A World of

IN FOCUS

2 The International Year of Mountains

NEWS

7 UNESCO to study Aral Sea Basin

8 18 new sites added to WorldNetwork of Biosphere Reserves

8 The International Year ofFreshwater gets under way

9 UNESCO and Suez join forces to improve access to water

9 UNITWIN blows out ten candles

10 Space allows us to dream

10 Young researchers win MABgrants

INTERVIEW

11 Patricio Bernal explains why the IOC is ‘watching’ researchon ocean storage of carbon

HORIZONS

14 Practical laboratory work: to be or not to be?

IN BRIEF

16 Diary

16 New releases

16 Governing bodies

Feet on the ground, head in the clouds

ountains are extraordinary. Who could not marvel at the sight of giraffes grazingagainst the backdrop of snow-capped Kilimanjaro in Tanzania or at the Atlas

mountains surging out of the Moroccan desert?

We admire their beauty but how conscious are we of the essential role mountains play inregulating the Earth’s climate and energy balance, in recording Earth’s history and insupplying us with freshwater and much of the world’s remaining genetic diversity,including precious crop genes? Mountains have been called ‘the water towers of theworld’; they are the source of water for more than half the world's population and theorigin of all the world's major rivers.

Majestic they may be, but mountains also harbour fragile ecosystems. Their often thin soillayers erode easily, limiting plant growth and making mountains vulnerable to humandisturbance. Mountains also have a long history of economic exploitation and politicalneglect.

Global climate change is now posing new threats, causing glaciers to melt atunprecedented rates and increasing the frequency of natural catastrophes with their heavyhuman and economic toll.

As we shall see in this issue, there is obvious call for concern, both in terms of thebiophysical environment of mountains and the deteriorating living conditions of their500 million human inhabitants.

It was in order to foster awareness of the importance of mountains and sustainablemountain development that the United Nations designated 2002 as International Year ofMountains.

The highlight of the Year for UNESCO has undoubtedly been the launch of a globalclimate change monitoring programme with several of the Organization’s major researchpartners and involving UNESCO’s mountain biosphere reserves. Through this importantproject, UNESCO will be setting up monitoring stations in ‘sample’ biosphere reserves tocollect data on the effects of climate warming on some of the most diverse of Earth’secosystems.

W. ErdelenAssistant Director-General for Natural Sciences

The International Year of Mountains, p. 2

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Natural SciencesQuarterly Newsletter

Vol. 1, No. 2

January–March 2003

CONTENTS EDITORIAL

The International Year of Mountains, p. 2

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From Rio to Bishkek When 2002 was designated International Year ofMountains by the United Nations, UNESCO, UNEP andUNDP were invited to collaborate with the lead agencyfor the Year, FAO, on promoting the sustainabledevelopment of mountains with governments and NGOs.

The International Year of Mountains is not a flash in thepan but rather part of an on-going process within theUnited Nations.

That process began in 1992 at the United NationsConference on Environment and Development, morefamiliarly known as the Rio Conference. One of the keyagreements adopted by governments in Rio wasAgenda 21, with its Chapter 13 entitled ‘Managing fragileecosystems: sustainable mountain development’. Thechapter calls for establishing programmes to generate andstrengthen knowledge about the ecology and sustainabledevelopment of mountain ecosystems and to promoteintegrated watershed development and alternativelivelihood opportunities.

Since Rio, UNESCO has been energetically promotingthe cause of sustainable development, including that ofmountain regions2. It is an active partner within the Inter-agency Group on Mountains, which includes FAO, UNEPand the United Nations University (UNU).

The culminating event of the International Year ofMountains was the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit inKyrgyzstan from 29 October to 1 November, whichattracted 700 participants from 82 countries. The BishkekPlatform adopted at the Summit invites the InternationalYear of Mountains Focus Group of the United Nations todevelop a resolution on sustainable development inmountain regions. It also invites the scientific communityand its funding agencies to promote research, monitoringand early warning systems that focus on both thebiophysical and socio-economic aspects of sustainabledevelopment in mountains.

For further information, go to: www.mountains2002.org,www.unesco.org/mab/IYM.htm orwww.globalmountainsummit.org

1. See UNESCO in the Mountains of the World (CD-ROM):http://valhalla.unep-wcmc.org/unesco/index.htm

Traditional hunters with their eagles, Issyk Kul BiosphereReserve, Kyrgyzstan

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UNESCO’s main contribution to the International Yearof Mountains, which ended in December, is a newclimate change monitoring programme in mountainbiosphere reserves.

I n partnership with the Mountain Research Initiative(MRI) based in Berne (Switzerland), International

Human Dimensions Programme on Global EnvironmentalChange (IHDP), International Geosphere–BiosphereProgramme (IGBP) and Global Terrestrial ObservingSystem (GTOS), UNESCO is selecting biosphere reservesites from each of the major mountainous regions of theworld as the focus for the global climate change monitoringprogramme. In addition to assessing environmental impacts,the study will look at how global change is affecting thesocio-economic conditions of mountain dwellers.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura,announced the initiative on 29 October at the GlobalMountain Summit in Bishkek.

Some 140 of UNESCO’s biosphere reserves are situatedin mountains. These offer a major advantage for global

comparisons. Their so-called ‘core’areas are relatively free of humanactivity (see p. 8). Outside these coreareas, the culture and farmingpractices of mountain people canhave profound effects on localecology, making the effects ofclimate change difficult to

distinguish from those directly due to human activities.Even the German word ‘Alp’ refers to mountain pasturesreclaimed from naturally forested areas or areas above thetimberline. ‘And’, says Bruno Messerli of the University ofBerne, who is participating in the programme within theMRI, ‘the structure of mountain biosphere reservesmakes them ideal natural laboratories for investigatinghighland–lowland interrelationships.’

The idea of using biosphere reserves in mountain areasfor global change research would be an extension of theGlobal Observation Research Initiative in AlpineEnvironments (GLORIA) project, an international researchnetwork that is looking at the effects of global change onalpine vegetation by making standardized observations inparallel sites2. GLORIA has already launched research inmountain sites in Europe and is now looking toextend the work globally. ‘It is a uniqueopportunity to have access to biospherereserves in all the big mountain areas ofthe world,’ comments Messerli.

IN FOCUS

The International Year of

The structure ofmountain biosphere

reserves makesthem ideal natural

laboratories forinvestigating

highland–lowlandinterrelationships.

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2. www.gloria.ac.at/res/gloria_home/

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003

Mountain ecosystems are well suited to tracking globalclimate change. ‘The upper ecosystem from the uppervegetation limit to the glacier is essentially the same over allclimatic zones from the poles to the inner tropics,’ addsMesserli. ‘A glacier and the permafrost on Kilimanjaro arethe same as in the Alps or the Himalayas.’

At the same time, mountain ecosystems changedramatically over very short distances, with only smallchanges in altitude. This makes them particularly usefulindicators. For example, at higher altitudes only certain plant

and animal species can survive underlong periods of snow and ice cover. Withglobal warming, these areas areshrinking; plants adapted to the warmer,lower habitats are slowly invading thehigher elevations. The shifts in these

ecosystem boundaries provide an index of global climatechange which can be observed and compared on allcontinents of the world using standard sets of climaticmeasurements, such as precipitation and temperature. Otherfactors driving global change, like radiation, soil erosion,changing soil conditions and demographic pressures, arealso very noticeable in mountain regions.

Glaciers are disappearing before our eyes

The sensitivity of mountains to global climatechange has gradually emerged over recent

decades. But it first attracted wide public

Mountains

A glacier and the permafrost on Kilimanjaro are the same as in the Alps or the Himalayas.

The glacier Storglaciaren with Kebnekaise, the highest mountain inSweden, in the background; extensive studies of glacier changesand flow form the basis for glacier models which can then beapplied to climate impact studies

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The Himalayas concentrate nine of the world's tenhighest mountain peaks, all over 8000 m high.

Formed by the collision of plates of the Earth’scrust, mountains are naturally high-energy

environments; the ‘young’ Himalayas arestill rising, by about 1 cm a year.

Community-based sacred sites are increasingly beingrecognized as an important ally in conservingbiodiversity. Religious sanctuaries and sacred placeshouse the gods of village communities, making themtaboo to human trespass. In this way, they may protectspecies, groves or landscapes. This form of traditionalresource management complements the more recentapproaches to protected area management based onWestern scientific knowledge.

UNESCO-MAB and the UNESCO World HeritageCentre are teaming up with the World ConservationUnion (IUCN) to study culture-based environmentalconservation, with a focus on mountain sites. The studywill examine cultural practices which designate certainareas as sacred sites, within biosphere reserves, naturalworld heritage sites and non-protected areas.

One of the sites could be Xishuangbanna BiosphereReserve where the local Dai people have developedparticularly interesting cultural mechanisms forconserving the environment. The predominantlyBuddhist Dai believe that the plants and animalsinhabiting the Holy Hills are either companions of thegods or sacred beings living in the gods’ garden.Hunting, wood-felling and food-gathering are strictlyprohibited. The spirits of revered chiefs are alsobelieved to live in the Holy Hills.

A workshop to prepare the study is planned for17–20 February 2003 in Kunming (China). Theworkshop will include a site visit to XishuangbannaBiosphere Reserve.

For further information, contact: mab@unesco.org

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Elephants in Xishuangbanna Biosphere Reserve

Sacred sites: a natural ally of biodiversity

conservation

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attention in 2001 when Professor Lonnie Thompson of OhioState University forecast that Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)would lose its famous snow-capped peak by 2015 if currentpredictions on global warming were maintained. Themountain, he claimed, had already lost some 82% of itspermafrost since 1912 and 33% of this in the past twodecades. And, while the extra water from the melting glaciermay be increasing the fertility of adjacent lowland areas inthe short-term, water supplies would become critically lowif the glacier disappeared.

A similar picture can be seen all over the world. All 37named glaciers in the Glacier National Park in Montana(USA) have shrunk dramatically in the past 150 years, withthe Sperry Glacier losing 11% of its volume between1979–1993 and the Grinnell Glacier retreating by 63%between 1938 and 1993, according to the US GeologicalSurvey, which predicts that all glaciers in the Park will begone by 2030 if present warming rates continue.

Europe’s Alps are not spared either. ‘From 1850 to 1980,Alpine glaciers lost half their volume, on average,’ saysMesserli. ‘And, in the 20 years to 2000, one-quarter of whatwas left was also lost. There will still be a bit of the 23 kmAletsch glacier left at the end of the century, because it is900 m deep in places but a lot of other areas will disappear.’Rhone Glacier is another striking example.

Melting glaciers are causing water worries

UNEP is currently monitoring lakes that have formed asglaciers melt. In the Himalayas alone, some 44 glacier lakesare filling so rapidly that they could burst their debrisretaining walls in the next four or five years, in what areknown as ‘glacial lake outburst floods’. While this type offlooding is not a new phenomenon, according to UNEP,there is evidence that they are becoming more common asglaciers retreat, putting in danger the towns and villages thatlie beneath them.

In July, emergency workers pumped out a 16-hectare lakeformed by the melting Belvedere Glacier on Monte Rosa inItaly when it threatened to burst the dyke of boulders that hadbeen containing it and flood the Italian village of Macugnaga.

Glaciers melt naturally during the summer; thephenomenon is not, in itself, a sign of global warming. Understable climatic conditions, the ice lost through melting isreplenished by winter precipitation in the form of snow. Andthe melt water forms an essential part of many of the world’smajor rivers. ‘But,’ adds Mel Reasoner, Scientific Secretaryof the MRI, ‘in many arid and semi-arid areas, people aredependent not only on the amount of glacier melt water, buton the timing of the water flow. The water has to be availableat critical times for irrigation. Snow-pack and glaciersprovide a buffer between when the precipitation falls as snowand when it is released as water. The melt season is often thewarmest, driest time of the year, providing large volumes ofrunoff for irrigation when it is most needed.’

The problem is that, in many of the world’s mountains, thereis less precipitation today in the form of snowfall, as wintershave become shorter and warmer. Combined with warmersummer temperatures, this creates a net loss for the glacier,even if, in the short-term, the extra melt water is welcome inadjacent lowland areas. ‘But,’ warns Reasoner, ‘whereagriculture has become dependent on the seasonal melt water,if you remove the glacier you no longer have a source ofstored water that is available throughout the summer.’

4 A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003

A lake formed by melting Belvedere Glacier threatened to flood thevillage of Macugnaga in Italy in 2002

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A ‘Type 2’Partnership for SustainableDevelopment in Mountain Regions

At the World Summit on Sustainable Development inSeptember, UNESCO joined the International Partnershipfor Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions, aproject involving numerous governments, IGOs,international institutions and private-sector partners. Otherparticipating United Nations agencies are FAO, UNEP,UNDP and the UNU.

Various initiatives under the Partnership were discussed atthe Bishkek Global Mountain Summit. ‘We count on thecontinuing and increasing involvement of UNDP, UNESCO,UNU, other UN agencies, multilateral development banks,other international organizations and states [in thePartnership]’, notes the Bishkek Mountain Platform.

Areas falling within UNESCO’s mandate for this ‘type 2’initiative are: promoting distance education to reach remotemountain centers; interdisciplinary research combiningnatural and social sciences to address problems faced bymountain populations; and preserving cultural heritage andbiological diversity, including through support to sacredmountain sites (see p. 3).

For further information, go to:www.unesco.org/mab/IYM.htm orwww.globalmountainsummit.org

IN FOCUS

5

Photomontage of the Rhone Glacier in 1849 (left) and 2002 (right)

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The number of weather-related disasters (droughts, floodsand storms, for example) has doubled since 1996 even as thenumber of geophysical disasters (e.g. earthquakes andvolcanic eruptions) has remained steady, according to theWorld Disaster Report (2001). If floods cause the mostdamage, earthquakes run a close second.

‘Mountain areas are particularly prone to earthquakes’,says Wolfgang Eder, Director of UNESCO’s Earth SciencesDivision, ‘especially “young” mountains like the Alps, Andesand Himalayas, which are still moving.’ A fault line stretchesthe whole length of them, making the Himalayas oneof the most seismically active areas on Earth, with over40 earthquakes measuring over magnitude 7 on the Richterscale between 1911 and 1991.

Mountain dwellers are particularly vulnerable to naturalhazards. And global warming, coupled with changes in landuse, such as deforestation or extensive terracing, is increasingthis vulnerability. The heaviest rains for three decadesbrought floods and landslides to Nepal in July this year,killing some 187 people and cutting off the KathmanduValley from the rest of the country. And the collapse of theKolka Glacier in the Caucasus Mountains in mid-Septemberburied villages in the Republic of North Ossetia (RussianFederation) under thousands of tons of ice and rock, killingover 120 people. In January 2002, UNESCO helped to launcha Consortium on Landslides with a series of projects tomitigate risks.

Some of the world’s most precious monuments are situatedin mountainous areas prone to natural disasters.

Preventive measures can be taken to protect human life,such as using selected materials and practices for building andavoiding construction in flood-prone areas, but it is oftenimpossible to protect historic monuments from damage.

According to Peter Laws, a consultant in the Asia Unit ofthe World Heritage Centre, one positive step would be tocompile detailed records of monuments and treasures so thatthey can be reconstructed in the event of a disaster. Localauthorities might also draw up a disaster action plan thatcould include briefing emergency services on how to limit thedamage. ‘It would be a pity to lose precious time rescuingstone statues from a flood when parchment manuscriptsshould be saved first,’ says Laws.

Alongside experts, mayors from mountain cities around theworld met in Chambéry (France) on 25–27 September to shareexperiences and explore areas for potential co-operation. Theconference on World Heritage Mountain Cities and NaturalHazards was organized by UNESCO, the city of Chambéry andthe latter’s specially created Montanea Association.

UNESCO has been co-operating with Kyoto University’sDisaster Prevention Research Institute since 1999 to protectcultural and natural heritage sites.

For further information, contact: w.eder@unesco.org

Minimizing disaster risk in mountain areas

The gigantic Mayuyama Landslide on Mount Unzen in Japan in 1992; the 200 million m3 of debris and induced tsunami killed16,000 people

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2002 was also designated International Year of ‘Eco-tourism’, theaim of eco-tourism being to reconcile tourism development andenvironment.

The second-largest tourist destinationworldwide, mountain regions are in the frontline of tourism development. This is causingconflict in some regions, as A shrinking skiseason explains.

Tropical mountain forests are proving to bethe most vulnerable of all mountain ecosystems.They have the fastest rate of biodiversity loss atabout 1.1% a year3.

One of the sub-species most threatened isthe mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringeiberingei), which shares about 97% of its geneswith humans. The Democratic Republic of theCongo (DRC, ex-Zaïre), Rwanda and Ugandaare home to the last 350 mountain gorillas inthe wild. Before the tragic events of theRwandan genocide in 1994 and the war in theDRC, there was a flourishing eco-tourismindustry in the Great Lakes region. Smallnumbers of admirers of mountain gorillas werebrought to within a respectful distance toobserve the primates without disturbing them.In the early 1990s, this eco-tourism netted theInstitute of National Parks (ICCN) of the DRC asmuch as US$750,000 a year, thereby ensuringsufficient revenue to pay park rangers andother staff employed to protect the mountaingorillas.

It is hoped to revive this eco-tourism in theGreat Lakes region through the new GreatApes Survival (GRASP) project. The participantsin the first GRASP workshop, organized byUNEP, UNESCO, USAID, CARPE, Born Free, WWF

and ICCN in Kinshasa (DRC) from 26–28 September 2002,strongly recommended creating a transboundary biospherereserve involving the Volcanoes Biosphere Reserve (Rwanda)

and the two World Heritage sites of theVirunga National Park (DRC) and BwindiForest (Uganda), to promote an ecosystemapproach and contribute both tostrengthening scientific co-operation and topeace-building in the region.

This year, UNESCO has also embarkedupon a new project to promote Sustainableand Cultural Eco-tourism in MountainAreas of Central Asia and the Himalayas.Throughout 2003 and 2004, UNESCO’sDivision of Cultural Heritage, in co-operation with the MAB programme, willbe field-testing ‘best practices’ in eco-tourism at eight pilot sites, based on localcommunity participation and initiatives.One of these sites is Cholpon Ata near LakeIssyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan. Every summer, largenumbers of tourists visit petroglyphs (rockart) here from the Bronze and Iron Ageswhich are up to 4,000 years old.

For further information (on GRASP), contact:s.mankoto@unesco.org, or (on the Central Asian project):f.childe@unesco.org

Promoting eco-tourism in mountains

Mountain gorillas in VirungaNational Park, DRC

Exposed to the elements andunguarded, the 5,000 boulders atCholpon Ata feature hunters withbows and arrows, ibex and snow-leopards (as here), as well ashorses, goats and even camels4

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3. World Resources Institute (2000), WorldResources 2000–2001, annex on mountainecology, p.134.4. The May 2003 edition of the New UNESCOCourier will feature Cholpon Ata:unesco.courier@unesco.org

A shrinking ski season

The sensitivity of mountains to global warming is also havingan impact on local economies that depend on tourism. ‘Below1500 m, the ski stations in the Alps can no longer continue,’says Messerli. ‘The ski lifts are closing. The big banks will nolonger give loans for new ski industry constructions.’Reasoner confirms this. ‘A lot of the low-elevation skistations did not open this year and many are seeing a

significant drop in revenue. If the wintersnow-line moves up 1000 m in the next100 years the ski industry is going to lookvery different to the way it does now.Already, ski areas are eying expansioninto higher undeveloped areas in the

Alps, which is meeting with stiff resistance fromenvironmental groups. And this is creating conflict betweeninterests that really should be working together.’

Ski resorts in North America are reporting a similardecline. According to the World Resources Institute, a lackof snow could also threaten the future of the Winter Olympic

Games. But it could simply mean that the Games move tonorthern venues, like Norway, where global warming hasincreased winter precipitation and where glaciers aregrowing – even if the winters are still getting shorter.

* * *

As the International Year of Mountains draws to a close, theclimate change monitoring programme is gatheringmomentum. In 2003, some three or four mountain biospherereserves will be selected for each of Africa, Asia, LatinAmerica and Europe/North America as the subject of acomparative study. Monitoring stations will be set up in eachof these reserves to collect the data. A ‘scoping’ workshopfor the study is planned for the autumn at the EntlebuchBiosphere Reserve in Switzerland.

Peter Coles 5 and Thomas Schaaf 6

For further information, go to: www.unesco.org/mab/IYM.htm

A lot of the low-elevation

ski stations … are seeing a

significant drop in revenue.

5. UNESCO Bureau of Public Information6. UNESCO Programme Specialist

77777777

The Aral Sea has become a synonym for ecological disaster,with its dramatic pictures of rusty boats lying in the sands ofwhat used to be the fourth-largest lake on earth. In the 1960s,during the Soviet era, central authorities decided to divertunprecedented amounts of water from two rivers feeding theAral, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, to irrigate huge newcotton plantations, primarily in Kazakhstan. By planting thesingle crop of cotton, they exhausted both freshwater suppliesand the soil. But, instead of altering the policy, farmers wereencouraged to use more water and dangerous amounts ofpesticides and fertilizer.

Today, the Aral is about half its original size. The two mainfishing ports are dry, stranded 10 km from the remainingwater, which used to be brackish but is now extremelypolluted and four times more saline. The lack of water haseven upset the microclimate. Violent sandstorms regularly ripthrough the basin, carrying away an estimated 150,000 tons ofsalt and sand contaminated with pesticide residues each year.

Fishing and navigation have completely disappeared andagricultural yields have plummeted. The population alsosuffers from serious health problems primarily caused bytoxic drinking and irrigation water.

UNESCO has been working with the concerned countriesto study and improve conditions since 1992, through some20 research projects involving more than 140 scientists fromthe region. In 1998, UNESCO created the ScientificAdvisory Board for Aral Sea Basin Problems to explore

options for the future. There have been longstanding plans todivert other rivers in order to restore the Aral Sea. Since suchschemes could cause further ecological damage, UNESCOhas focused on helping the national governments to manage thebasin and co-ordinate their activities jointly in such key areas asagriculture and hydroelectricity to reinforce the fragile health ofthe entire basin.

The extensive study of the Aral Sea Basin will be conductedwithin the framework of the World Water AssessmentProgramme involving 23 United Nations agencies.

For further information, contact: j.bogardi@unesco.org

NEWS

UNESCO to study Aral Sea BasinThe Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, announced the launch of a regional study of the Aral SeaBasin at an International Seminar on Freshwater in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) on 1 November.

Experimental plantation established by scientists on the dry sea bed

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Different water levels have left their mark on the steep westernbank

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The extent of the Aral Sea in previous eras (diagrams after ALADIN,Ecological Research and Monitoring of the Aral Sea Deltas;UNESCO, Paris, 1988)

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A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003 8

NEWS

18 new sites added to WorldNetwork of BiosphereReserves Eighteen new sites in 12 countries have been added toUNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves and afurther five existing biosphere reserves have been extended.

One of these extensions creates the first transboundarybiosphere reserve in Africa.

The ‘W’ Region Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, as it isknown, covers more than one million hectares in Benin,Burkina Faso and Niger. The fruit of strong political will onthe part of the host countries, the site will serve as a modelfor experimenting with different strategies for sustainabledevelopment involving the participation of localcommunities. It marks the first concrete action by theEnvironment Initiative launched by the New Partnership forAfrica’s Development (NEPAD) at the World Summit onSustainable Development in Johannesburg (South Africa).

The additions bring the number of sites to 425 in 95 countries.The new biosphere reserves and extensions were approved bythe Bureau of the MAB International Co-ordinating Council atits meeting on 6–8 November at UNESCO Headquarters.

The new biosphere reserves differ in size, populationdensity, ecological features, land use and challenges. Theyare Chrea (Algeria), Las Yungas (Argentina), MorningtonPeninsula and Western Port (Australia), Thousand Islands –Frontenac Arch (Canada), Dalai Lake (China), Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo (Dominican Republic), Badiar andHaut Niger (Guinea), Valle del Ticino (Italy), Hustai Nuruu(Mongolia), Jeju Island (Republic of Korea), CommanderIslands, Darvinsky, Nijegorodskoe Zavoljye, SmolenskLakeland and Ugra (Russian Federation), Las Dehesas deSierra Morena and Terras do Miño (Spain).

All the new sites and extensions were proposed by thecountries concerned. Membership in the World Network ofBiosphere Reserves entails official United Nationsrecognition of local and national efforts to meet globalconcerns for environmental sustainability. It also represents a‘label of excellence’ which helps secure funding and promoteboth tourism and other local economic activities.

For details of all the Biosphere Reserves, go to:www.unesco.org/mab/wnbr.htm

The International Year ofFreshwater gets under way

On 12 December, the International Yearof Freshwater was launched at the UnitedNations in New York and at UNESCOHeadquarters where the Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, held aspecial briefing.

UNESCO and the United Nations Department of Economicand Social Affairs are the lead agencies for the Year on behalfof the United Nations system.

The Year will foster awareness of the importance ofsustainable freshwater use. Important events include WorldWater Day on 22 March, the eight-day 3rd World WaterForum in Kyoto (Japan) where the World Water DevelopmentReport will be released on 22 March and the Pan-AfricanConference on Water Resources Management in the autumnin Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).

The Year’s website is managed by UNESCO-IHP and theWorld Water Assessment Programme. Open to everyone, itfocuses on education and activities at the local and nationallevels. Countries, schools, educators, United Nationsagencies and individuals of all ages will find resource

The concept of ‘zoning’helps to accommodatedifferent forms of landuse. Strictly protectedcore areas aresurrounded by bufferzones where conservationis emphasized but wherepeople also live andwork; the whole isencircled by a transitionarea promotingsustainable development.

The Biosphere concept

Las Yungas Biosphere Reserve in Argentina

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material there for planning their own activities, including theYear’s logo and ideas on how to participate, contests, tips,fact sheets, stories and pictures.

The next issue of A World of Science will include a dossieron the Year.

For further information, contact: wateryear2003@unesco.org,or go to: www.wateryear2003.org

UNESCO and SUEZ join forces to improve access to waterA cooperation agreement to improve access to waterfor all was signed on 14 October at UNESCOHeadquarters by Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-Generalof UNESCO, and Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman of theSUEZ group.

The agreement outlines several areas of action for whichSUEZ will provide about 300,000 € for the first three years.The first concerns a new UNESCO interdisciplinaryinitiative to rehabilitate the Volga–Caspian basin. Home tomore than 60 million people, the basin’s environment issuffering from decades of massive industrialization andurbanization. Forty-two million tons of toxic wasteaccumulate in the basin every year, out of which onlyabout 13% are neutralized and re-used.

The initiative will involve all five of UNESCO’sinternational science programmes, which cover geology,hydrology, oceanography, ecology and social sciences.People have been placed at the very centre of the project,which was designed by both scientists and all otherstakeholders in the region. One of the project’s main targetswill be to define ‘sustainability indicators’ in the areas ofhealth and nutrition, human and environmental security,habitat and quality of life. A timeline of 30 years has beenfixed for reaching the target. SUEZ will contribute to thisinitiative both financially and by offering expert advice inimproving drinking water quality.

The new partnership will also benefit the UNESCO Chairfor ‘Integrated Water Resource Management’, based inCasablanca, Morocco7. This Chair has been extremely activethroughout North Africa, working closely with NGOs,university students and journalists to raise public awarenessabout water governance. The company has also agreed to setup several bursaries in water-related fields for researchersfrom developing countries.

SUEZ is a global leader providing water services in bothindustrialized nations (87% of its turnover) and developingcountries.

For further information, contact: j.bogardi@unesco.orgor gdellicour@suez.com, or go to: www.unesco.org/water

UNITWIN blows out ten candlesTo celebrate UNITWIN’s 10th anniversary and achievementsso far, UNESCO invited all its Chairholders to a WorldForum from 13 to 15 November at its Paris Headquarters.

The UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs programme works byencouraging universities, higher education and researchinstitutions, both private and public, to twin with eachother and sign scientific cooperation agreements. Theuniversities are then asked to extend these agreements toother universities in order to set up networks. This helpssome institutions, especially in developing countries, tobreak out of their isolation and improve their access to, anduse of, the most up-to-date information and communicationtechnologies. It also helps forge academic partnerships thatdirect students towards subjects relevant to their countries’needs.

Ten years down the track, the number of Chairs hasmushroomed to some 500 in 113 countries. All wereestablished with formal agreements linking each institutionto UNESCO.

Thousands of teachers and students all over the world areinvolved, but also major partners, such as NGOs and privatefirms, which provide substantial funding. UNITWINprojects have received some US$30 million in support overthe past five years.

Of the 17 UNESCO Chairs singled out for awards duringthe Forum, nearly half concern science: UNESCO–CousteauEcotechnie Chair, South Valley University, Aswan (Egypt);UNESCO Chair in Water Resources, Omdurman IslamicUniversity, Khartoum (Sudan); NKK/UNESCO Chair inMetallurgical Engineering, Chulalongkorn University(Thailand); UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Development,Universidad Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); UNITWINNetwork on Mediterranean Water Management, Universitéde Nice-Sofia Antipolis (France); UNESCO–CousteauEcotechnie Chair, University of Bucharest (Romania);UNESCO Chair in Energy Conservation and RenewableEnergies, National Technical University (Belarus).

For further information, go to:www.unesco.org/education/index.shtml7. rabat@unesco.org

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003 10

NEWS

Space allows us to dream‘When Mark Shuttleworth became the first African inspace’, writes Carike Bosman in her award-winning essay,‘something else was achieved: people across Africa werereminded again that they are allowed to dream, to worktowards their dreams and that their dreams can come true.’

Seventeen-year old Carike Bosman of South Africa hasbeen awarded first prize in the international space essaycontest organized for teenagers by UNESCO and theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) on the theme of ‘space andmy daily life’. Carike took home US$1,000 dollars in prizemoney from the award ceremony organized on 7 October inthe ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre(Noordwijk, Netherlands) as part of World Space Week.

Second Prize went to another seventeen-year old, (Ms)Divya Vaze from China. Third prize was shared betweenJennifer Przybylo (17 years, USA), Phleappe VwyioslfDe Vera (17 years, Philippines) and (Ms) Kim Derose(15 years, USA). The Special ESA prize went to 16-year oldAlastair Evans from the United Kingdom and the SpecialUNESCO Prize for Developing Countries to 15-year old(Ms) Lesieli Matonga Ahomana from Tonga.

The contest was organized as part of UNESCO’s newSpace Education Project (SEP)8 inspired by the 1999 WorldConference on Science (Budapest) and 1999 UNISPACE IIIConference (Vienna). SEP strives to improve scienceeducation by developing new curricula and teaching methodsadapted to today’s educational needs. It targets secondarylevel students and teachers, university and post-graduatestudents, young professionals and the general public.Activities in the pipeline include the creation of a SpaceVolunteer Programme, the sponsorship of teacher trainingworkshops and multimedia educational materials.

From 13 to 15 March, UNESCO is organizing an expertworkshop on Bridging Space and Education, together withthe International Space University, InternationalAstronautical Federation and International Academy ofAstronautics. The workshop will prepare an advocacy planfor gradually introducing space studies into school curricula,with emphasis on higher secondary education.

For further information, contact: y.berenguer@unesco.orgor go to: www.isunet.edu

Young researchers win MAB grants ‘We would like to be able to offer three times as manyawards’, exclaimed Peter Bridgewater, Director of theDivision of Ecological Sciences, as the names of the winnersof a Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Young ScientistsResearch grant were read out in Paris on 8 November.

Four women and six men were each awarded close toUS$5,000 to pursue research in one of UNESCO’s BiosphereReserves around the world.

The awardees are Mr Lahcen Kabiri (Morocco), Ms DaorungJajing (Thailand), Ms Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc (Vietnam),Ms Etotépé Sogbohossou (Benin), Mr Daouda Cisse (Guinea),Mr Youssoufa Issiaka (Niger), Ms Luz Margarita FigueredoCardona (Cuba), Mr Mounir Abi-Said (Lebanon), Mr Alaa ElSadek (Egypt) and Mr Demetrius Kweka (Tanzania).

Each grant was awarded by the MAB Bureau on the basisof a specific research project, such as Mr Kabiri’s study ofthe impact of climate and human change on water resourcesin the Ferkla Oasis or Ms Jajing’s comparative studies onactivating participation in managing sustainable mangroveforest in the Andaman coastal zone.

After reading out the winners, the Chairman of the MABBureau meeting, Mr Driss Fassi, commented solemnly,‘We know the suffering of young researchers in thedeveloping world. More than providing financial support,these grants shine the spotlight on deserving youngresearchers who come to the aid of these biosphere reserveswhose own needs are so great.’ Fassi regretted that‘everywhere, the money trail is turning countries away fromacademic pursuits.’ He stressed that, although priority wasgiven to candidates from the South, the grants were open toresearchers in developing and developed countries alike‘because research is underprivileged everywhere andnecessary everywhere’.

For further information, go to:www.unesco.org/mab/index.htm8. http://www.unesco.org/science/earthsciences/sep.htm

Carike Bosman with Umberto Guidoni, the first astronaut fromthe European Space Agency to visit the International SpaceStation, in April 2001

11A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003 11111111111111

Is there a proven link between climate and carbon?

We know from glacier records that there is a correlationbetween carbon levels in the atmosphere and climate. At thestart of the last Ice Age some 50,000 years ago for example,atmospheric CO2 levels were low. Today, the climate isgoing through a naturally warm period; this, combined withthe burning of fossil fuels and biomass, as well as land-usechanges, over the past two centuries, has sent atmosphericCO2 concentration in the atmosphere to levels never seenbefore. Present carbon levels are now higher than this planethas experienced for at least the last 20 million years. Humanactivity is releasing something like 7 Gigatons of carbon peryear into the atmosphere. And the excess carbon is not goingto disappear. Even if all the countries around the world wereto implement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls for themto bring CO2 emissions down to below 1990 levels by 2012,it would not solve the problem of the existing excess,although it would limit the future accumulation of CO2

which in itself would be a major achievement.

What does this mean?

We are heading for an increase in hurricanes,floods, droughts and other disturbed weatherpatterns, together with a rise in sea-leveland the melting of glaciers and permafrost,which store two-thirds of the Earth’sfreshwater reserves. The difficulty forscientists today is to distinguish the effectsof the naturally occurring cyclicaldisturbances caused by El Niño and La Niñaoscillation, for example, from those causedby global warming.

But why store carbon in the oceans?

Faced with the stark reality, even the International Panel onClimate Change has admitted that we may have to considerwhat it calls ‘carbon management strategies’ to complementreductions in greenhouse gas emissions. One option is tostore the excess carbon on land; this is already being done indeep geological formations, abandoned mines and the like.

But it is the oceans which have the greatest natural capacityto absorb and store carbon. As much as 85% of carbon in theatmosphere is already absorbed by the surface oceannaturally. The ocean contains an estimated 40,000 billiontons of carbon, as compared to 750 billion tons in theatmosphere and about 2200 billion tons on land. This meansthat, were we to take all the atmospheric CO2 and put it in thedeep ocean, the concentration of CO2 in the ocean wouldchange by less than 2%.

Experiments have shown that, up to a depth of 3000 m,liquid CO2 tends to rise to the surface because it is less densethan the surrounding seawater. At 3000 m, on the other hand,it turns into a solid, ice-like substance that is denser than thesurrounding water. One method being considered is that ofinjecting liquid CO2 into the sea floor. Another is to store it

in disaffected oil wells. The trouble is that, even if theories abound –including that CO2 stored at a depth of 3000 m wouldnot come in contact with the atmosphere for 200years – it is all conjecture. We simply don’t knowwhat the consequences would be over the long term.The IOC’s main concern is to make sure that sound,unbiased science is available to the general publicand policymakers to address these issues when

decisions will have to be made. One of the principal scientific concerns is

what will happen naturally if we donothing to reduce atmospheric

CO2 levels: the pH of the

New technologies are making it possible to ‘capture’ excess carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the sea.Could this buy us precious time in which to adopt cleaner energy fuels or would we simply be leaving a time-bomb for future generations? Scientists are not yet able to say what environmental impact carbon sequestrationwould have. In the meantime, the political and economic stakes are high and the debate has become apassionate one.

Patricio Bernal, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC),explains why UNESCO has set up a an Advisory Panel on Ocean Carbon Dioxide with the Scientific Committeeon Oceanic Research (SCOR), in order to ensure that decision-makers and the general public have access to anunbiased picture of worldwide research on ocean carbon sequestration.

Patricio BernalWhy the IOC is ‘watching’ research on ocean storage of carbon

INTERVIEW

Patricio Bernal

INTERVIEW

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003 12

surface ocean will decrease, causing the water to becomemore acidic. This will affect the chemistry of the surfaceocean where most marine organisms live. We don’t yetunderstand how the ecosystem will respond to this slow,natural invasion of CO2. This concern has led some scientiststo suggest that it may be less damaging to take CO2 out of theatmosphere and inject it directly into the deep ocean whereonly a small fraction of marine organisms live. The problemis that these organisms living in the deep ocean would beparticularly affected because of the rapid change in theirenvironment and the fact that their slow metabolisms make itvery difficult for them to adjust to changes.

And what would be the effect on the atmosphere if, some100 or 200 years from now, an enormous quantity ofaccumulated CO2 buried in the deep ocean began to slowlyleak back into the surface ocean and into the atmosphere?

What else are you ‘watching’?

Iron fertilization research, for example. In many parts of theocean, phytoplankton growth is limited by the lack of anessential micro-nutrient, iron. A number of privatecompanies are trying to stimulate phytoplankton growth toup to 30 times the natural rate so as to create what might betermed ocean carbon sinks, much along the same principle asthe forests being promoted as carbon sinks on land. Theconcept is not a new one. Oceanographer John Martinbecame famous in the 1970s by declaring ‘Give me a ton ofiron and I’ll produce the next Ice Age’.

Iron is found in dust which is best carried into theatmosphere in dry, arid conditions. Not surprisingly, it is theSahara and Sahel deserts that contain most of this dust, whichprevailing winds blow over the Atlantic to the Caribbean andnorth-eastern Latin America.

Scientists estimate that fertilizing the entire SouthernOcean with iron would only reduce atmospheric CO2 levelsby about 20–30% over a century. More seriously, it wouldlead to significant ecological perturbations. When organisms

die, their decomposition consumes oxygen. Creating anunnatural abundance of decomposing organisms would leadto low oxygen levels that could be devastating to marine life.

Is it ethical to pursue research in such acontroversial area?

The best argument against ocean carbon storage would be toprove that it is environmentally unsound. However, wemustn’t be naïve. Carbon trading is a profitable business. Theonly thing holding back many potential traders from storingcarbon in the ocean tomorrow is the cost of the technology.

What do you think of Greenpeace’s role in puttinga stop to an environmental impact assessment inNorwegian waters last August?

It was misguided in my view. I share Greenpeace’s concernthat high concentrations of CO2 may harm deep marineorganisms. We don’t know today what ultimate effects a slowinvasion of CO2 would have on the ecosystem compositionand food-chain.

But in preventing a consortium of research institutions fromNorway, the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan from carryingout an assessment that might have substantiated Greenpeace’sclaims, the environmentalist was shooting itself in the foot.

We need to get the debate out into the open. After all, in thefinal analysis, whether or not the world resorts to oceancarbon storage will be a societal decision.

The Norwegian government has called for moreinternational debate on ocean carbon storage. This is whatthe member states of the IOC are trying to promote withinthe Watching Brief. We have set up the Brief to providegovernments, industry and the general public with access tothe results of unbiased research. Via the Watching Brief onthe web9 and as an active observer and participant inresearch, the IOC is fulfilling an advisory and advocacy role.

A large Pacific Grenadier fish (Coryphaenoides acrolepsis) feedingclose to CO2 being released into a 44 cm-diameter corral on the seafloor at 3600 m depth (captured frame from video)

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The Norwegian government bowed to pressurefrom the environmentalists out of concern that itmight be trespassing international marine law.Does this mean that CO2 is considered a pollutant?

According to the Office for the London Convention10, there isno unanimity on the issue of whether fossil fuel-derived CO2

should be regarded as industrial waste. This causes a legal void,since the various treaties and conventions governing dumpingin the oceans only refer to ‘industrial wastes’. The LondonDumping Convention bodies should look into the matter.

IOC’s Watching Brief also documents the legal aspects ofocean carbon storage. There is a plethora of legal instruments– the United Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange, the United Nations Law of the Sea, Kyoto, etc. – butthese government treaties have no power of enforcement; thatposes a real problem. The Scientific Group of the LondonConvention recently developed a Waste Assessment Frameworkwhich would require a full environmental impact assessmentbefore a permit could be delivered for CO2 dumping. This is astep in the right direction but it is insufficient.

In the absence of a coercive legal instrument, isn’tthere a danger that ocean carbon storage will beseen as a permit to pollute?

Yes, there is a very real danger that it will make us moreirresponsible rather than less so. We should be movingtowards cleaner fuels at a much faster rate. Everyone knowsthat, within the next few decades, fossil fuels will begin torun out and we shall be forced to adopt alternative sourcesof energy. The USA for example depends on fossil fuels forapproximately 85% of its energy needs and these aregrowing every year. Despite the urgency, the proposedtarget of attributing a 10% market share to renewableenergies was still rejected by governments at the WorldSummit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg lastSeptember.

Industry has invested considerably in research on alternativeenergy sources. At the Johannesburg Summit, everybody couldsee a number of BMW hydrogen-powered cars on display. Theproblem is that industry receives little government support toinvest in renewable energies and conversion from petrol-driven

to ‘clean’ cars has a huge cost. Governments should beproviding incentives, such as tax rebates, and investing in thenecessary infrastructure. It’s not a technological problem but apolitical one. Prototype cars driven by liquid petroleum gas,compressed natural gas, hydrogen (i.e. water vapour) and thelike have been around for decades.

Are there grounds for optimism?

Over the centuries, we have engineered an artificial world forourselves, to the point where more than 60% of the naturallandscape is of our own making. The temptation has alwaysbeen to engineer a new world rather than to respect theboundaries of the existing one.

With ocean carbon storage, we must beware of the samecompartmentalized reflexes which have been our undoing inthe past. Take the example of DDT. Paul Muller was awardedthe Nobel Prize in medicine and physiology in 1948 fordiscovering the effectiveness of DDT as an insecticide,notably against malaria-bearing mosquitoes. Only after DDThad been put to extensive use was it realized that manyspecies of insects had developed resistance to it and that ithad a high toxicity towards fish and animals – upon whichDDT was banned in many countries.

Instead of considering our planet as a whole made up ofinterdependent systems, we are always tempted to look forsimple solutions to complex problems. We forget that theatmosphere, land and oceans are three sides of the sametriangle, that what we do to one will affect the other two. I dobelieve we are making progress – physics, chemistry andbiology are beginning to be integrated into a singleconceptual model to deal with planetary processes – butthere is a long way to go.

We must tread carefully with ocean carbon sequestration,take the time we need to get our science right. As technologyprogresses, the consequences of our acts are becomingharder to correct – or even to anticipate.

Interview by Maria Hood and Susan Schneegans

13A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003 13131313131313

International Geosphere-Biosphere

Programme

International Human Dimensions

Programme

Global Carbon Project(GCP)

World Climate Research Programme

Advisory Panel on Ocean CO2(UNESCO-IOC and SCOR)

Pilot project with GCP

Co-ordination of nationaland international

programmes on researchand observation (on ships)

Watching Brief

• on-line9

• symposium in 2003 toproduce synthesis ofinformation on oceancarbon sequestration

Atmosphere Terrestrial Environment Oceans

UNESCO’s role in the Global Carbon Project

9. http://ioc.unesco.org/iocweb/co2panel/sequenstration.htm10. Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping Wastesand Other Matters, 1972 and 1996 Protocol

For years, the exorbitant cost of equipping schools anduniversities with laboratories has posed a headache togovernments everywhere but especially in developingcountries. In much of Central Africa, it prompted primary andsecondary schools to adopt a purely theoretical approach toscience teaching for many years.

That model has proved its limitations. As AlexisPokrovsky of UNESCO puts it, ‘How can any country trainscientists, let alone promote the national research which isindispensable to development, without experimentation?

Even the most practical notionsappear abstract to a student who can’tput theory into practice. And nothingcompensates for the solid groundingin physics, chemistry and biologywhich experimentation provides.

Yet the reality of science teaching isstill far from satisfactory’, Pokrovskynotes. ‘Little or no practical activity isavailable in many school classroomsand university laboratories. This isparticularly so in the developingcountries but even in wealthy

countries you find virtual substitutes for laboratoryexperiments, such as computer-based simulations and videosequences. In poor countries, science teachers often have nomore than a blackboard to work with.’

UNESCO and its partner, the International Union for Pureand Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), were faced with a dilemma.In order to promote quality science education worldwide,they needed to be able to propose low-cost experimentalequipment that any country could afford.

They found the answer in South Africa. The Global Projecton Microscience Experiments launched by UNESCO andIUPAC in 1996 is inspired by an innovative methodology forpractical work in science teaching which originated to a greatextent from the RADMASTE Centre at the University of theWitwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As the name suggests, the RADMASTE MicrochemistrySystem focused initially on chemistry experiments. But thebasic concept can be adapted to experimentation in manyother areas of science, including physics, material sciences,geology, hydrology, biochemistry, biotechnology andagriculture. Other kits have been added to the originalRADMASTE Microchemistry System, including the

Basic and Advanced Microchem Kits, the Microburette Kit,the Bar LED Microconductivity Kit, Microbiology Kit andMicroelectricity Kit.

The universal set of equipment designed by RADMASTEreplaces the traditional glass test-tubes, beakers, flasks and

measuring cylinders.The idea was inspired by cost and

health considerations in chemistryand biochemistry that have ledlaboratory practice to move steadilyfrom the traditional large scale(10–1000 ml) to the smaller scale(0.1 ml–10 ml). The microscience

kits are affordable, at US$5–10 each, and innocuous. Unlikeconventional laboratories, they pose no safety risk to eitherthe user or the environment. The small quantity of chemicalsused means little wastage and no danger of contamination oraccident. The kits have potentially worldwide appeal and arebeginning to catch on in Europe and North America.

The kits also have their limitations. Besides demanding alot of concentration due to their small size, they are

inappropriate for certain experiments in biology andphysics or other areas of science which, by their very

nature, cannot or should not be microscaled. Initially, the kits were successfully tested and

introduced into a variety of South African schools.The majority of science teachers, students and

decision-makers reacted positively. Thestarting point each time was an

international workshop atwhich the presentation

of the concept wasaccompanied by practicalwork for all participantsand the provision of kitsfor further testing in thecountry, coupled with anevaluation of the system.

The Cameroong o v e r n m e n ti m m e d i a t e l y

HORIZONS

Practical laboratory workTo be or not to be?‘For the teachers manipulating the miniature science kits they will soon be wielding in front of pupils, it is a stressfulexperience. On top of being unfamiliar with the kits themselves, many of the teachers attending the course havehardly ever come in contact with laboratory material, even at university.’ This observation by Jean-Bosco Talla, oneof the 20 teachers of life and earth sciences from Yaoundé attending the training course at the Centre of Excellencein Microscience Experiments on 23 October 2002, sums up the situation in much of Central Africa today.

In our primary andsecondary schools,we tend to favour

theory overpractice in teaching.

As a result, ourchildren fail to come

to grips withscience.

Mr NébénAlndingaluouel,representative of

Chadian Minister ofEducation

With microscience,you can prolongteaching beyondthe school gates.

Mr Juma Edouard,representative of

the Burundi Minister of Education

Microscale titration(material manufacturedby the South African firmSomerset International)

A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003 14

15A World of SCIENCE, Vol. 1, No. 2, January–March 2003

recognized the kits’ potential for strengthening science andtechnical education. By December 2000, more than 7000 kitswere being used in secondary schools across the country.

As the pilot project developed, it became urgent toprovide a structure for the introduction and monitoring ofmicroscience in primary and secondary schools. UNESCOsuggested setting up a Centre of Excellence in MicroscienceExperiments.

The Général Leclerc High School in Yaoundé, one of thelargest secondary schools in the world with a roll of almost5000, was chosen to host the Centre.

At the Centre’s inauguration on 21 January 2001, ProfessorJoseph Owona, Cameroon Minister of Education, declared,‘This Centre is the culmination of discussions held jointly byUNESCO and Cameroon to give science education thedefining characteristic it deserves, namely that it must firstand foremost be experimental to be attractive’.

The first sub-regional seminar was organized at the Centre inDecember 2000 by IUPAC, UNESCO and the five governments

of the Economic community of CentralAfrica (CEMAC): Cameroon, CentralAfrican Republic, Chad, CongoBrazzaville and Gabon. Entitled ‘For oragainst practical laboratory work inCEMAC countries’, the seminar wasattended by the Ministers of Educationof the five CEMAC countries and theirexperts. By the seminar’s end, the fivecountries had resolved to turn the

Centre of Excellence in Microscience Experiments into a sub-regional centre.

Within the Centre’s broad mandate, training courses are run inall five CEMAC countries for primary and secondary teachers,provincial inspectors and national education officers. Otheractivities include needs assessment and the preparation ofmethodologies and training modules to accompany theintroduction of new kits into schools, such as that for electricityin 2002. The Centre also plays an advocacy role; it encouragesschools to adopt the kits and is planning ‘olympics’ in chemistry,mathematics and other disciplines to stimulate a vocation forscience among pupils.

The Centre comprises six sections: chemistry, mathematics,life and earth sciences, technology, physics and basic education.Two education inspectors head each division, one English-speaking and the other French-speaking.

There is a conference room, documentation room, laboratoriesand a workshop for the manufacture of experimental materials.Courses organized since the Centre was inaugurated have includedsuch varied fields as mechanics, optics, electricity and acoustics.

Today, nearly 40 countries from Africa, the Arab region,Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and theCaribbean, are participating in the Global Project forMicroscience Experiments. Close to half of these are currentlyimplementing pilot projects to adapt the kits to their own nationalneeds. In addition to Cameroon, some of the most extensive pilotprojects are being conducted in Kenya and South Africa.

UNESCO and IUPAC support the basic student kit with

packs of pre-prepared chemicals and other materials, as well assets of teacher–pupil manuals which governments areencouraged to adapt to national curricula and methodologies.UNESCO recently translated these manuals into Portuguesespecifically for Angola and Mozambique.

The number of partners is growing. Together with the KaddafiInternational Foundation for Charitable Associations, an NGO,UNESCO is helping to develop centres for microscienceexperiments in 22 countries of North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Through the Islamic Call Society, another NGO, a total of 120pilot secondary schools have been established since 1999 in Mali,Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso. Guinea-Bissau, Gambia and CapVerde are currently requesting Participation Programme

funding from UNESCO for pilotschools in their own countries. Gabonintends to create a satellite centre of theYaoundé Centre of Excellence inMicroscience Experiments usingParticipation Programme funding.

The Global Project on MicroscienceExperiments includes teacher trainingcourses organized under a co-operationagreement between UNESCO and theIslamic Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization (ISESCO). Tensuch courses were organized in Sub-Saharan and North Africa in 2001. This

year, the geographical scope of the project has been enlarged toinclude not only countries in Africa but also Muslim countries inEurope and Asia, such as Bosnia Herzgovina and Azerbaïjan; in2002–2003, some 17 countries will benefit from training courses.

‘Worldwide’, concludes Pokrovsky, ‘there is an urgent need torenew, expand and diversify basic science education for all tomake sure that tomorrow’s citizens are equipped with thescientific and technical skills they will need to participate in thesociety of the future. It is an enormous challenge – one we cannotafford to ignore.’

Susan Schneegans

For further information, contact:an.pokrovsky@unesco.org; in Yaoundé: j.mba-nze@unesco.org,or (at the CEEM): p.kohn@laposte.net

Even with the bestwill in the world,our governments

don’t have themeans to install a

laboratory in everysecondary school.

The less costlymicroscience

experiment is a veryinteresting prospect.

Mr Mahoukou Prosper,representative of

Congolese Minister of Education

Microscience is a way of

demystifyingscience for our

children.

Mr Mbouna Sidoine,Secretary-General

of Gabonese Ministryof Education

Science teachers at a training course organized by the Centre ofExcellence in Microscience in Yaoundé, Cameroon

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Diary

28 December–7 January UNESCO water exhibit at 20th WorldScout Jamboree, Hadyao Chonburi(Thailand): g.weybrecht@unesco.org;www.worldscoutjamboree20.org/

6 JanuaryGround-breaking ceremony forInternational Centre for SynchrotronLight for Experimental Science andApplications in the Middle East(SESAME), Allan, Jordan: c.formosa-gauci@unesco.org

7–10 January Ocean Science Conference, hosted byUNESCO-IOC for new SCOR-IGBPprogramme OCEANS (new 10-yearinternational research programme onlinks between biogeochemistry andecosystems): www.igbp.kva.se/obe

13–14 January Science, Technology and Innovation: a Parliamentary Perspective, roundtableco-organized by UNESCO andParliament of Finland, sponsored by ISESCO, regroups presidents of 50 Parliamentary Science Committees,scientists, ministers, industry, sciencemedia: m.el-tayeb@unesco.org

13–15 January Ocean Carbon Coordination project,first meeting to launch observationdatabase after 10 years of oceanobservation on volunteer commercialvessels (see p. 11): m.hood@unesco.org

15–18 January1st meeting, international organizingcommittee for World Climate ChangeConference end 2003: Moscow@unesco.org;or IOC: m.hood@unesco.org

2–6 FebruaryTraining-through-Researchprogramme (‘Floating University’),International Conference on GeologicalProcesses at Deep Sea EuropeanMargins and Oceanic Basins, Bologna(Italy): marani@igm.bo.cnr.it,www.ioc.unesco.org/ttr

3–7 February International Geological CorrelationProgramme (IGCP), 31st BoardSession, room XIII, UNESCO Paris:m.patzak@unesco.org

17–18 February 1st international organizing committeemeeting for 2003 symposium on oceancarbon sequestration, NationalAcademy of Sciences, Beckman Center,Irvine, California (USA), (see pp. 11–13)IOC: m.hood@unesco.org

17–23 February Workshop to prepare sacred sitesstudy, Kunming (China) (see p. 3)

27 February L’OREAL/UNESCO Ceremony forWomen in Science Awards, UNESCO Paris Headquarters:r.clair@unesco.org,www.loreal.com/loreal-women-in-science

10–15 March Ecotone/SeaBRnet joint workshop,(SeaBRnet is 1st Southeast AsianBiosphere Reserve Network) onconservation and management offreshwater ecotone ecosystems; inJakarta: q.han@unesco.org ork.nitta@unesco.org

13–15 March Bridging Space and Education,ISU/IAF/IAA/UNESCO expertworkshop, UNESCO Paris (see p. 10)

16–23 March 3rd World Water Forum, Kyoto (Japan)www.worldwaterforum.org/eng/index.html(see p. 8)

22 March World Water Day. Launch of WorldWater Development Report at WorldWater Forum (above), Water for People,Water for Life (see p. 8)

New Releases

Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2002Joint UNESCO-IOC, UNEP, IUCN, World Bank biennialreport, 378 pp., English only. Case studies; dispels doubts asto the value of establishing no-take areas to protect fishstocks and encourage better coral growth; notes that, fouryears after 16% of the world’s coral reefs were destroyed bymassive global coral bleaching during the big El Niño year,half are showing signs of recovery; predicts that many of theworld’s coral reefs will continue to decline, owing toincreasing levels of sediment and nutrient pollution fromsewage, agricultural runoff and massive over-fishing. Requesta free copy, while stocks last, from: ioc@unesco.org; or goto: http://ioc.unesco.org

Harnessing science to society UNESCO/ICSU progress report on first two years of follow-up to World Conference on Science (Budapest, 1999). Englishonly, 41 pp. Available on-line at www.unesco.org/science/wcs

Coastal environment and fishing law in HaitiCSI Info 13. Bilingual French and Creole, 45 pp. Request afree copy from: unescohaiti@hainet.net; or the Fondationpour la protection de la biodiversité marine: foprobim@aol.com

Space activities in UNESCO 12-page brochure produced by UNESCO’s Division of EarthSciences, exists in French and English. Describes role ofspace activities in the programmes of UNESCO, member ofIGOS (www.igospartners.org). Project co-ordinator: RobertMissotten. Request a free copy: g.khavarani@unesco.org

For sales publications: www.upo.unesco.org

Governing Bodies

UNESCO moves forward on international basicsciences programme

At the last session of UNESCO’s biannual Executive Board,which ended on 17 October, UNESCO’s Programme andExternal Relations (PX) Commission invited the Director-General to convene an ad hoc expert meeting representative ofthe various geographical regions to prepare a draftpreliminary International Basic Sciences Programme.

The Commission had before it the Report by the Director-General on the results of the feasibility study on the creationof an international basic sciences programme (165 EX/9). Thegreat majority of speakers favoured the option of a worldwidenetwork of centres of excellence in basic research and scienceeducation for development, believing it would provide themost appropriate platform for capacity-building in science.

Despite the fact that UNESCO is currently giving priority towater-related issues and the follow-up to the World Summiton Sustainable Development, several Members of theCommission felt the initiative to create an international basicsciences programme was a timely one and called for promptaction. Others offered the services and assistance of theirscience institutions and leading specialists in thedevelopment of any new programme.

The Commission invited Member States to promote thecause of the basic sciences in general and invited theDirector-General to report on the outcome of the expertmeeting to the next session of the Executive Board, whichbegins on 31 March 2003.

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