[31.01.2001] - UNESCO AND RAMSAR LAUNCH INTERNET SITE ON WETLANDS ON WORLD WETLANDS DAY, FEBRUARY 2
On the occasion of World Wetlands Day, February 2, UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) and the Ramsar Bureau - in charge of the implementation of the Convention on Wetlands signed in Ramsar (Iran) in 1971 - are launching a Website about these rich but vulnerable ecosystems. Continue

[30.01.2001] - OPENING OF INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM “ETHICS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENOMICS”
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today reiterated the importance of the principle of free access to information pertaining to the human genome while recognizing that “this principle does not solve all the problems posed by intellectual property rights linked to genetics”. Mr Matsuura was speaking at the opening of the International Symposium Ethics, Intellectual Property and Genomics. at UNESCO Headquarters in the presence of more than 200 researchers, legal experts, philosophers, and representatives of national and international organizations. Continue

[29.01.2001] - director-general in davos says education and cultural diversity are key to bridging digital gap
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura spoke of the importance of education and of respecting cultural diversity in seeking to bridge the digital divide at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) today. Continue

[29.01.2001] - CHAIRPERSON OF WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE CALLS FOR HELP TO CLEAN UP GALAPAGOS
The Chairperson of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, Peter King (Australia), has called for international assistance in clean-up operations to help overcome the pollution caused by the oil spill of the Jessica merchant vessel which capsized in waters near San Cristobal in the Galapagos, listed as a World Heritage Site. Continue

[24.01.2001] - INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM AT UNESCO TO DEBATE “ETHICS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENOMICS”
An International Symposium on Ethics, Intellectual Property and Genomics will bring together some 100 scientists, legal experts, philosophers, and representatives from national and international organizations at UNESCO from January 30 to February 1 to debate the controversial issue of the legitimacy of patenting living organisms. Continue

[22.01.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL CALLS FOR MOBILISATION TO SAVE GALAPAGOS WILDLIFE
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today called for an international mobilisation to save the Galapagos from the oil spill that is threatening the unique flora and fauna for which the Archipelago was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Continue

[22.01.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL ADDRESSES ALECSO WITH CALL FOR REINFORCED SYNERGY
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today addressed the closing session of the General Conference of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and expressed the wish to reinforce co-operation between the two organizations. Continue

[19.01.2001] - KALINGA PRIZE FOR THE POPULARIZATION OF SCIENCE TO BE AWARDED IN NEW DELHI TO ERNST W. HAMBURGER OF BRAZIL
The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science - one of UNESCO’s science prizes - will be awarded to Ernst Wolfgang Hamburger, director of the Estação Ciência, a centre of the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) dedicated to the popularization of science and technology, in a ceremony in New Delhi (India), February 26. Continue

[18.01.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL WELCOMES PRESIDENT CLINTON’S STATEMENT URGING US RETURN
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, on an official visit to Venezuela, today welcomed the statement issued by President Bill Clinton to urge the resumption of US membership of the Organization. Continue

[17.01.2001] - SWITZERLAND AND BELGIUM FUND NEW UNESCO PROGRAMME AIMED AT BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Switzerland and Belgium will finance UNESCO’s new Programme for Community Multimedia Centres through new funds-in-trust dedicated to broadening access to information and communication for community development. Continue

[17.01.2001] - FIVE-FOLD INCREASE IN INTERNATIONAL FLOW OF CULTURAL GOODS SINCE 1980
Television sets today are manufactured in Mexico, sound recordings are made in Ireland, photo equipment and games in China. Such are the findings of the Report International Flows of Selected Cultural Goods 1980 - 98 produced by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics and the Organization’s Division of Cultural Policies. Continue

[16.01.2001] - NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM ANNOUNCED AT UNESCO
Pierre Sané, the present Secretary General of Amnesty International, and Sir John Daniel, a pioneer of open and distance education, are to join UNESCO, as Assistant Directors-General respectively of the Human and Social Sciences and of Education. Continue

[15.01.2001] - OPENING OF EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY GEORGIAN PAINTING
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura praised the “excellent collaboration” between UNESCO and the Republic of Georgia as he opened an exhibition of contemporary Georgian painters, 21 Artists for the 21st Century at Organization Headquarters. Continue

[12.01.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL ALARMED ABOUT MURDER OF UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today expressed his grave concern about the murder of Ukrainian Journalist Gueorgui Gongadze whose decapitated corpse, found in November, was officially identified this week. Continue

[10.01.2001] - JAPAN FUNDS UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi PROGRAMME OF FELLOWSHIPS FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS
Japan will finance - through new funds-in-trust dedicated to capacity building of human resources - the UNESCO/Keizo Obuchi Research Fellowship Programme that will award 20 fellowships of US$7,500 each to young researchers over 2001 and the same amount in 2002. Continue