Pope Salutes UNESCO International Year of Astronomy

According to the Associated Press, Pope Benedict XVI in marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope saluted UNESCO's World Year of Astronomy.

The United Nations has proclaimed 2009 the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009) and designated UNESCO as its lead agency.

Read more from UNESCO about the International Year of Astronomy.

The UNESCO Thematic Initiative “Astronomy and World Heritage” launched in support of this International Year aims to establish a link between science and culture with a view to highlighting the scientific value of cultural sites connected with astronomy.

The World Heritage Center has appealed to countries to contribute activities promoting the recognition of astronomical knowledge including through the nomination of sites that celebrate achievements in science.

Read more about the International Year of Astronomy!

Egyptian periodical reports a campaign to prevent Farouk Hosni becoming the next UNESCO director-general is taking shape

Source: "Settling scores," Nevine El-Aref, Al Ahram (Cairo), 18-24 December 2008, Issue No. 926.

I quote:

It was not an easy week for Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and the members of his 2009 UNESCO election campaign committee. Hosni was caught up in yet another drive against his nomination for the post of UNESCO director-general and its impact lingers on.

Earlier this week a rumour began circulating suggesting that Israel had convinced the current US administration to oppose Hosni's nomination. According to leaks the Bush administration has already started a counter campaign and is keen to convince Barack Obama's incoming administration, as well as some European and Latin American countries, to follow its lead.

Read more....

Editor's note: I have no way of checking on this story, but thought it might be of interest to Americans interested in UNESCO. JAD

The Organization of World Heritage Cities

The Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) includes 215 cities in which are located sites included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Of the member cities,

• 7 are located in Africa,
• 38 in Latin America,
• 20 in Asia and the Pacific,
• 125 in Europe and North America and
• 25 in the Arab States.

At the moment there are also 4 Observer-members.

The OWHC organizes symposia and seminars dealing with the challenges to be met in the realm of management and strategies pertaining to the development and preservation of historic sites.

The cities involved have enclaves of historic buildings and sites, but include cities such as Valparaiso (Chile), Mexico City, Moscow and Quebec. There are no cities in the United States included.

Indian market, Santa Fe
photo by Mark Nohl via the New Mexico Tourism Department

Editorial Comment: One wonders whether Boston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco or Santa Fe might qualify for World Heritage status if submitted for consideration. My personal nominations would be New York and Washington. Would the loss to the world were Time Square or the Washington Mall to disappear not be greater than that of some of the sites which are in the OWHC? JAD

The Washington Mall
Source: ABC News

The National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington, D.C., was established in 1965. "The Mall is America's front porch -- open, accessible, and free -- a worthy wonder of a democratic society," says Brent D. Glass, director of the National Museum of American History. With 24 million visitors a year, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.

Season's Greetings!

Bookmarked References on UNESCO

I have posted links to more than 300 references relating to UNESCO on delicious.com, a social bookmarking cite. You are more than welcome to use the bibliography. The following is a tag cloud from Tag Crowd for the bibliography.

anniversary article assembly aug book bookmarks celebrate culture dec delicious diversity education explore financing general history human institute international learn nations natural network online options page people policy popular program publication published recent report rights save science short sort tags theme unesco unescobibliography united universal used user view website years

created at TagCrowd.com

Ambassador Irina Bokova presents candidature for UNESCO director general in Belgrade

Source: Focus News Agency

Bulgaria’s ambassador to France, Irina Bokova, has presented her candidature for the position of UNESCO director-general according to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry press office.

Photo via Radio Bulgaria

Earlier, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov had announced her nomination in the following terms:

I avail myself the opportunity to inform you about the decision of the Bulgarian government to nominate Mrs. Irina Bokova – Bulgarian ambassador in France and Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to UNESCO, for Director General of UNESCO.

As a career diplomat in UN, UNESCO and a number of other international organizations ambassador Bokova has intense experience in the area of multilateral international relations. As Deputy Foreign Minister, as State Secretary and Minister of Foreign Affairs she has a longlasting managerial experience. She is skilled to held a dialogue and to reach a consensus for taking decisions at the highest level. I would like to express our hope that the countries from South Eastern Europe will support the nomination of Mrs. Bokova and I believe that she will contribute creatively for the promotion and strengthening the role of UNESCO in the area of education, science, culture and communication.

Languages matter!

To mark the close of the International Year of Languages, UNESCO and the United Nations Department of Public Information organized a seminar at UN Headquarters in New York 17 and 18 December.

On 16 May 2007, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2008 to be the International Year of Languages. As language issues are central to UNESCO’s mandate in education, science, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information, the Organization has been named the lead agency for this event.

To facilitate partnership and monitoring, a communication tool kit is available, as well as a list of possible fields of action and a list of the projects currently undertaken in the framework of the International Year of Languages.