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada and one in Latin America).

The World Heritage List now features 1,121 sites in 167 countries.

The Committee approved the removal from the List of World Heritage in Danger of the sites of Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works (Chile) and Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine). One property has been added to the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California (Mexico).

This session reaffirmed the potential of heritage in strengthening cooperation between States, with the inscription of the transboundary site of the Erzgebirge Mining Region/Krušnohoří (shared by Germany and Czechia) and the extension into Albania of the natural and cultural heritage site of the Ohrid Region (Northern Macedonia).

Cooperation and mediation work on heritage also allowed for consensus on decisions regarding the Middle East thanks to constructive discussion with the delegations concerned, notably Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

Several major archaeological sites were added to the List, including the Dilmun Burial Mounds (Bahrain), the Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso and the iconic site of Babylon (Iraq), once the centre of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and site of the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which have inspired artistic, popular and religious culture worldwide.

The inscription of Babylon, combined with significant investment by Iraq, contributes to UNESCO’s efforts to rebuild the country and its flagship Reviving the Spirit of Mosul initiative.

Sites essential for the preservation of global biodiversity have also been inscribed. They include the Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) (China) and the site of the French Austral Lands and Seas (France) with a record surface area of over 67 million hectares that is home to one of the highest concentrations of birds and marine mammals in the world.

Finally, the inscription of the sites of Budj Bim Cultural Landscape within Australia’s Gundijmara Aboriginal region, and of Canada’s Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi, a sacred landscape of the Blackfoot (Siksikáítsitapi) people, recognizes the knowledge of indigenous peoples, essential for the preservation of cultural and natural heritage.

Significant efforts are still needed to enhance and preserve African heritage, which remains largely under-represented on the List. UNESCO also renewed its call for unflagging rigour, integrity and responsibility in the examination of nominations so as to ensure the credibility of the World Heritage Convention and its future standing.

The new natural sites are:

Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) (China)

French Austral Lands and Seas (France)

Vatnajökull National Park – dynamic nature of fire and ice (Iceland)

Hyrcanian Forests (Islamic Republic of Iran)

Mixed site:

Paraty and Ilha Grande – Culture and Biodiversity (Brazil)

Cultural sites:

Budj Bim Cultural Landscape (Australia)

Historic Centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace (Azerbaijan)

Dilmun Burial Mounds (Bahrain)

Ancient ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso (Burkina Faso)

Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi (Canada)

Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City (China)

Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem (Czechia)

Erzgebirge/Krušnohoří Mining Region (Czechia, Germany)

Water Management System of Augsburg (Germany)

Jaipur City, Rajasthan (India)

Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto (Indonesia)

Babylon (Iraq)

Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene (Italy)

Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan (Japan)

Bagan (Myanmar)

Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang – Plain of Jars (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)

Krzemionki Prehistoric Striped Flint Mining Region (Poland)

Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga (Portugal)

Royal Building of Mafra – Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park (Tapada) (Portugal)

Seowon, Korean Neo-Confucian Academies (Republic of Korea)

Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture (Russian Federation)

Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape (Spain)

Jodrell Bank Observatory (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)

The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (United States of America)

For the Silo/UNESCO, Lucía Iglesias Kuntz.

Featured image: Description: Shield-bearing warrior and the distant Sweetgrass Hills
Date: 01/06/2017 
Author: Alberta Parks
Copyright: © Alberta Parks

Culture

UNESCO Seeks To Open Markets For Global South Cultural Goods

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Paris, 30 May – Experts, stakeholders and government representatives will examine ways to improve exports of cultural products from the Global South, reinforce cultural entrepreneurship and improve the status of artists during the biennial meeting of the signatories to UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, at the Organization’s Headquarters from 5 to 7 June.

Government officials and cultural professionals will address these and other issues at three Create|2030 debates during the session:

Rebalancing trade flows: making the case for preferential treatment in culture, will examine ways to open markets to cultural goods and services from the Global South, in line with the Convention’s binding provision to grant them preferential treatment in international trade.  Cultural goods and services from developing countries currently only account for 26.5% of the global trade in this rapidly growing sector. Panelists will also examine how the concentration of creative content on large online platforms is impacting the distribution of cultural products and expressions. (7 June, 10 am—1 pm, Room II)

Strengthening cultural entrepreneurship: The International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD) will discuss investments in vocational training andbring together beneficiaries of UNESCO’s IFCD from Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia and Senegal. The Fund, which aims to address the gap between developed and developing countries in the creative economy, has provided more than 10,000 artists and cultural professionals with new skills in project management, business and career development to date. (6 June, 10 am—1 pm, Room II)

Rethinking the status of the artist will explore ways to enhance the professional, social and economic conditions of artists through policies concerning training, social security, employment, income, taxation, mobility and freedom of expression. (6 June, 2—5 pm, Room II)

During the meeting, participants will also examine an Open Roadmap designed to strengthen the Parties’ capacities to promote the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital age, as well as other innovative policy practices. Priorities in line with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be set for the next two years, with particular attention to gender equality, fundamental freedoms, quality education, economic growth, decent jobs, and equality between countries.

The 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions provides a framework for the design of policies and measures that support the emergence of dynamic cultural and creative industries around the world. The 146 Parties (145 States and the European Union) that have ratified the Convention meet at UNESCO every two years to examine its impact and determine future action. Twelve new Members will be elected to the Convention’s Intergovernmental Committee during the session.

Art

Ontario Beach Zoomorph Profiled In Mexico City University Of Art Publication

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Artist Jarrod Barker, was recently invited to take part in MUCA-Roma’s Ala Afuera project. Based in the Roma district of Mexico City, MUCA is a University Museum of science and art. What made this project doubly exciting was the opportunity to show case a part of Barker’s home internationally.

The curators asked for a submission of 3 images and accompanying explanatory write-ups that “from your perspective, show a form of relationship between humans and the rest of nature.” This topic aka- Umwelt is not foreign to Barker who installed an exhibition of that name in 2010 at the Norfolk (nee Lynnwood) Arts Center in Simcoe,Ontario.

 

Long Point Seal Tamer Concept- J. Barker
Location: Long Point, Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada
Long Point is a world biosphere. I know this because the United Nations has told me so. But for several months of the year Long Point is transformed. Under certain winter conditions, Long Point looks less like a marshy, swampy bird watchers paradise and more like an arctic shore. At least on the South West side. When I visit Long Point during these times, I react to the environmental changes. I see things differently. I feel things differently. A sun bleached tree stump becomes a seal. A marsh reed becomes a baton. A flint pebble becomes a ball. Natural transformation through the changes of the seasons is a holistic experience.

 

After the selection process, if successful- one of the artist submitted images and write-ups was selected for transformation into a postcard and incorporated with the other artist submissions. The goal was for the Ala Afuera team to mail out the postcards to other international Museums of art and science and Contemporary Art institutions as a connective gesture to highlight MUCA and the work of the artists involved in this project and to bring awareness to our human/nature relationships.

 

“The objective of the project Allá Afuera (Out There) is to gather a mosaic of images that represent
ways of understanding the relationship we humans have with the rest of nature. From bucolic or
passionate points of view to other more threatening myths and taboos, amazement, fear, the absurd,
and maybe even indifference. We do not intend to cover all possibilities, but through images as a direct
reading form, show that there are multiple ways of looking at this Bond.

Three times a year we will present a collection of postcards, with 18 images each, gathered in a
biombo format. After two years we will complete the edition of six collections, with a total of 108 ways
of understanding, 108 points of view, and 108 forms of defining our relationship with what is out there. “

Ala Afuera which translated mean’s “Out there” began mailing out the works a few weeks ago.  For the Silo, Stephanie Bordega. 

For more information and to request postcards please contact-
Allá Afuera (Out there) project Gonzalo Ortega and Jeronimo Hagerman
MUCA ROMA MUSEUM (University museum of science and art, Roma district, Mexico City)
allaafueramucaroma@gmail.com

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