United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in November 1946. Its mission is to foster international collaboration in education, science, and culture to promote peace, security, and human rights globally. UNESCO strives to combat illiteracy and advance science education while advocating for universal respect for justice and fundamental freedoms.
The organization plays a significant role in environmental conservation, having designated 759 biosphere reserves in 136 countries, and supports initiatives related to climate change and sustainable development. Its programs include the Man and the Biosphere Programme and the International Hydrological Programme, which address critical environmental issues such as water availability and the protection of oceanic ecosystems. UNESCO also emphasizes the importance of quality primary education for all, believing that education is key to personal development and social progress. Furthermore, through the World Heritage Convention, UNESCO promotes the protection of culturally and historically significant sites, ensuring these treasures are preserved for future generations.
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United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
IDENTIFICATION: International body created to advance respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights
DATE: Established in November, 1946
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has been a pioneering force for international cooperation in scientific research and the promotion of science education since its inception. Many of the organization’s programs are directly involved in efforts to protect and preserve the world’s natural resources.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was formed in 1945 as a response to the belief that political and economic agreements between nations were not enough to promote and maintain worldwide peace. The purposes UNESCO, which is a specialized branch of the United Nations, as stated in the organization’s constitution, are to contribute to worldwide peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture. UNESCO also aims to advance universal respect for justice, the rule of law, human rights, and fundamental freedoms affirmed by world peoples. In addition to seeking to eliminate illiteracy and promote science education and cultural interdependence, UNESCO has made great efforts to articulate human rights and to promote conservation on a global scale.
UNESCO has especially backed science education as critical to various nations’ cooperation with and ratification of key environmental treaties, including the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the embattled Copenhagen Accord (2009) on climate change, which seeks to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. UNESCO has actively supported climate change activism through its advocacy of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. UNESCO has also promoted the idea that human rights include the right of access to clean water, as the lack of safe drinking water is a growing problem in some parts of the world.
UNESCO has spearheaded many international programs with direct environmental links. These include identifying biosphere preserves through the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB), first launched in 1971 to protect natural resources; as of 2024, UNESCO has desgnated 759 sites in 136 nations as protected biosphere reserves. UNESCO’s Environmental Conservation Organization, established in 1986, focuses on raising environmental awareness among youth and teaching sustainable development. UNESCO is active in and oceanographic research, and its International Hydrological Programme, established in 1965, addresses the global use and availability of water, including and riverine systems; the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, established in 1960 to research and protect global oceans, coordinates the development of forecasts regarding ocean climate and short-term ocean-related climate change for affected populations. One of UNESCO's primary endeavors, however, is its focus on Education for All (EFA), which promotes the belief that all people, regardless of race or social standing, have the right to at least a quality primary (through grade 6) education. UNESCO believes that individuals who are armed with education at least to this level are then equipped with enough literacy to read and write and to also continue their education and development throughout their lives.
UNESCO also coordinates the of carbon in areas such as the Amazon rain forest and the alpine forest of the Great Himalayan National Park in India, because forests are vital to offsetting global carbon emissions and many of the world’s forested areas are threatened by human activity. In addition, UNESCO promotes protection of the through the establishment of World Heritage Sites; the nations in which these sites of natural, cultural, or historical significance are located are obligated to maintain and preserve them, under the terms of the World Heritage Convention, as part of the universal heritage of humanity. The organization had dedicated 1,199 sites in 168 countries as World Heritage Sites by 2024.
Bibliography
Di Giovine, Michael A. The Heritage-scape: UNESCO, World Heritage, and Tourism. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2009. Print.
Hoggart, Richard. An Idea and Its Servants: UNESCO from Within. 1978. New Brunswick: Transaction, 2011. Print.
Hunt, Patrick Norman. “African Hydrology Crisis: When the Snows of Kilimanjaro Melt.” Diplomatic Journal, April, 2010. Print.
Kozymka, Irena. The Diplomacy of Culture: The Role of UNESCO in Sustaining Cultural Diversity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Print.
Power, Colin. The Power of Education: Education for All, Development, Globalisation, and UNESCO. Singapore: Springer, 2014. Print.
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Sixty Years of Science at UNESCO, 1945–2005. Paris: Author, 2006. Print.
"World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves." United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2024, whc.unesco.org/en/activities/497/. Accessed 23 July 2024.