On 28 January 2022, the Australian Government announced an additional $1 billion investment to substantially increase efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef. For more information about the Reef Trust click here.
Launceston named UNESCO City of Gastronomy
Congratulations! The city of Launceston has received global recognition after been named as the newest City of Gastronomy as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. For more information click here.
Curtin University STEM4innovation Project awarded an Honourable Commendation - Congratulations!
Congratulations to Curtin University - STEM4innovation Project awarded an Honourable Commendation in the 2020 edition of Wenhui Award for Educational Innovation in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Read more here: http://www.stem4innovation.org/the-team/
Dr Karl Awarded Prestigious UNESCO Kalinga Prize
Global Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications
A Global Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications was adopted at the 40th UNESCOGeneral Conference in November 2019, to reduce the obstacles faced by students, teachers, researchers and job-seekers outside their countries of origin. The Australian Government led efforts to achieve the Convention’s adoption.
Adelaide hosts the Inaugural Asia-Pacific Creative Cities Conference
Adelaide Will Host the Asia-Pacific Creative Cities Conference
In recognition of the significant impact of the creative industries in Asia-Pacific and the vast opportunities that arise from partnership development in the region, the UNESCO Creative City of Adelaide and its Adelaide Festival Centre, will organize the Asia-Pacific Creative Cities Conference in Adelaide, under the theme “Leadership in the Global Cultural and Creative Economy” from 23 to 26 October 2019.
International Jazz Day
Call for Applications for a project to promote ICH safeguarding activities
Young people from refugee backgrounds share their views on camera
A project is supporting four young people from refugee backgrounds who go to university in NSW to share their views on camera about aspects that are important to achieving positive outcomes in higher education. Two of these young people, Mr Arash Bordbar (2016 Young People’s Human Rights Medal) and Ms Anyier Yuol (Chair, Australian National Committee on Refugee Women), presented their 3-minute films at the UNSW Opening Universities for Refugees conference on 20-21 November 2018.
115,000 People Evacuate in Tsunami Exercise
A record 115,000 people in the Indian Ocean region evacuated during the tsunami exercise Indian Ocean Wave 2018 (IOWave18) conducted on 4-5 September 2018. The exercise was coordinated by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) as part of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigations System (IOTWMS). Exercise IOWave18 involved enacting two scenarios – a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the southern coast of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a magnitude 9.3 earthquake off the western coast of Northern Sumatra on the 4th and 5th September respectively.
Read more here.
Winners of the UNESCO and Juventus Photo Contest
UNESCO and Juventus are pleased to announce the winners and runners-up of the Photo Contest on the power of football to overcome all forms of discrimination. Following a call for participation in this Photo Contest, 3 winners and 7 runners–up have been selected from over 200 entries, submitted by photographers from around the world.
A UNESCO-Juventus jury panel selected the 10 best photos that showcase the potential of football to overcome discrimination, promote social inclusion and celebrate diversity in their communities and beyond.
The photos of the 10 inspiring photographers will feature in a promotional video, illustrating the transformative power of football to overcome all forms of discrimination.
See the photos here.
Disaster Resilience in Fiji
The Australian National Commission for UNESCO is supporting a team from the School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia, to undertake work in Fiji to build capacity of rural women in disaster resilience. The project team is affiliated with CIFAL Newcastle. Led by Dr Ifte Ahmed, the team includes Associate Professor Thayaparan Gajendran and Dr Helen Giggins, backed by Associate Professor Graham Brewer, Executive Director of CIFAL-Newcastle. The Fiji Police Force (FPF) is the local partner.
Peter Greste appointed to UNESCO Chair
Internationally acclaimed journalist Peter Greste has been appointed to the University of Queensland’s UNESCO Chair of Journalism and Communication.
As part of this role, Mr Greste will help promote journalistic education and continue to advocate for freedom of speech and safety of journalists. He will commence in the role in February 2018. This role is part of the global UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Program.
The University of Queensland: Internationally acclaimed journalist appointed to UQ
Property Protection Strengthened at Blue Shield Australia 2018
The Blue Shield Australia (BSA) 2018 Symposium was held at the National Library of Australia in Canberra from 29 to 30 January 2018 with the theme ‘Cultural Heritage, Climate Change and Natural Disasters’. The Symposium was open to the public, bringing together around 100 audiences from Australia, Japan, NZ, Fiji, and Tonga. A large number of audience reflected the strong interest in the Blue Shield and the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Cultural Property in the Event of the Armed Conflicts and its two Protocols.
Blue Shield Australia (BSA) established in 2005 is one of around twenty National Committees organized under the mission and objectives of Blue Shield. Blue Shield has its origin in the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (or the Hague Convention), but Blue Shield is also the name of an international NGO established in the 1990s to address Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) of the culture sector. BSA has been actively engaged in the advocacy for DRR of the cultural institutions and heritage primarily against natural disasters such as bush fires, flooding and cyclones in Australia.
In his keynote speech, Dr. Peter Stone, UNESCO Chair in the Culture Property Protection (CPP) and Peace at Newcastle University, UK, Chair of the UK National Committee of the Blue Shield and the Secretary of the Blue Shield, informed the audience of the expanded scope BS’s activities; “The BS is committed to the protection of the world’s cultural property, and is concerned with the protection of cultural and natural heritage, tangible and intangible, in the event of armed conflict, natural- or human-made disaster.”
Read more here.