Monday, January 10, 2005

Traditional Chinese Medicine as Intangible Cultural Heritage

Fei Li, China Daily 2005-01-10:

"The Chinese Government's decision to apply for 'world intangible heritage' status for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is certainly heartening news to its practitioners, and is a move expected to give a huge boost to the protection and promotion of TCM. It is reported government bodies are now working to submit an application to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). "

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Pakistan National Club for UNESCO formed

Pakistan Link News story:

"Pakistan National Club for UNESCO has been formed for the first time in the country. The Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will be patron-in-chief of the club."

UNESCO warns of shortfall of 25 million teachers

New Kerala (India) article:

"A top official of UNESCO Thursday warned that there would be a shortfall of 25 million teachers globally in the next few years if urgent steps were not taken to accelerate the teachers training programs.

"Mir Asghar Husain, a UNESCO director for educational policies and strategies, said that his organisation was taking necessary steps in this direction as the shortage of teachers was more acute in the 25 Sub-Saharan countries.

"He said the scourge of AIDS was also claiming lives of a large number of teachers in these countries, making the crisis more acute. "

ReliefWeb: Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP): Flash Appeal 2005 for Indian Ocean Earthquake - Tsunami

ReliefWeb: Flash Appeal for Indian Ocean Earthquake - Tsunami:

"This flash appeal reflects the efforts of some forty United Nations (UN) agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to plan and implement a strategic, efficient, and coordinated response to the needs of some 5 million people. Programmes focus on keeping people alive and supporting their efforts to recover, for example in the agriculture, education, health, food, shelter, or water and sanitation sectors. Reaching isolated communities is a serious challenge because of the destruction of transport infrastructure and communication systems. This requires the establishment of complex logistics and operations platforms. Strong coordination with Governments and between Governments and the international aid community will ensure that assistance is efficient and reaches the people who need aid most.

"This Flash Appeal focuses on supporting people in Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Seychelles, Somalia and Sri Lanka from January to the end of June 2005, and calls for US$ 977 million to fund the critical work of some forty UN agencies and NGOs."

Of the total amount, US$27,019,340 is for education.

Iraqi Museum Reconstruction

WSJ.Com OpinionJournal article:

"In the wake of the looting of the museum, a number of countries (some through Unesco) have helped to refurbish the building, install new security systems and conservation laboratories, and train lab technicians and conservators."

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Funding Education Today

allAfrica.com: Nigeria [opinion]: Funding Education Today:

"The Federal Ministry of Education has taken full advantage of the partnerships of various governmental and non-governmental organisations to advance various projects and programmes. International Development partners such as World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF and the Commonwealth have provided considerable resources for advancing various educational programmes."

INEE: Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies

INEE: Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies

"From 2003 onwards, the Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies’ (INEE) Working Group on Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies (WGMSEE) is facilitating a broad base of stakeholders to develop standards, indicators and guidance notes that articulate the minimum level of educational access and service to be attained in emergencies through to early reconstruction."

Setsuko Klossowska Named UNESCO Artist for Peace

ArtDaily.Com Article

"The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, will name the internationally renowned painter, Countess Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, UNESCO Artist for Peace, in a ceremony at Organization Headquarters on January 7."

Monday, January 03, 2005

UNESCO Helps Protect Xochimilco's Canals

Richmond TimesDispatch.com article: World Focus: World Heritage Site :

MEXICO CITY: Officials say at least 25,000 people are living illegally on the federally protected marsh land serving the ancient canals of Xochimilco. "Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982, Xochimilco's canals have been overrun by illegal housing settlements that pollute the already filthy water and gobble up space for chinampas -- the floating islands of crops grown with techniques dating from the Aztecs. 'The sprawl moves so quickly, one day there may be little else left,' says Ciro Caraballo, a development expert assigned by UNESCO to slow the damage to Xochimilco.

"UNESCO opened a Xochimilco office a year ago to take a more active role in conservation efforts. The office plans to issue a report in February offering ideas on how to pursue conservation efforts without upsetting the area's residents. Xochimilco was declared an international treasure in part to protect its floating islands of flowers, corn, pumpkins, beans and other crops. But as the area becomes more popular for housing, it is getting harder to persuade small farmers to stay..........

"Faustino Soto, Xochimilco's borough president, says his administration is taking a "realistic, not utopian" approach to the illegal settlements, leaving long-established properties alone while focusing on stopping new ones.

"Mexico's federal, state and local governments have given him a conservation budget of nearly $60 million for 2005, which will be used to plant trees and line the edges of canals with sticks to prevent erosion.

"A UNESCO world heritage designation does not bring monetary help but generates tourist interest and makes it easier to attract international funds. Mexico is among the leaders in world heritage sites, with 24. The United States has 20."

Endangered languages

Economist "Endangered languages" article (Subscription required.)

Of the thousands of languages in the world, half are spoken by 6,000 people or less, and many are endangered or critically endangered. There is a cultural richness embodied in these languages, and it will be lost if the langages are lost. Saving a language is best done by recording it while there remain living speakers of the language, but there are few people trained to do this, as compared with the need for such work.

London University's School of Oriental and African Studies implements part of an endangered-languages project financed, to the tune of £20m ($39m) over ten years, by the Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund. The Volkswagen Foundation is also paying for some documentation work, and other organisations, including UNESCO, are helping.



Saturday, January 01, 2005

Center to protect world heritage

China Daily article, 2005-01-01 :

"More advanced theories and international criteria will be introduced into the protection of historical heritage, as the Research Centre for World Cultural Heritage in China was founded on Wednesday in Beijing.

"Located in the Beijing University of Technology, the centre is the first of its kind in China and has gained support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) among its other eight counterparts, according to Professor Dai Jian, the executive president of the research centre. "