UNESCO is the only United Nations specialized agency with a specific mandate to promote science. It does this in close cooperation with its Member States and other partners throughout the world, in the interests of peace, human rights and development.

Since its foundation in 1945 UNESCO has acted as a catalyst for the establishment of many, now leading, scientific unions and bodies; initiatives with far-reaching implications for sustainable human security and well-being, such as the Man and the Biosphere Programme and the International Hydrological Programme, were launched in UNESCO’s first decades.

UNESCO, at the behest of its Member States and through its Natural Sciences Sector:

• advocates for science;
• acts as a platform for sharing ideas and standard setting;
• promotes dialogue between scientists and policy makers; and
• catalyses innovative initiatives in science throughout the world, particularly in Africa.

The Natural Sciences Sector implements major international programmes in the freshwater, marine, ecological, earth and basic sciences. Emphasis is given to developing countries, and to natural disaster prevention. Programmes are designed to respond to climate change, gender equality, sustainable development and the eradication of poverty, in particular in small island developing states.

The Natural Sciences Sector, with a staff of around 200 people in UNESCO Headquarters and field offices, and headed by Assistant Director-General Ms Gretchen Kalonji, implements activities around the world. There are five regional UNESCO offices for science:

• Nairobi (Africa);
• Jakarta (Asia and the Pacific);
• Venice (Europe and North America);
• Cairo (Arab States);and
• Montevideo (Latin America and the Caribbean).

Also, roughly half of UNESCO’s other Field Offices execute Natural Science activities.

Central to the execution of UNESCO’s work in the sciences are what are known as the International Science Programmes:

• International Hydrological Programme (IHP);
• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC);
• Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB);
• International Geosciences Programme (IGCP);
• International Basic Sciences Programme (IBSP).

The Natural Sciences Sector also implements its programmes through:

• the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, in Delft, the Netherlands;
• the Abdus Salaam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), in Trieste, Italy;
• the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, in Montreal, Canada; and
• a network of associated centres in the fields of water, renewable energy, science policy, biotechnology and the geosciences.

Moreover, about 200 of the UNESCO/UNITWIN University chairs are science related.