NOT “ECONOMISM” FUTURE IN ASIA

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THE REAL PRICEOF WATER

CONTENTS

This magazine is destined for use as an information source andis not an official UNESCO document. ISSN 1014-6989.

All articles are free of copyright restrictions and can bereproduced, in which case the editors would appreciate a copy.Photos carrying no copyright mark © may be obtained by themedia on demand.

is a monthly magazine published bythe United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization. English and French editions areproduced at Paris headquarters; theSpanish edition in cooperation withthe UNESCO Centre of Catalonia,Mallorca 285,08037 Barcelona,Spain; the Chinese edition incooperation with the XinhuaNewsagency, 57 XuanwumenXidajie, Beijing, China; and thePortuguese edition in cooperationwith the National Commission forUNESCO, Avenida Infante Santo N° 42 - 5°, 1300 Lisbon Portugal.

Director of Publication : R. Lefort. Editors-in-chief :S. Williams, C. GuttmanAssistant Managing Editor :C. Mouillère Associate Editors : N. Khouri-Dagher, C. L'Homme,A-L. Martin. Spanish edition : L. Garcia (Barcelona), L. Sampedro (Paris). Lay-out, illustrations, infography: F. Ryan, G. Traiano.Photoengraving:UNESCO WorkshopsPrinting:Maulde & RenouDistributionUNESCO's specialized services

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UNESCO

UNESCO

ENVIRONMENT

The real price of water A socio-economic value must be put on waterto avoid a worldwide shortage..........................................................4CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

Culture not “economism”The Stockholm conference adopts an actionplan making cultural policy an integralcomponent of development..........................................................9HERITAGE

Cities: Past, Presentand FutureMayors from historic cities in China andEurope share experiences in reconcilingprotection and progress.......................................................12IN BRIEFNews from UNESCO's different sectors andregions along with new publications andaudiovisual materials.......................................................16EDUCATION

Time for Reappraisal How the Asia-Pacific region is tackling theagenda of the Delors Report.......................................................20COMMUNICATION

Survival tactics To fulfil its mission, public television must “dowhat the others don't do or do it differently.”......................................................21EDUCATION

The Right Tools for the Age of ReasonThe philosophy for children movement isreaching a growing number of schools aroundthe world.......................................................23

1.5 billionpeople do nothave accessto cleanwater.

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Suzhou: the Venice of the Orient.

The priority:educationthroughout life.

20

The race for news.21COVER PHOTO: © THE IMAGE BANK/M. TCHEREVKOFF

● CULTURE ANDDEVELOPMENT“CULTURE”NOT “ECONOMISM”

● HERITAGECITIES: PASTPRESENT ANDFUTURE

● EDUCATIONTIME FORREAPPRAISALIN ASIA

● COMMUNICATIONSURVIVALTACTICS

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3No. 101 - May 1998

EDITORIAL

DISTRACTINGFEAR

They may come fromvastly different horizonsand disciplines, but most

“intellectuals” who are regulars toUNESCO repeat the same message:we cannot go on this way. Their alar-mist discourse is so well-argued that itis difficult to pluck out the weak points.What is certain is that it stands in sharpcontrast to a quasi-universal chantoften heard beyond theOrganization’s walls, alofty one that sings of aradiant future with a fewobstacles along the waythat will inevitably beovercome. Such a dis-sonance can be disarm-ing, except if...During a recent 21st

Century Talk organizedby UNESCO, JacquesAttali and BoutrosBoutros-Ghali wonderedwhether we were in fact“ready for the 21st cen-tury”. No question canbe addressed until peace is establi-shed, and multinationals, as major glo-bal actors, are included in the mana-gement of world affairs, according toMr Boutros-Ghali. For Jacques Attali,since “the prolonging of current trendsis impossible,” something that will be“revolutionary, brutal or mastered” isinevitable.As the reasoning goes, we are livingunder the fictitious notion that “demo-cracy and the market will ensure anirreversibly stable order”, while infact, they are “contradictory and

self-destructive values”. Democracyrelies on borders within which Statescan exercise their sovereignty, whilethe market climbs over these. Both arebased on individualism, which explainsthe current “vindication of preca-riousness”. Finally, the new technolo-gies are leading to increasing solitudewithin the framework of growing inter-dependence.

Hence, according toAttali, the emergence ofthree social groups: a“super-class” of “volun-tary nomads” who have“all the tools for con-

nexity and creation”. Atthe other end of thescale are “the nomadsof destitution”, engagedin an endless pursuit tofind work. Between thetwo is “a huge middleclass living in the vainhope of joining thesuper-class and in thereal fear of falling into a

global type of wandering”. This fearcan only lead straight to an uprising,except if...Entertainment in all its forms – games,sports, religions (multiplication ofsects), movies, drugs – take on such animportance that they maintain “socialorder”. The recipe is as old as theworld: bread and games, said theRomans. It can even be more effectivewhen such entertainmentis within reach inside one'shome, around the clock.

René Lefort

“We are living

under the

fictitious notion

that “democracy

and the market

will ensure an

irreversibly stable

order”.

”

JACQUES ATTALI

●Served as SpecialAdviser to formerPresident FrançoisMitterrand (1981-1991)and presided theEuropean Bank forReconstruction andDevelopment (1991 to1993).

BOUTROS

BOUTROS-GHALI

●Former EgyptianMinister of State forForeign Affairs, served asSecretary-General of theUnited Nations fromJanuary 1992 toDecember 1996. Hecurrently heads theFrancophonie, agathering of the world’sfrancophone countries.

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4 May 1998 - No. 101

THE REAL PRICEOF WATERSerious water shortages are predicted in 20-30 years. Avoiding this andensuring a fair share of quality water for all will not come cheaply. But wateris not an economic commodity like any other.

ENVIRONMENT

Water is everywhere. Inour bodies, in the air webreathe, in the food weeat and in the country-side around us. It’s part

of our history and our religions. It may befree when it’s flowing in a river or splash-ing against rocks, but it isn’t as soon aspeople start using it. It costs money tomake good quality water available fromtaps and then return it to the environmentafter being treated. And the consumerdoesn’t always pay for it directly whenlocal authorities or the government areresponsible for supply.

“Free water for individuals is never freewater for society,” says Lionel Robaux ofthe International Office of Water (IOW),especially since the cost of water has spi-ralled over the past few decades. Prices obvi-ously differ from rich countries to poor.“The kind of widespread water supplyinfrastructure found in rich countries isonly available to a tiny rich minority in poornations. The poorest people have to get

water from commercial carriers at 10 to 20times the price elsewhere,” explains JohnRodda, President of the International Asso-ciation of Hydrological Science (IAHS).

“This is absurd,” adds Andras Szollosi-Nagy of UNESCO’s International Hydrolog-ical Programme, “when you think of themeagre resources of such people.” Thesocial and economic data about water isalarming. “Half the world’s population stilldon’t have sanitation systems and a quarterdon’t even have access to clean water,”French President Jacques Chirac told theopening session of the International Con-ference on Water and Sustainable Develop-ment held at UNESCO headquarters inParis from March 19-21. With a seriousworld water shortage predicted in 20-30years, firm action is needed.

To end what Szollosi-Nagy calls the“ridiculously unequal access to water,” ithas been suggested that major distributorsof “blue gold” be encouraged to invest inthe poorest parts of the world so as todevelop their infrastructure. But how

© BIOS/BERTRAND PATRICK.

”“Free water

for individuals

is never

free water

for society

can these companies be persuaded whenthere is no money in it? One answer isto make water an economic commodity.

Give it a price, in fact. The saying goesthat it is better to tax the poor becausethere are very many more of them. Thismeans their needs are going to increase astheir standard of living improves whilericher people’s needs have reached a ceil-ing. Daily water consumption in the Unit-ed States averages 600 litres per person,compared with 200 in Europe and just 30in Africa. So the water companies will gettheir future profits by supplying the poor-est people.

The countries of the South are thusbecoming a prospective market for the bigwater companies. Taxes have been low-ered and laws passed to lure them to theremotest corners of the world. To thequestion of “if there’s no profit, who’sgoing to pay?”, Sekou Toure, of the Côted'Ivoire's High Commission for Water,replies that “making the state and privatesector into partners will encourage busi-nessmen to make the necessary invest-ment. Then, if the customers in a town orneighbourhood can’t pay for their water,the state will have to intervene and comeup with the extra funding.”

Economic realitiesAnother idea is to introduce two-tier

pricing. Water for basic needs like drink-ing and washing would cost less thanwater for non-essentials such as swimmingpools or washing cars. This way, invest-ment in infrastructure to supply cleanwater would give the prospect of somereturn.

But the real question remains: willmaking water a commodity with a pricetag have adverse effects? The fans of“monetarising water” say the price ofwater is a response to the economic reali-ty posed by the need to create and main-tain a supply network, including treatmentof the water. They also say that if some-thing has no clear value, it becomes deval-ued, and that putting a price on water willmake people start valuing it and so wasteless.

Robaux states that “industry and espe-cially farmers,” who consume 70% of allavailable water, mainly through irrigation,“will have to cut back their usage.” Watershortages can be avoided by fighting wasteand leakage and by protecting the environ-ment. Waste of water is very common.John Rodda claims that in Britain, 20-30%is lost in London’s modern supply network.In poor countries, the figure can reach70%. The UN Food and Agriculture Orga-nization (FAO) reckons that 10-20% of“blue gold” can be recuperated by improv-ing irrigation techniques.

”

“

5No. 101 - May 1998

In many poor countries, water bears 80% ofall diseases.

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Industry, and

especially

farmers – who

consume 70% of

all available

water, mainly

through

irrigation –

will have to cut

back their

usage. Shortages are “not caused by excessive con-sumption,” says Szollosi-Nagy. The geo-graphical distribution of water is alsoskewed: ten countries have approximately65% of all water resources, while thosenations with less and less of it are thosewith the fast-growing populations. Theproblem, he says, is that “over the past25 years, the amount of water availablehas fallen from 12,500 to 7,500 cubic metresper person per year, while consumption hasdoubled.”

But only half of this increased con-sumption is due to population growth.This is apart from the fact that in manypoor countries, water is often poisonous,bearing 80% of all diseases. In Africa,water contains a lot of fluoride, which canhave serious effects on a child’s physicalgrowth. In Bangladesh, small amounts ofarsenic in the water supply can lead to aslow death.

Infrastructure costs The water is there, but it is badly man-

aged, spoiled by pollution and hamperedby lack of infrastructure. If nothing isdone, by 2020 one and a half billion peoplewill have no access to clean water. For thisreason, says the World Bank, governmentsneed to invest about $600 billion over thenext decade to support an infrastructure

6 May 1998 - No. 101

WATER FACTS AND FIGURES:

RESOURCES - Watercovers 71% of theplanet’s surface,representing a volume of1,400 million km3. 97.5% is too salty to beconsumed or used forindustrial or agriculturalpurposes.Fresh water represents2.5% of the water total.DISTRIBUTION - Tencountries share 65% ofthe world’s annual waterresources.1.5 billion people arewithout clean water.50% of the world’spopulation lives withoutadequate waterpurification systems.SHORTAGE - It isestimated that thethreshold of water stressis reached when rationsare estimated at 1000m3per person per year. 200 million people livebelow this level.POLLUTION - Accordingto the World HealthOrganisation, 30 millionpeople a year die fromepidemics andcontagious diseasescarried by pollutedwater.CONSUMPTION - Userspay $366 billion a year,representing 1% of theglobal GDP, for waterconsumption andpurification.World water consum-ption has multipliedsevenfold since thebeginning of the century.It has doubled over thelast 20 years.Agriculture (notablythrough irrigation)consumes 70% of freshwater resources. Theindustrial and energysectors consume 22%,cooking and humanhygiene 8%.

Water and wars:the price of peace

Development, noting that “the UnitedNations has identified 70 trouble spotslinked with water, from the Middle East tothe Sahel, from the arid zones of LatinAmerica to the Indian sub-continent.”River basins straddle national borders in300 places around the world. “Things area lot easier when a river forms a nationalfrontier, like the Rhine does betweenFrance and Germany, because “each partylives on their own side of the river and theyneed to cooperate,” says Lionel Robaux,of the IOW.

But some conflicts over water arelatent. Turkey, for example, has built 22dams on the Tigris and the Euphrates (the

Water was at the source of the greatestcivilizations which flourished in the

valleys of the Nile (Egypt), the Tigris andthe Euphrates (Mesopotamia), the Ganges(India), the Titicaca (Tiahuanaco), the Tex-coco (Aztec) and the Huatanay (Inca).

Water has also caused many wars:when a river runs through several coun-tries and the ones upstream do not careabout the quality of the water which flowsinto those downstream, or when a catch-ment area or water table straddles seve-ral countries.

There are many examples, French Pre-sident Jacques Chirac told the Internatio-nal Conference on Water and Sustainable

Source: Nature & Resources Vol. 34, No. 1. Infography: Alexandre Darmon.

Global water withdrawals by sector

1900 40 50 60 70 80 90 95 2000

In km3 per year (thousands)

0

1

2

3

4

TOTAL

Agriculture

Industry

Municipal

which can supply clean water to every-one.

Opponents of commercializing waterpoint out that its price does not take intoaccount those who cannot pay even a mini-mal amount for it.

“Water isn’t just a commodity, it also hasgreat social significance,” says Szollosi-Nagy. This is why UNESCO Director-Gen-eral Federico Mayor appealed at the WorldWater Forum in Marrakesh last year for anew “ethics of water which shows aware-ness of the need for distribution, partner-ship and ultimately sharing.” Water is notfree, but access to it is a human right essen-tial for life itself.

In some countries, water cannot bebought and sold because religion or thenational constitution forbids it. “But thisis not incompatible with water being acommodity,” says Robaux, “because itisn’t the water which costs the money butthe handling of it - the distribution, transport

and storage.” There is no point in thinkingof water as free or unprofitable becausethis would greatly limit investment in dis-tribution in many poor countries wherewater is only available for an hour eachday.

There is no point either in going to theother extreme and regarding it as a normalcommodity. “Water cannot be reduced tojust a matter of business,” says Szollosi-Nagy. People die if they have no water or ifwhat they have is dirty.

No substituteSome fear that commercializing water

will lead to a nightmare situation where dif-ferent quality water will be distributed torich and poor people. “We have to see thatdoesn’t happen,” says Robaux, “by settingup checks and balances which can monitorits socially-acceptable use.”

The problem is that infrastructure ismore readily put in place than a democracy.But the international community is comingto realize this situation cannot last: in lessthan 20 years, infrastructure which shouldhave lasted for 50 or 100 years has alreadycollapsed. “Almost everything needs to berebuilt,” notes Robaux.

There’s no substitute for water.Whether in short supply, polluted, unfairlydistributed, wasted, inaccessible or arguedover, it could lead to a serious crisis. Unlesspricing leads to the recognition of water’sinternational socioeconomic value and, as ashared resource, to its central role in co-operation between states.

Cristina L'Homme

underground water. Perhaps we shouldlook to the past for the key to the futureof water. Four thousand years ago inBabylon, a conflict over water pitted thetowns of Umma and Lagash, says AndrasSzollogi-Nagy, of UNESCO’s InternationalHydrological Programme. “The two sidessigned a treaty which said that if one sideviolated the water rights of the other, thewronged party would be compensatedwith goods or slaves.”

The commercialization of water inthis instance enabled settlement of apolitical problem which could have ledto war. The two towns did what peoplestill have not managed to do 40 centu-ries later – treat water as an object ofcooperation instead of conflict and useits unifying quality to bring nations

together. C. L.

Grand Anatolian Project, GAP), and isclearly in a dominant position when itcomes to deciding how the water can beshared.

The scheme is expected to cut theflow of water into Iraq by at least a third.Iraq’s economy depends heavily on thesetwo rivers – for 95% of its industry and farm-ing and 80% of its household needs. Wateris also at the heart of Arab-Israeli nego-tiations: two-thirds of Israel’s watercomes from beyond the country’s 1967borders. Libya is pumping from non-renewable underground water suppliesin the Sahara, causing concern to Egypt,Chad, Niger and Sudan.

Military forceHow to resolve these quarrels over

water? Once upon a time they would besettled quickly by the dispatch of a fewhundred troops. “This is what the Nileinhabitants (the Kingdoms of Upper andLower Egypt) did 5,000 years ago toassure control of the river, from its twosources to the delta,” says Robaux. “Lastcentury, Egypt ‘negotiated’ an arrange-ment for sharing the water with Sudanwhich has never been revised, and todaysees any new international agreement asa potential threat.”

Failing military force, countries depen-dent on a single river have tried to sort thingsout by drafting international regulations andcreating mediation facilities, with the aim ofdividing up water fairly and so preservingworld peace, as Jacques Sironneau notes inhis book L’eau, nouvel enjeu stratégique

mondial (“Water: the world’s new strategiccommodity”).

Two treaties are being worked on atthe United Nations. One, which dealswith international waterways not usedby shipping, has been underdiscussion for 20 years.The other one concerns

7No. 101 - May 1998

LastResortSolutions:The demand for wateris driving research intoways of obtaining itfrom the oceans, butdesalination remains anexpensive option. InSpain's Canary Islands,distilled water costsabout $1 a cubic meter.Reverse osmosis(where pressureapplied to a membranecontaining salty waterforces water out,leaving the salt behind)should remain a lastresort solution, saysThe Economist (April 4)even though costs aregoing down. Theinstalled desalinationcapacity worldwide in1980 was about 7.5million cubic metersper day. At the end of1995, capacity was 21million cubic metersper day. In California,an engineeringconsortium has comeup with a 120-meterhigh desalination plantthat saves on landcosts and uses cheaperbuilding materials,producing water for 50cents a cubic metre.

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”“The United Nations

has identified 70

trouble spots linked with

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from the arid zones of Latin

America to the

Indian sub-

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8 May 1998 - No. 101

It was not a dry year, yet in 1995 in York-shire, United Kingdom, there was a seri-

ous water shortage. Tank loads had to bebrought in to the region. Yorkshire Water,the privately owned operator was duly sanc-tioned by the industry regulator, the Officeof Water Services (Ofwat). The company hadto meet all costs involved and its prices werefrozen for a year.

The “famous Yorkshire drought”, as anOfwat spokesman calls it, remains anembarassment during a decade of tug-of-war between consumer and business inter-ests. The government set up Ofwat with pri-vatization in 1989 as a non-ministerialgovernment department to protect the con-sumer, ensure good quality service and to setprice limits. “We believe Ofwat has not gonefar enough to protect consumer’s interests,”says Linda Lennard, from the National Con-sumer Council. The NCC points to priceincreases claiming that since privatization to1997/98, the average water bill has doubled,while in the privatized energy and telecomsectors, prices have been held down.

“Water quality has improved,” defendsOfwat’s Director-General, Ian Byatt, “andthe providers have invested in infrastruc-ture to make up for years of neglect. The newEC regulations are driving the spendingwhich will continue on the sewage side tomeet the bathing water and urban wastewater directives.”

Ten water and sewage companies (includ-ing three “multi-utilities” whereby the parentgroup owns energy and telecom suppliers aswell as water) service 75% of Britain. Eigh-teen smaller, water-only companies handlethe rest. Combined, they invest over £3bn($5bn) a year in infrastructure, double theamount spent before privatization.

The NCC argues too much of those costsare falling on present-day consumers. “Webelieve the companies should raise moremoney by loans to spread the cost over gen-erations and that more of the burden shouldfall on shareholders,” states Linda Lennard.

“We need to introduce water meters thatreflect supply and demand,” comments Byatt.“Most people still pay water bills based onthe rateable value of their property. Thismeans that if your property is valuable andyou use very little water, you end up with avery high bill and if you have a low-valueproperty and use a lot of water then your billwill be low. Only metering can really makesure that people pay for what they use.”

One company has supplied 30% of itscustomers with meters and introduced spe-cial tariffs for poorer households so theyare not penalized by the system. Takingsafeguards even further, the Deputy PrimeMinister John Prescott recently told parlia-ment that water suppliers should be strippedof their power to disconnect customers whohaven’t paid their bills.

The NCC is concerned that meters mightencourage people to use less water than theyacutally need and warns that as the numberof households opting for metering grows,less money will flow into the companies,coffers – which could encourage them tocharge more to households still on unmea-sured supplies.

Consumers are effectively hostage totheir suppliers hence concerns over suppli-ers’ profits. A recent report by the Centre forthe Study of Regulated Industries says thatthe internal rate of return to shareholders hasbeen over 24% in real terms (excluding infla-tion) compared to 13% for the Financial

Times All Share Index. “This is inappropri-ate for a low-risk monopoly industry,”stresses Linda Lennard.

Ofwat points out that companies areobliged under the terms of their licences toshow how the dividends are obtained. “Butthe problem,” says Lennard, “is that the reg-ulators have neither the power nor theresources they need to effectively control theindustry. The companies have money andthey control the information.”

In a March consultation paper, the BritishDepartment of Trade and Industry recog-nized that regulators need to have theresources it takes to do their job properly.It noted Ofwat was asking for standardizedaccounts from water companies to allowcomparison within the sector – somethingconsumer groups have also been calling for.The report said the regulatory process shouldbe more open so that assumptions about theoperators can be challenged and decisionsexplained. Wider public confidence wouldresult. ●

Ann-Louise Martin

with Paul Lashmar in London

Privatization: not foolproof

Transnationalownership The private Frenchcompany Générale desEaux (from May 1998“Vivendi”) is a worldleader in waterdistribution, supplyingabout 25 million peoplein France (over 40% ofthe population) andsome 40 million in otherparts of the world. Thegroup has expandedrapidly in Europe overrecent years. In the UK,the company whollyowns two watersuppliers. It is amajority shareholder inthree and ownsminority interests inthree others. Généraledes Eaux also whollyowns water distributorsin Hungary, the CzechRepublic and Australia.1997 net sales:FF42,402m ($7.067m),with FF8,798m ($1.466m)generated outsideFrance.

From purification to distribution...

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“CULTURE”NOT “ECONOMISM”Cultural diversity need not be swallowed up by globalization, provided governmentsfulfil their roles in this domain. Indeed, it could prove a powerful motor of economicgrowth and human development.

CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

In its inequitable way, globalization isproducing a culturally uniform andimpoverished world ...” This alert fromUNESCO Director-General FedericoMayor touched a nerve at the opening

of the Intergovernmental Conference on Cul-tural Policies for Development (see box p. 10),and revealed profound concern and confusionamongst the participants over what to doabout it.

“Globalization is blind,” said Jan Pronk,the Netherlands Minister for DevelopmentCooperation. “Driven by economic benefits,it knows no frontiers and hardly recognizesany ethics. It threatens the basics of our free-dom by a combination of global pressures andglobal neglect alike. The danger lies in ourwish to belong to the modern era, absorbingthe global trends without criticism or exam-ination. Globalization can abolish our psy-chological defence and our democratic val-ues if we are not more vigilant today.”

Such is the danger now facing Asia in thewake of the economic crash there, pointed outMr Mansuwan, Thailand’s ambassador to Swe-den. Ridwan Siam from Indonesia noted:“the backlash we are feeling has taken ourpride from us and we are in a state of mourning.”

“Globalization is imperialism in disguise,”said Kunda Dixit of the Panos Institute inSouth Asia. He pointed a damning finger atthe media. “Fewer and fewer people, forexample, control information and this under-mines the media’s role as a pillar of democracy.”

At the same time, all were conscious thatthe threat of cultural uniformity could not bedealt with by self-containment, which per-haps poses an even greater menace.

“Alienation and introversion can degen-erate into hate of all that is other (while)irresponsible political leaders fill people withfear, which opens the door to loathing,” saidPronk. Rather, he said, “we must opt for anopen society which makes room for diversity,in which different cultures mix freely in

mutual respect.” “We want more humanity,dignity and democracy,” said Marita Ulvskog,the Swedish minister for culture. The goalthen, said Pronk, must not be “to battle glob-alization” but to “guide it”.

To a certain extent, pointed out many ofthe non-governmental participants, this isalready happening in the market-place.Tourism for example, is the world’s biggestgrowth industry. According to the WorldTourism Organization, it has become the prin-ciple source of job creation in many countries,employs more than 100 million people world-wide and is responsible for approximately 7%of global capital expenditure. Global televi-sion, seen as a vehicle for American valuesby some, a potential door to the world’s cul-tural diversity for others, is another example.Important international exhibitions, balletand theatre troupes, along with opera

“The National LivingTreasures” of Japan

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A convert to the cause

companies, are more mobile than everbefore, and allow millions of people all overthe world to share great works of art from thefurthest flung corners of the earth.

Rather than taking a back seat to thoseall-powerful “market forces” in these fields,governments must face up to the changesalready visible and adapt their policies totake advantage of the situation.

“We must have a new vision of the state– not merely as an administrator or custodianof the historical heritage of the fine arts – inwhich it will participate in new cultural devel-opment trends stemming from the latesttechnologies,” said Néstor Garcia Canclini,a Mexican anthropologist. “Policies need tobe coordinated with the private sector andvoluntary associations to take account of

the innovations resulting from urban devel-opment, the industrialization of culture, andtourism, not as threats to traditional her-itage, but as opportunities for revitalizing itand making it more widely known. The workof the state, above all through media edu-cation and regulations, and action by themedia and voluntary associations, should seekto ensure that creativity, exercised with theresponsibility of citizenship, is not confined toelites or environmental movements and grass-roots minorities.”

In short, the best bet for the future andfor “guiding” globalization, is to maximize theopportunities for human creativity: for all, by all.

Fabia Midman in Stockholm

with Sue Williams

Developing countries take heart: inter-national funding agencies are starting

to understand that culture and develop-ment go hand in hand, and that economicfactors are not the only measure by whichto judge success or merit.

That was the message delivered inStockholm by Ismail Serageldin, the WorldBank’s vice-president for special pro-grammes, with a primary focus on theissues of culture and development. Thisnewly created position is the first suchpost created at the Bank. In an interviewwith UNESCO Sources, he attributed thisnew direction mainly to the arrival ofJames D. Wolfensohn – “a long time cham-pion of culture and development” – as theBank’s president.

“(He) saw immediately that we must beproactively engaged in supporting people’scultural identity through protection of theheritage and the promotion of presentartistic expression, for so much of this isnecessary for maintaining our identities

in a time of globalization and anonymity –and without identity there can be no devel-opment.”

Consequently, “the Bank has adopted abroad definition of culture as the wholecomplex of distinctive spiritual, material,intellectual and emotional features thatcharacterize a society or social group. Itincludes not only the arts and letters, butalso modes of life, the fundamental rightsof the human being, value systems, tradi-tions and beliefs.”

Measuring heritage “The approach that we espouse is the

one that encourages diversity, creates aspace of freedom in each society for theminority expression and the contrary view,while promoting inclusion and social cohe-sion. It does not, however, sanction thoseclaims of cultural specificity used as amantra to legitimate the oppression ofwomen and the perpetuation of intoler-ance and obscurantism.”

The powerof cultureRepresentatives from146 countries and 100non-governmentalorganizations,foundations andbusinesses attendedthe IntergovernmentalConference on CulturalPolicies for Develop-ment, held in Stockholm(Sweden) from March 30 to April 2.The conference, afollow-up to the work ofthe UN/UNESCO WorldCommission for Cultureand Development,adopted an Action Planbased on fiveobjectives: to makecultural policy a keycomponent fordevelopment strategy;to promote creativityand participation incultural life; reinforcemeasures to preservecultural heritage andpromote culturalindustries; to promotecultural and linguisticdiversity in theinformation society; andto make more humanand financial resourcesavailable for culturaldevelopment.It recommends furtherresearch on culture anddevelopment; theinvolvement of allsectors of society incultural policy andcultural life; promotionof creative activitiesand protection of theinterests of artists andcreators in the marketplace, of free andindependent media, andof cultural rights; andthe increasing of allforms of culturalexchange to fostermutual understandingand peace.

Omnipresence?

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Africa's cultural revival

While the economic terms of any pro-ject obviously remain an important consid-eration, the vice-president recognizes thatalone, returns on investment are “an inade-quate framework to measure the benefitsof heritage.” The Bank, he says, is nowfocusing more on “the intrinsic value” ofheritage and culture.

“For Fez, for example, where we areworking with UNESCO and the Moroccangovernment to revitalize the city’s historicheart, a study attempted to capture theadded value of the historic heritage. Threedifferent methods were used, in addition tothe conventional estimation of addedtourist revenues. The first sample was oftourists who had visited Fez, and an esti-mate of how much they would be willing toinvest to upgrade the old town yielded afigure of some $11m. The second sampleinvolved tourists in Morocco who had notvisited Fez, yielding an estimate of some$33m (because the numbers are larger,even if the per person willingness to paywas lower). The last sample was of someEuropeans who had never visited Moroccoand who were not necessarily likely to do so

in the near future. Their estimates, if general-ized to other European households, yieldeda non-use value for the existence of theheritage in Fez at over $300 million.

Garnering funds“The purpose of such numbers is not

that they would be translated immediatelyinto some added revenue for the mainte-nance and restoration of the Fez heritage,but rather that there is a large intrinsic valuethat goes beyond what is actually measuredor measurable by actual tourist revenues.”

Similar thinking provided the founda-tion for creating the Global EnvironmentFacility (GEF) “which has provided morethan $3 billion of grants to poor countriesto cover the incremental cost of protectingthe global environment.”

“Perhaps we could hope to see a GlobalCultural Facility that would garner fundson a much larger scale than those current-ly provided to the World Heritage Fund,which are a mere fraction of what is need-ed to address the major challenges of con-servation that we face around the world.”

S.W.

Ubuntu is a South African word for“ humanness ”. It means, “ I only exist

because of my ties to others”, and it is anexpression of community life and collectiveresponsibility.

It is also the name of an internationalmovement, launched in Stockholm, whichhas set itself the task of promoting Africanculture, and through it, development. Every-thing remains to be done, explains DamienPwono (Democratic Republic of Congo, for-merly Zaire), Ubuntu’s honorary president.

“In the colonial period, African culturewas perceived as something negative. In thefight for independence, it was used as a ral-lying point. After independence, politiciansused it to create a sense of national unity.But as soon as this unity was seen as beingachieved, that was it. Development plan-ners, seeing progress only as roads, electri-city and dams used to see culture as an impe-diment, and disdained local knowledge, skillsand values in favour of scientific knowledgecoming from the West.

“The Ubuntu movement wants to buildon the strength of African culture and fos-ter its relationship with other sectors, andespecially with economic development. Forexample, take Congolese and Zairean music,which is popular everywhere now. But theproduction centre of this music now is inParis. No one in Africa really knows what the

economic impact of this music is or could be,because no one has ever been interested infinding out. It is only considered as enter-tainment. But people make a living out of it.Book production is another much neglect-ed area.

Creating events“We want to reinforce the structures that

exist in these and other areas. Africa now hasthe professionals who can do the work – inmusic, film, television and publishing. Andthey are starting to organize themselvesthrough professional groups. The next stepis to create the events that will boost theircause. For example, along with the FES-PACO film festival in Burkina Faso, there isnow a new international Southern AfricanFilm and TV market in Capetown. The Zim-babwe Book Fair, which is getting strongerevery year, is another example.

“We are also looking to involve Africanswho live in other parts of the world.

“Ultimately we could be seen as a sort ofnetwork that – promotes research, docu-mentation and dissemination of knowledgeon African culture. We must show govern-ments, funding bodies, professionals, andthe public at large, the importance of culturein Africa, and the need for commitmentstowards development. ●

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CITIES: PAST,PRESENT AND FUTURE

HERITAGE Protecting the urban heritage and promoting socio-economicdevelopment are not incompatible: mayors of historic cities inChina and Europe recently shared their experiences.

Forty years ago, China’s leadingarchitect, Liang Sichen, suggestedthat the old city of Beijing shouldbe left intact and a new, moderncity built in the capital’s western

suburbs. The government rejected the pro-posal and began to tear down the city’sancient walls, that had been such an inte-gral part of its history for more than 500years.

Now, original bricks are being soughtout and recycled to restore the small sectionof wall that remains. Alas, even this has beenoverwhelmed by the modern buildings thathave mushroomed in the capital over thepast decade.

Valuing historic buildings“We didn’t realize until recently that with-

out the context of the surrounding envi-ronment, we would not be able to under-stand the role, architectural motives andartistic value of historic buildings,” said WangJinghui, the deputy director-general of theministry of construction’s department ofurban planning. Wang was speaking to par-ticipants at the International Conference forMayors of Historic Cities in China and theEuropean Union, organized by China,UNESCO and the French city of Chinon. The

event was held in the city of Suzhou fromApril 7-9 (see box p. 14).

He was describing the situation for vir-tually all of China’s historic cities, whichhave suffered irretrievable losses in thecourse of urbanization and the liberaliza-tion of the economy.

“Conservation measures have also beenmade difficult by (...) what has been dubbeda ‘culture of spiritual conservation and mate-rial destruction’” said Minja Yang, fromUNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. “This iswhy there are so few vestiges of architecturaland urban heritage. As in many cities, richand poor, the discovery of cultural treasuresin the course of major public works hasoften been hushed up, thus ensuring thedestruction of potentially invaluable sourcesof knowledge and wealth.”

Various methods of reconciling conser-vation with the needs of modernization havebeen tried over the past decade or so. Thereare now 187 cities covered by protective leg-islation, including the ancient capitals ofBeijing and Lhasa, traditional industrial citiessuch as Zigong in Sichuan province knownfor salt-making, and ex-colonial cities likeShanghai and Harbin, and towns with intactethnic features such as Lijiang, built by theNaxi people in Yunnan province, which has

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13No. 101 - May 1998

been inscribed on UNESCO's World Her-itage List. Rather than trying to save every-thing old, conservationists and planners con-centrated on single features within historicalcentres – a few blocks of buildings, the orig-inal layout of a city, or certain traditionalfeatures. In some cases, such as Suzhou andthe World Heritage site of Chengde in Hebeiprovince – the imperial summer resort ofthe Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) – city resi-dents, factories and government departmentshave been relocated. A special fund wasestablished in 1997 for the conservation ofhistorical districts, which has been used torestore blocks of old buildings in some tencities.

However, these efforts have met mixedsuccess. For the start, China has seen thenumber of its cities increase from 230 in1980 to 660 today, and over the same period,some 70 million people migrate from ruralto urban areas, seeking better living stan-dards and the comforts and advantages ofmodernity. Such growth obviously imposescertain priorities.

“Unlike our European counterparts,”explains Wang, “infrastructure in (our his-torical) cities has not been renewed, and inmost protected areas, houses are run downand the environment is unpleasant.” Heclaims local governments are under pres-sure from residents who want their livingconditions improved and access to trans-port, telecommunications, electricity and

plumbing – and real-estate managers, whoprefer replacing old buildings with modernhighrise blocks. Two thirds of Beijing’s tra-ditional houses known as Sinheyuan (a com-pound with houses around a square court-yard), for example, have thus disappeared.

Another problem is that some cities teardown original buildings and replace themwith copies. “They mistakenly take this asprotection of historic features,” said Wang.

Shifting visions However, the goal is not to “keep his-

toric cities unchanged” reminded ChenWeibang, the construction ministry’s urbanplanner. “A city is not a museum. It has tokeep growing to meet the needs of its resi-dents. Rather, the newly built should not vio-late the layout and scale of the old city.”

This nonetheless represents a major shiftin vision. “What we hope,” said Wang Jinghui“is that in the process of the huge construc-tion movement and renewal of historic cities,the completeness of the city does not getlost. We hope that with the modernizationof these cities, the historical heritage, eco-environment and natural beauties can bepreserved and the traditional communitylifestyle extended. What we want to con-struct is a beautiful future that co-exists withour history.”

Zhou Xiaoxue

Suzhou

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While the mayor of Chinon (France)warns of a citizen’s revolution against

the loss of the traditional features of histo-ric cities, the mayor of Suzhou in China isdealing with complaints from residents whowant to quit their old houses to live in modernbuildings with better facilities.

Suzhou, on the delta of the Yangtze River,is 2,500 years old. Its traditional gardens,waterways, and riverside houses with whitewalls and black tiles have earned it the titleof “the Oriental Venice”.

Conservation work began there in 1986,when there were some 360,000 people livingin the 14-sq. km of the historic centre. Theold homes there, originally designed for onefamily each, often accomodated many more.To make maximum use of the space availablethese residents undertook their own reno-vations.

“That speeds up the aging of old build-ings, and makes restoration difficult,” saidQiu Xioxiang, the director of the Suzhou city

Suzhou, the Oriental Venice

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14 May 1998 - No. 101

bureau of urban planning. During arecent tour of some of these old homes herecalls rotten floors that gave way as hewalked, and plastic sheeting and basinsused to catch rainwater from leaky roofs.

“The residents kept asking us when werewe going to demolish the houses and buildnew ones for them. It’s hard to imagine thatsuch poor housing conditions still exist afterten years of working to solve such problems,”he said.

Relocating factoriesThe programme, which was aimed at

improving housing without damaging thetraditional features of the old town, saw newdevelopments opened on the city outskirts.According to Shen Changquan, the deputymayor of Suzhou, the city has invested bet-ween 5 and 6 billion RMB yuan (approx.$700 million) in building 53 residential areasover the past ten years, complete withshops, hospitals, banks and recreationalcentres. Some 35,000 residents were movedout of the historic centre, and another 60,000 aredestined to be relocated over the next decade.

Apart from civilian inhabitants, 27 citygovernment departments and 130 factorieshave also been shifted. Over the next threeyears, one third of the remaining 96 factorieswill also move. The aim is to leave only thosepollution-free industries with traditional cha-racteristics, such as silk and musical ins-trument manufacturing.

Some 800 lanes and 163 bridges havebeen restored, 35 km of waterways havebeen dredged, and “protection labels” havebeen slapped on more than 200 historicalstructures and over 500 trees, Shen said.

“It is the houses with the best traditionalfeatures that are in the poorest condition,”said Qiu Xiaoxiang. Various methods areused to conserve these buildings.

For large compounds, built by wealthypeople and now each housing perhaps adozen families, the city restores the externalfeatures and improves internal facilities with

costs divided between the central govern-ment, the city government and the residentsthemselves. “Which means that residentscan enjoy better living conditions by payingonly one third of the price of the work,” Qiu said.

The city has also transformed four hec-tares by restoring large buildings from theMing (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)dynasties and building new houses in thetraditional style. “But, only rich people can livein such houses, which are sold for about onemillion yuan ($122,000) each,” said Qiu, addingthat this changed the social profile of the area.

At the same time, the city is trying tosolve its transport problems. To the “sur-prise” of French architects who have beencooperating with Suzhou city authorities onthe issue, the construction of a wide boule-vard running through the heart of the old cityhas been undertaken. “It is profoundly modi-fying the organization of the historic heart,”says Philippe Jonathan of the Paris-Villeminschool of architecture.

“The experience of Europe’s historiccities is that the car is both a factor of des-truction and added value. Opening up an oldcentre to cars usually leads to greater invest-ment there. But this also inevitably leads tothe departure of part of the local population,and with them, part of the city’s memory.”

Some of the transport problems, sug-gests Jonathan, could be resolved by the res-toration and improved use of the city’s canalsystem, which he says provide Suzhou with“an exceptional chance”, especially giventhe proximity of the Grand Canal and thecity’s railway station.

“Transport policy can kill off heritage,”he reminded, “it can also save it and evenreinvent it.”

Z. X .

MAYORSTO MAYORSSome 125 people,including the mayors of15 historic Chinesecities and sevenEuropean ones met inSuzhou (China) fromApril 7-9 under theauspices of UNESCO’sWorld Heritage Centreto exchange ideas andexperiences on thepreservation and socialand economicdevelopment of suchcentres. Twelve of thecities represented,including seven inChina, are inscribed onthe World Heritage List.The mayors adopted a13-point declarationcommitting them to thedevelopment ofconservation policiesfor the preservation ofhistoric urbanneighbourhoods, on thebasis that theseneighbourhoodsconstitute thecollectivity’s culturalmemory and provideinhabitants with a senseof historical continuity,which is one of thefoundations ofsustainable social andeconomic development.The declaration alsoappealed for supportfrom the private andpublic sectors. TheFrench group L’Oréal,which sponsored theconference, rose to theoccasion with a grant of$24,000 for thesafeguarding of fourclassic Chinese gardensin Suzhou, inscribed onthe World Heritage Listlast year.

Traditional park in Suzhou.

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15No. 101 - May 1998

Yves Dauge is the mayor of historic Chi-non, one of the cities on the chateaux cir-

cuit in France's famous Loire Valley. He isalso an advisor to UNESCO's World Heri-tage Centre, and one of the main organizersof the Suzhou meeting. In this interview, heexplains the European approach to safe-guarding historic cities.

Why did you push for a meeting of

“mayors to mayors”?

We mayors have a different perspective toconservationists and historians. Our mainpreoccupation is a city’s inhabitants, theirwell-being and their problems – infrastruc-ture, housing, jobs – which gives us a com-mon language.

How do the Europeans protect historic

city centres?

In Europe we use the historical value ofcities as an element of development - a sup-port for low-cost housing or economic deve-lopment for example through tourism. Wedon’t cut ourselves off from a city’s history.We continue it, and through it affirm ouridentity. People live in the historic neighbourhoods,and we restore their homes with them –modernizing them and making them morecomfortable. A local population must bemaintained if we are to prevent these neigh-bourhoods from becoming soulless prome-nades with shops full of trashy goods; anoption which would mean passing up aremarkable chance to use our heritage toimprove our citizen’s well-being.

What are some examples of cities where

this approach has been taken?

At the Suzhou meeting, Roland Ries, themayor of Strasbourg explained how thecentre of that city has been modernized,notably by the construction of a tramway todiscourage cars and turn the space over tothe residents and their activities. Barcelona’smayor, Joan Clos, told how damaging anddirty industries had been moved out of thehistoric centre there and replaced by ter-tiary activities – services and the like – thusmaintaining its function as a place of employ-ment.In Chinon, I wanted to revive our excep-tional heritage in the city centre by deve-loping low-cost housing there. We had toundertake restoration, provide more light,improve comfort and establish infrastruc-ture. It was expensive, but in the longerterm it’s proved a winner with people,improving relations between people andtheir quality of life.

What have you learned from the meeting

with your Chinese counterparts?

China is going through the urban expansionthat we experienced during the 1950s and 60s.The tendency here is to build new cities onthe outskirts of protected historic neigh-bourhoods. It’s generally believed that peopleare badly housed in the older quarters, thatthey lack the comfort and modernity of thehuge apartment blocks in the new develop-ment areas. As a result, the older centresare left to die off, with only a few gardens orindividual buildings eventually remaining.We made these same mistakes: killing offhistoric centres and then trying to makemuseums out of them.At the same time, in a country with more thana billion inhabitants, the problem is altoge-ther of a different scale. Nonetheless, eachcity has its own history, its own identity, andcan be modernized without denying its past.Breathing new life into heritage and identityis also a means of giving new impetus to citi-zenship in a world, where cities are all beingbuilt on the same banal ‘international model’and are difficult to tell apart. The Chinese mayors who came to Suzhouhave recognized that we cannot ignorethe culture of our cities or their inhabi-tants. ●

Interviewed by N. K.-D.

Putting people and culture first

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EDUCATION

SOUND AND VISION

LEARNING ARTS ANDCRAFTS THROUGHWORKSHOP-CLASSESUnder the guiding hand of localcraftsmen, in Guatemala, 25pupils aged between 10 and 12immersed themselves for sixmonths in Mayan art, learningtraditional weaving and wood-work techniques. In Jordan, 24girls aged between 13 and 14learned traditional pottery,weaving and basketry from thetown of Salt. The students arepart of the Associated Schools

Project which is designed tobuild bridges between crafts-people, children and teachers.More than 4,000 schools in 136countries are now involved inthis UNESCO-sponsored effortas the brochure “ChildrenDiscover Arts and CraftsThrough Workshop Classes”explains. The Organizationhopes to convince the various

EFA 2000The April-June issue of EFA2000 explores the new trendsconcerning information tech-nologies and education butwarns that beyond the prolif-eration of electronic media,there is a real world made upof hunger and distress inwhich the majority of humansstill live. In an interview,Huguette Labelle, presidentof the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency (CIDA)explains why meeting basichuman needs is a cornerstoneof Canada's foreign aid poli-cy. This issue of EFA 2000 alsoconsiders the use of radio inthe teaching of English inBotswana. The project wasmooted at a time whenEnglish was declared themedium of instruction fromStandard Two onwards. Keysuccess factors: an insis-tence on using local skills,story lines and talent.

Media and EducationJournalists and teachers from10 African francophone coun-tries met in Abidjan (Côted'Ivoire) March 29-April 4 for asecond workshop on the mediaand education in Africa. It fol-lowed-up on the Yaounde work-shop (November 1997) whichlaunched the Network ofAfrican Education Journalists(RAJED), and was organized incooperation with the WorldAssociation of Newspapers(WAN). Teachers were trainedin using newspapers as a peda-gogical tool in the classroom,education journalists visitedclassrooms; they were alsoencouraged to provide schoolsfree of charge with unsoldcopies of their newspapers. Abasic text determining themandate and functioning ofRAJED was adopted by mem-bers.

Literacy“The best way to eradicateilliteracy in adults for thefuture consists of teachingthe maximum number ofschool age children how toread and write today,”declared the decision-makersand specialists attending aregional forum on literacy inAfrica, organized by UNESCOMarch 16-20 in Dakar(Senegal). It’s estimated thatone out of two Africans is illit-erate compared to a globalaverage of one out of four.Delegates addressed the criti-cal questions facing the conti-nent: the synergy betweenmother tongue and languageof instruction, the need tounderstand women’s learningrequirements, the need forimproved vectors between theformal and non-formal educa-tion sectors, the preservationof traditional cultures, linkswith the international com-munity, the role of Africaninstitutions in training andresearch and a better use ofnew technologies.A Burundi delegate drewattention to the need forpeace education. “If we don'tput the accent on peace edu-cation,” he said, “all literacyinvestments will be wasted.”

MadagascarLand of the Betsimisaraka.UNESCO/AUVIDIS, 1998.Price: 120 FF.The Betsimisiraka (“those whoare many and united”) areMadagascar’s third largest ethnicgroup; a few thousand strong theyinhabit a narrow strip of land onthe east side of the island. Thegeographical location has exposed

the Betsimisaraka to Indo-asian,Arab and European culturesacross the oceans. This multi-cultural influence was probablyencouraged by the developmentof Tamatave, Madagascar’s lar-gest port and the regional capi-tal of Betsimisaraka. As on therest of the island, music hereplays a predominant role in socialand religious events. Hear on

●●●To find out moreAssociated Schools Project Co-ordination Unit

ministries, schools, crafts-people and other decision-makers of the efficiency andimpact of this drive to up-grade arts and crafts, so as toinitiate similar projects through-out the world.

this disc the ‘antsondina’ – a sixholed bamboo flute, the ‘pitika-langa’ earth bow played by chil-dren and adolescents, the ‘valiha’– a kind of zither, the ‘kaiamba’rattle and the 'bingy' drum toname just a few indigenousinstruments. The lyrics, basedon proverbs, ancestral beliefs,are often humorous andsprightly.

Qu

ote,

un

In the face of the recentforest fires in the

Brazilian state ofRoraima, the Director-General deplored theinability of humans tocombat such disasters:"We should be able tomobilize immediatelytechnicians, aeroplanesand equipment, just aswe have – alas – beenable to do to wage war.While the Amazon forestand the island ofKalimantan (Borneo) areburning, it appears thatwe are prepared fortraditional wars but notfor the new ones whichare threateninghumanity...At the dawn ofa new millennium weshould invest differently;we must make newchoices to face newchallenges." Exploitationof the Amazon alreadyposes a serious threat toecosystem survival in theregion.

“I wanted to make thisvisit to convey

UNESCO's message ofeducation for peace, andto make an appeal towomen,” declaredUNESCO GoodwillAmbassador PrincessMaria Teresa, thehereditary Duchess ofLuxembourg during aone-day visit to Bosniaand Herzegovina, March31. “Let us build thedefences of peace in theminds of our children, sothat we may look intotheir eyes and say: I triedto leave you a betterworld.” Princess MariaTeresa went to a numberof sites where UNESCO iscontributing to thereconstruction effort,including the city ofMostar and Sarajevo'sschool for the blind. Shealso visited NGO’sparticipating in theproject ‘Knitting TogetherNations’ which bringstogether Bosniancraftswomen.

President Fidel Ramos of thePhilippines and Nur Misuari,Chairman of the Moro Libera-tion Front have been namedlaureates of the 1997 FelixHouphouët-Boigny Peace Prize.The prize, named after theformer president of Côted'Ivoire and awarded byUNESCO annually, honours

17No. 101 - May 1998

PEOPLE

Peace Prize

The UNESCO Cities for PeacePrize was awarded March 31for the second time during theIntergovernmental Conferenceon Cultural Policies forDevelopment in Stockholm,Sweden (see page 9). In theArab region, the Prize wasawarded to Tunis (Tunisia) andits mayor M'Hamed AliBouleymen, who is trying tofight the concrete jungle thatmakes city dwelling unhealthyfor children, notably by creat-ing parks and gardens. InAfrica, Harare (Zimbabwe) andits mayor Solomon ChirumeTawengwa, were honoured for

people, organizations andinstitutions which have con-tributed significantly to thepromotion, research, safe-guarding or maintaining ofpeace. The announcement wasmade at UNESCO by former USSecretary of State and NobelPeace Prize laureate HenryKissinger, president of theinternational jury. He praisedthe prize-winners for theagreement they reached to endthe 26-year-long conflict inMindanao, in the Philippines,in September 1996 and high-lighted the ability of the accordinvolving Moslems and Chris-tians to “contribute to an under-standing between religionswhich is so important to peace.”

an initiative in favour of streetchildren and unemployedyouth. The prize for Asia andthe Pacific went to Olongapo(Philippines) and mayorKatherine Gordon, for cam-paigns to prevent urbanviolence and pollution. InEurope, Pecs (Hungary) andmayor Zsolt Pava won the Prizefor fighting against exclusion,and work with refugee educa-tion. The Prize was awardedfor the first time during theInternational Congress onCities and Education for aCulture of Peace in Rio deJaneiro (Brazil) in 1996.

POPULATION

Fighting the concrete jungle in Tunis.

CENSUS MONTHThe first census of theCambodian population for morethan 35 years was carried out inMarch, following a three-monthInformation and EducationCampaign implemented byUNESCO with funding from theUNFPA (United Nations Fund forPopulation Activities). Comicstrip booklets, posters andteaching manuals were distrib-uted to every village inCambodia, with the aim ofbringing as much informationabout the 1998 census to peoplethrough as many means pos-sible. A popular festival wasorganized around the themeof the Census, with perfor-mances by some 150 Khmerartists. A group of 181 Khmer journal-ists attended a five-week train-ing course conducted by theCambodian CommunicationInstitute under the supervisionof UNESCO in a further attemptto get the message across.Radio and television are impor-tant communication vectors inCambodia, with 80 and 65%penetration respectively. Tele-vison and radio spots, docu-mentaries, talk shows and eventwo 1998 Census Karaokesongs were broadcast everyday until the end of the cen-sus.

President Fidel Ramos

IN HONOUR OF CITIES

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BOOKS

SCIENCE

CULTUREAdult Educationfor IndigenousPeoplesReflecting Visions:NewPerspectives on Adult Educationfor Indigenous Peoples, editedby Linda King. UNESCO Institutefor Education, 1998.224 pages, 110FF.Divided into three parts, thisbook deals with the new inter-national context of adult educa-tion for indigenous peoples.Policy issues are examined inthe light of experiences inGuatemala, Honduras, Bolivia,Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Mexico,Belize, El Salvador andNicaragua. Indigenous peoplefrom Australia, Belize, Mexicoand Bolivia present theirvisions of adult education. Thebook concludes with a call forindigenous peoples to “takegreater control over their edu-cation at both the nationaland international levels. Thisis critical to future genera-tions’ survival as indigenouspeople.”

Understanding the Indian OceanPerspectives on Oceanography by T.S.S. Rao and Ray C. Griffiths. IOC Ocean Forum,UNESCO Publishing, 1998, 187 pages, 240 FF.This book describes the oceano-graphy of the Indian Ocean fromearliest times to the present, andsuggests a possible frameworkfor the future, into the next mil-lennium. Subjects examinedinclude the geological origin andevolution of the Indian Ocean,general hydrography, circulationand water masses, nutrient dis-tribution and biology in theregion as well as historical lore.Statistics, graphs and colourphotos complete the presenta-tion.

SolarForumSome 40 African countriesparticipated in the first Africansolar forum in Bamako, Malifrom March 25-28, as part of theWorld Solar Programme. Theforum followed the 1996 WorldSolar Summit in Harare(Zimbabwe) which stressedthat renewable energy sourcestend to be the most suitable forremote, thinly populated areas.More than 600 solar energy

projects ranging from ruralelectricity solar pumps toimproved training programmeswere presented. Financeremains an issue with calls forspecialized funding bodies andgovernment tax breaks to kickstart the sector. A meeting willbe held in Dakar (Senegal) inSeptember to establish theAfrican Solar Council which willdevelop co-operation andpromote technol-ogy transferand innovation.

Violence at SchoolGlobal Issues and Interventions,edited by Toshio Ohsako. UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, 1997, 127 pages, 65FF.Violence affects the efficiencyof education by interfering withthe individual's learning ability,social behaviour and quality oflife. Without peace in the mindsof the pupils and teachers, theschool will fail to produce thehuman resources nations need.

This book brings together a num-ber of national experiences inviolence management, princi-pally from developing countries.

CULTURAL OR NATURAL:A UNIFIED APPROACHHow should the notion of “out-standing universal value” as spe-cified in the World HeritageConvention be interpreted? Fiftyexperts from around the worldmet in Amsterdam (Netherlands)from March 25-28 to debate suchquestions. They stressed that theConvention should be seen as aholistic document which unitescultural and natural heritage andto that end proposed a unifiedset of evaluation criteria for theinclusion of sites on the WorldHeritage List. The experts urgedthat the Convention ensure reco-gnition of interactions betweenpeople and the “natural” envi-ronment. They also recommen-ded the strengthening of mana-gement, monitoring and localparticipation in conservation toguarantee the Convention’s cre-dibility. These conclusions willbe presented to the World HeritageCommittee in Kyoto (Japan)November 30-December 5.

A three-year programme to res-tore the Taj Mahal, a world heri-tage site, was launched byUNESCO, the Rhône-PoulencFoundation of France and theArchaeological Survey of India(ASI) in New Delhi, on April 9.Although many agencies havebeen contributing to the conser-vation of the Taj Mahal, specia-lists say air pollution has disco-loured the facade leaving it inneed of constant cleaning.Recent monsoon rains have alsocontributed to erosion of thewhite marble exterior. The firststage of the preservation pro-gramme is based on the use ofcertain products to repairdamage and help protect themausoleum from future deterio-ration. The second stage is thetransfer of technological know-how to Indian researchers. Thiswill be done at a new conserva-tion laboratory funded by Rhône-Poulenc in Agra.

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EXHIBITION

PERIODICALS

Nature and Resources“We forget the relationship bet-ween government and water atour peril as, more generally, wetread a dangerous path if weignore the relationship betweengovernment and the commongood,” writes Kader Asmal, theSouth African Minister of WaterAffairs and Forestry in this issueof Nature and Resources whichassesses the world’s waterresources and related manage-ment issues. From water to soil,the quarterly examines tropicalearthworms and the develop-ment of techniques for improv-ing agricultural performance

using these “ecosystem engi-neers” and low-quality organicresidues. Nature and Resourcesalso covers the first in the 21stcentury debate series at UNESCOin Paris.

INTERNATIONALSOCIAL SCIENCESJOURNALWhat is governance? How is itrelated to issues such as eco-nomic development, the marketand the welfare state as well asto political questions of demo-cracy and participation? Whatis the significance of the fre-quently used term ‘good gover-nance’? Number 155 of the ISSJ(now in its fiftieth year) ana-lyses the term which “refers to

a complex set of institutions andactors that are drawn from butalso beyond government”, fromits genesis to post cold-war flightto uses and abuses of theconcept. In its ‘open forum’ sec-tion, the ISSJ presents a specia-list view of the state and econo-mic development theory. In aseparate article, civil servicereform in the countries of theWest African Monetary Unioncomes under the spotlight.

The Courier“Progress, risk and responsibi-lity” is the theme of The Courier’sMay issue with a lead story on“Science and Social Responsi-bility” asking: “who should deter-mine the priorities and choicesof science and technologies andon the basis of which social goals?How can we define democrati-cally the risks which can be consi-dered as “acceptable”? What isthe level of responsibility andsolidarity which can be expec-ted from individuals and groupsin relation to both present andfuture generations?” It is withinthis context that The Courierexamines energy availability anddistribution, the ethical and legalobligations of business to com-munities in case of accident (wit-ness Bhopal, Chernobyl) anddevelopments in the field of gene-tics. The “fact file” concerns theUniversal Declaration on theHuman Genome and HumanRights. The issue concludes withMarcel Marceau, interviewed onhis silent art.

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●●● To find out moreUNESCO publications and periodicalscan be purchased at UNESCOHeadquarters and through nationaldistributors in most countries.For further information or directorders by mail, fax or Internet:UNESCO Publishing, 7 place deFontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP. Tel. (+33 1) 01 45 68 43 00 - Fax (33 1) 01 45 68 57 41. Internet:http://www.UNESCO.org/publishing.

“IN BRIEF” compiled by: Christine Mouillère.

An exhibition tracing 50 yearsof conservation work on 40prestigious world heritagemonuments is presented byUNESCO at the United Nationsin New York, April 14 - May 30.From Hue (Viet Nam) to SanFrancisco de Lima (Peru),Persepolis (Iran) and thesandswept towns of Mauritania,models, plans and photographsshow certain conservationefforts from start to finishwhile documenting otherongoing ones. After the UN,the exhibition will move to theWorld Bank in Washington,then on to Savannah Collegein the state of Georgia(USA).

”Peace through the universallanguage of art“, is the goal ofArt Beyond Borders. Thisseries of exhibitions introducesartists selected to representtheir countries in the Inter-national Museum of 20thCentury Arts & Cultural Centre,known as Timotca, based in

California, (USA). The worksfrom 40 artists were displayedat UNESCO in April, followingup last year’s inaugural exhibi-tion at the United Nations inNew York. The number of par-ticipating countries and artistswill increase as the tour con-tinues until its permanentinstallation in 2000 at theTimotca cultural centre, inLisbon, Portugal. Says Englishart critic Edward Lucie-Smith:”There has still been a lack ofopportunities to experience thevariety of art now being made...This is a small beginning but ahistorically important one.“

ART BEYOND BORDERS

From Abou Simbel to Angkor

“Haiti, Fortress of Peace”, by Préfête Duffaut

Ramses II in transit.

20 May 1998 - No. 101

TIME FORREAPPRAISAL

There is much to belearned from the peo-

ple of even the smallestnations. O’Love Jacobsen isthe minister of educationon the tiny Pacific islandstate of Niue, population2,300, and her views of edu-cation come down to family-sized dimensions.

Mrs Jacobsen – with “abachelor in running a home,a degree in motherhood,and balancing that withbeing a cabinet minister” -was one of 650 delegates from61 countries who met inMelbourne (Australia) fromMarch 30 to April 3 to look athow the findings of theInternational Commissionon Education for the 21stCentury presided byJacques Delors (see box)could be put to work in theAsia-Pacific region. Theconference focused on thefour pillars of the commis-sion’s report, Learning toKnow, Learning to Do,

Learning to Live Togetherand Learning to Be, andtheir relevance for the massof humanity living in thispart of the world; a regionwhere adminstrative struc-tures, such as education sys-tems, are often inheritedfrom past colonizing pow-ers, or have been “im-ported”.

Mrs Jacobsen believesthat by using outside yard-sticks in the past to assessits students, Niue has set upan education system“designed to fail our chil-dren”, largely because ofadoption of inappropriateWestern educational ideals.What’s wrong, she asked,with a child going to school“to learn to draw, to play aguitar under a tree?” InNiue, parents like many oth-ers everywhere else, oftentell the most laid-back stu-dents: “learn English, learnyour mathematics, or youwon’t get a job.”

they think will make themmoney. I think we shouldlook at courses that improveculture, knowledge of his-tory.” In other words, edu-cation focused on the wholeperson, aimed at providinga continuing interest – aneducation adapted to aworld where jobs are nolonger guaranteed, whereregular career changes arebecoming the norm andwhere adaptability and con-tinued learning are essen-tial survival tools.

NO SAY, NO POWERTo this end, one of the

key problems identified inthe Commission’s report –the danger of a growing gulfbetween the minority capa-ble of finding their way inthe emerging world, andthose who feel they haveno say and no power insociety’s future – struck achord amongst delegates.

As opposed to the “braindrain” faced by manyPacific island states, prob-lems of basic infrastructurecomplicate the issue forAsia. Dr H. Soedijarto,

Those parents, sheexplained, had been influ-enced by an educationloaded in favour of the aca-demically inclined. “Whatabout the others, the oneswe’re losing to New Zealandto go on to the factoryfloor?” In contrast to Niue’spopulation, New Zealand ishome to 18,000 people ofNiuean descent, whose for-bears left the island seekingnew opportunities.

The young people of thePacific are being lured, saidBernard Dowiyogo, theEducation Minister of Nauru,“to the attractions and em-ployment available within thelarger metropolitan areas.”

Many island stateswould agree with his chargethat they “have to face upto the challenge of popula-tion loss of productivelabour or they may simplyend up as retirement villagesmaintained by repatriatedfunds from overseasemployment.”

Professor John Waiko,from Papua New Guinea,noted that “our young peopleare attracted to courses that

LEARNING: THE TREASURE WITHIN●●●Delegates from 61 countries, includingministers from 25, met in Melbourne (Australia)from March 30 to April 3 to focus on theInternational Commission on Education for the21st Century’s report “Learning: the treasurewithin” and its relevance for Asia-Pacificpeoples. The report recommends learningthroughout life based on four pillars: Learningto know – “combining a broad generalknowledge with the opportunity to work indepth on a small number of subjects.”Learningto do – “acquiring a skill as well as the ability tocope with different situations and work inteams.”Learning to live together – “under-standing other cultures and learning to manageconflicts.”Learning to be – “the all-rounddevelopment of each individual”. The Melbourne conference resolved to apply thegeneral principles of the Report “to the day-by-day working of our schools and our people; touse the agenda for education as means ofbroadening achievement and not mererhetoric.” An action plan was drawn up to focuson the role of the teacher, the concept ofcitizenship, the application of educationalresearch findings and issues for youth,including the renovation of links betweeneducation and the world of work.

Delegates from 61

vastly different countries in the

Asia-Pacific region seek to

broaden the notion of learning,

in light of the Delors report.

EDUCATION

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Indonesia’s Director-General of Out-of-SchoolEducation, Youth andSports, said his governmentwas going to enshrine in lawthe need for education tofocus on a person’s whole-ness and “moral value”. Butthe sheer numbers involvedin education mean there areother priorities such as lim-ited resources and facilities.Indonesia would supportestablishing the four pillars

Gross enrolment ratios (%)

SouthernAsia

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50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 10 30 50 70 90 110 0 10 20 30 40 50 60Primary Secondary Higher education

Source: World Education Report (Infography: A. Darmon).

of learning, Mr Soedijartosaid, but wanted them to beimplemented so that thequality of its 1.6 millionschool teachers wasupgraded, learning technol-ogy was improved, the voca-tional prospects of its stu-dents raised, and parentsbrought more into the sys-tem.

Professor Thai ThanhSon, of Viet Nam’s HanoiUniversity of Technology, a

vocational education expert,said the country’s financesafter more than 30 years ofwar did not allow for a sud-den expansion in education.But with more than 500,000young people leaving sec-ondary school each year fortertiary education or train-ing, new organizations andtraining systems wereneeded to cope with grow-ing demand. Viet Nam’s vice-minister for education, Dr

Vu Ngoc Hai, regretted thatthe “social position” of theteacher was not as high asit had been in his country.“Many students don’t wantto become teachers,” hesaid. The Government waspaying attention to this area,in the light of the Delorsreport. It was “trying forthe educational systemthat UNESCO has pro-posed.”

The minister also saidthat Viet Nam, while movingto develop education alongthe four paths, was “tryingto structure the methodsthat we need”. His wordsreminded delegates thatthe report’s pillars are nota prescription. They willhave to be fashioned foreach nation’s requirements,and the task may not beeasy.

Christopher Richards

in Melbourne

In all parts of the world, public television seeks

to redefine its mission and the way in which it is funded.

SURVIVAL TACTICS

COMMUNICATION

Acapacity for reappraisalis essential for survival.

All over the world, publictelevision is going througha process of self-criticism. Ithas to redefine what itstands for and the way inwhich it is funded if it isnot to become a museumpiece. This was the con-clusion reached by the Inter-governmental Council of theInternational Programmefor the Development ofCommunication (IPDC) atits 18th session, held atUNESCO March 24 - 27,when it went into the ques-tion of the “political, tech-nological and economicchallenges to public servicebroadcasting”.

In many countries of theSouth, public television was

for years funded and super-vised by government min-istries. It has, in the wordsof Maria Eugenia Fonseca,Director of the Foundationfor Television Education(FETV) in Panama, “oftenbeen used as a vehicle forpropaganda by authoritar-ian regimes.” In these coun-tries, the key problem ofpublic television lies in itsmoral independence and itsfunding: “the state, whichis often the main share-holder, should not have aright to scrutinize content,”she declared. It is throughfunding that television willbe able to develop its tech-nological resources, reachout to the largest possiblenumber of citizens and per-form its task of upholding

700 PROJECTS●●●UNESCO's InternationalProgramme for the Developmentof Communication (IPDC) wascreated in 1980 to respond tothe needs of developingcountries in the information andcommunication sectors. The aimis to help those countries catchup with industrialized nationsand to encourage pluralism andindependence in the media. Thisyear the IPDC attributed $2.4mto 53 communication projectsacross the world. Over the last17 years, the Programme hasprovided $77m for 700 projectsin about 100 countries. TheIPDC's next council sessiontakes place in Paris, March 23-26, 1999. Project proposals shouldbe in before June 30, 1998.

national identity, strength-ening pluralism and expand-ing educational activities.Luis Alberto Maravi Saez ofPeru’s National Institute ofRadio and Television goesso far as to compare televi-sion with water and elec-tricity: “the governmentshould ensure that theentire population has accessto it and that the haves paymore than the have-nots.”

INVISIBLEREVOLUTION

Hence there is a need toset up finance mechanismsthat allow a measure of flex-ibility: the payment of alicense fee by people whohave a television set is nodoubt the sort of approachthat can work in Japan (thisis how the NHK is funded)or the United Kingdom (thesame applies for the BBC),but in Latin America orAfrica, the public would

with fierce competitionfrom private channels.According to Jean-LouisMissika, editor-in-chief ofthe French review Medias-

pouvoir, this “invisible rev-olution caused Europeanpublic television ratings todrop from 82% in 1982 to46% in 1995”. The ratingswar often tempted publicchannels to imitate theirprivate counterparts, as inthe case of Italy, Franceand the United Kingdom.Sooner or later, however,the question of identitycrops up again. What is pub-lic television if it is just like

every other form of tele-vision?

To begin with, it had toseek out the reasons for thecrisis of legitimacy which itwas going through as aresult of the developmentof funding sources (fromwhich it was excluded) andthe fact that, from the mid-1980s onwards, televisionhad become one of the mainvectors of advertising.

In addition, there was achange in the concept ofpublic television. Accordingto Jean-Louis Missika, itwent from being a “blue-print of culture for all” to

an “economic activity” – a“product” which, as chan-nels become theme-based,compartmentalizes viewersand makes them pay for theprivilege. It should also notbe forgotten that the devel-opment of technologicalresources, such as satellitesand cable, was instrumentalin stepping up the pace atwhich public television wassidelined in the first place.

NEW STRATEGIES How can European pub-

lic television build these fac-tors into their new strate-gies? The slogan suggestedby Jean-Louis Missika atleast has the merit of beingclear: “Do what the othersdon’t do. Or, if you do thesame as the others, do it dif-ferently”. In other words,public channels should pro-duce those things that theprivate sector cannotinclude in its schedulesbecause of the commercialthinking behind it. Edu-cational and general-inter-est programmes or pro-grammes addressed tominorities attract littleadvertising and would there-fore not be acceptable to aprivate channel. This leavesus with the case of Finland,where public television – onwhich there is no advertis-ing – has found an indirectmeans of securing fundingby taxing private televisionchannels on the advertisingthey carry. The experienceno doubt, would havecaused an uproar anywhereelse.

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turn its back on that kindof model because publictelevision has always beenfree. In the opinion of EdMoyo, Directory-General ofthe Zimbabwe BroadcastingCorporation, it is also pos-sible to “generate earningsand sell air time by becom-ing a commercial companywhile still being a public ser-vice”. This is true of Chile,for example, where TVN(the national televisionchannel) has been turnedinto a company operatingindependently of the gov-ernment. Its directors,appointed by consensusbetween the Executive andthe Senate, are today polit-ically irremovable.

The Panamanians, fortheir part, have set up achannel managed by a nonprofit-making foundationwhose mission is the sameas that of a public televisionservice. It is a hybridlaunched by the CatholicChurch of Panama and var-ious associations at a timewhen the television scenein Panama was completelyprivate, unlike that inEurope.

TROUBLED IDENTITYThis small television

channel experienced diffi-culties when it started up, asFonseca explained: “FETVwas initially rejectedbecause people thought thatit was a religious TV sta-tion”. Little by little how-ever, it asserted itself by cre-ating a “new taste”. Itestablished an identity of itsown based on “the devel-opment of a critical out-look”, favouring scientificdocumentaries and pro-grammes on minorities(including one for theChinese of Panama in theirown language), and notshowing sensationalistand violent series which, inthe view of Maria EugeniaFonseca, “undermine themorals of our countries”.

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23No. 101 - May 1998

In a growing number of schools, philosophy is teaching

children the art of dialogue and critical thought.

THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE AGE OF REASONEDUCATION

Questions asked by chil-dren prove that philos-

ophizing is an innatehuman trait,” the Germanphilosopher Karl Jaspersonce said. “We often hearfrom the lips of childrenwords that have philosoph-ical depth,” he added.

But the most commonlyheld view is that philoso-phizing is only for adults.Over the past 20 yearsthough, the “Philosophy forChildren” movement hasslowly but surely been gain-ing ground and, this year,for the first time, the WorldPhilosophy Congress, inBoston in August, willdevote a session to it.

“What most schoolsteach is information,” saysMatthew Lipman, who isconsidered the father of themovement. “We are verysuspicious of that in philos-ophy. Information is notjudgement. Information isreasoning. Philosophy isneeded to help children toreason, to discuss, and tohelp them make solid,reasonable judgement.”Lipman set up the Institutefor the Advancement ofChildren’s Philosophy, thefirst such body in the world,at Montclair University inthe United States, in 1974.

When he wrote ‘Harry’,the first philosophy text-book for children, in 1969,every publisher turned himdown. It was a novel thatcoaxed children to questionreality and to debate anddiscuss things. Today,‘Harry’ has been translatedinto 20 languages and isused in schools in 40 coun-tries.

“I wrote a book whichattempted to portray whatreasoning children sounded

and acted like. It's very dif-ferent from television,where pictures on thescreen reflect non-reflectivechildren: they act, they feel,but they don’t think particu-larly,” says Lipman.

“The objective of thisapproach,” writes KatalinHavas, of the HungarianAcademy of Science, “is notto acquaint the childrenwith the works of philoso-phers” but to teach themhow to “Think Together”, toborrow the title of anotherfamous textbook, writtenby the Australian professorof philosophy, Philip Cam.

GROUP DISCUSSIONA large part of teaching

is based on group discus-sion. It's important, saysCam, “to include the abilityto ask appropriate ques-tions, form plausible hypo-theses, explore alternativepossibilities and differentpoints of view. On the socialside, we may include thecapacity to listen to others,express one’s thoughtsappropriately, contributeconstructively to discus-sion, explore disagreementsreasonably, and accept faircriticism of one’s ideas.”

Philosophy for Childrenis expanding rapidly, espe-cially in Latin America. InBrazil, 180,000 childrenbetween five and 15 arelearning it at school. Streetchildren are a special target.

“When they learn theyhave a voice and can beheard with understandingby their peers, there is adecrease in agressiveness,”says Melanie Claire Wyffels,head of the Brazilian Centrefor Children’s Philosophy.In Russia, philosophy forchildren is now compulsory

in primary schools. InChina, the first trainingcourse for teachers of itwas held last year. Teachersin Nigeria, Zimbabwe andCongo are becoming inter-ested: they also see the sub-ject as a way to revive tradi-tional African thought.

But the discipline is stillstrikingly absent in someareas of the world. “Somesocieties are less keen ondeveloping open-mindedand inquiring citizens,” saysCam. Others, suggestsLipman, hold philosophy insuch high regard that theythink it is not suited for chil-dren. But as two Chineseprofessors pointed out in arecent paper, “with itshumanist concerns, philos-ophy for children also rep-resents a remedy for aworld beleagured by mod-ern technology.” Adultsseem to agree: proof is theunexpected success of suchbooks as ‘Sophie’s World’and ‘The Alchemist’. Ifadults need reasoning andguidance to understand theworld and their own lives,don’t children as well? ●

N. K.-D.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT●●●UNESCO broughttogether 19 professors ofphilosophy from 14 countries atheadquarters from March 26-27(see article), to discuss thepromotion of “Philosophy forChildren”. The meeting was thefirst step in a long-term projectof the same name beingestablished by the Organization.The ultimate aim of this projectis to develop children's thinkingcapacities through philosophy,and introduce them to thenotions of dialogue and criticalthought as early as possible intheir school careers, throughprogrammes adapted for theirage.

Primary school children learn to ask the right questions.

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on UNESCO's calendar

next month's issue :CHILDRENAND MEDIA VIOLENCE

EDUCATIONIN AFRICA

from 13 to 19 June SOCIAL QUESTIONS IN EUROPEIn Bratislava, Slovakia, the second European Social Science Conference debates research priorities.

from 13 to 19 June NEW EGYPTIAN MUSEUMSIn Aswan, Luxor and Cairo, the International Executive Committee Meeting of the Nubia Museum will review future actions and make plans for the establishment of the new Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.

from 15 to 18 June BIOSPHERE RESERVESIn Paris, the International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves meets to study 240 of a total 352 reserves, the first of which were inventoried in 1976.

from 22 to 27 June WORLD HERITAGEIn Paris, the Bureau of the World Heritage Committee meets to study new nominations. In 1997, 46 new sites were added to the List.

from 29 June to 2 July UNDERWATER TREASURESIn Paris, government experts meet to discuss the draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.

from 3 to 24 July SOLAR ELECTRICITYIn Paris, the 10th anniversary session of the "Solar Electricity for Rural and Isolated Zones"summer school, which has hosted nearly 300 engineers from 50 countries over the years.

from 7 to 8 July SCIENCE NETWORKSIn Paris, a meeting of the Global Network for Molecular and Cell Biology which gathers 81 research centres.

July 11 WORLD POPULATION DAY