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UNESCO’s contributions to Mauritius Intern. Mtg (MIM) – Plenary Panel on Culture – Youth Visioning special event – Small Islands Voice side event – Ocean and Coastal Management partnership event – Civil Society Forum support – ‘Lest We Forget’ exhibition – Media coverage – Information materials

Outcomes of Mauritius Meeting Mauritius Declaration & Mauritius Strategy (MS) - reaffirm Barbados Programme of Action (BPo. A) ‘blue print’, and call for action in: New & Emerging Issues Original BPo. A priority areas - Climate change and sea-level rise - Sust. capacity dev. & ESD - Natural & environmental disasters - Sust. production & consumption - Management of wastes - Health (HIV/AIDS) - Coastal & marine resources - Culture - Freshwater, Land, Energy res. - Trade: globalization & liberalization - Tourism, Biodiversity resources - National and regional enabling env. - Transport & communication - Knowledge management & information for decision making - Science & technology

UN-New York follow-up Resolution on the MIM to be adopted by UN Gen. Assembly, July 2005 Main elements include: - Articulate plan for implementing MS by relevant UN bodies, specialised agencies, regional commissions and other UN system organisations - Support regional SIDS meetings in 2005 -06 with relevant regional organisations and stakeholders for follow-up MS implementation - Encourage Member States to contribute to SIDS Trust Fund - Strengthen SIDS Unit in Dept. Economic & Social Affairs (DESA) - Relevant UN agencies to further mainstream the MS in their programmes and establish SIDS focal point

UNESCO FOLLOW-UP 1. Intersectoral Information meeting for Perm. Delegations (Paris, 16 March) – organized with Group of SIDS Ambassadors led by Mauritius Ambassador 2. Preliminary indications on follow-up by Programme Sectors and through Youth Visioning process 3. Five-part approach with Mauritius Strategy as essential reference

UNESCO follow-up 1. Generating relevant inputs from 5 Programme Sectors 2. Taking into account Participation Programme activities in SIDS 3. Dedicated Web Section on UNESCO response to the MS 4. Elaboration of new activities as specific responses to the MS: - SIV planning meeting - Documenting Pacific Island responses to SD challenges & UNESCO role in furthering SD in Pacific Islands - Input UN operationalization plan, e. g. Culture, Youth Visioning 5. House-wide follow-up via SIDS Working Group

Selected activity areas in the Mauritius Strategy Climate Change & Sea-level rise - Ocean Carbon Programme: monitoring and assessing ocean’s role as carbon sink - Global ocean observations to monitor climate variability and change (IOC/GOOS) - Impact of climate change on rainfall, snowfall and glaciers (IHP/WCP)

Communication (ICT) 19 new media projects approved for SIDS (totalling US$497, 000) under Intern. Progr. For Dev. of Communications (IPDC) Some examples: Bahamas: Building community media capacity environmental stewardship Cape Verde: Media law reform Fiji: Women speaking to women in Fiji Mauritius: Post-production and professional training centre in East Africa Solomon Islands: Media training for peace and reconciliation St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Enhancing broadcast and production capacity at NBC radio Tonga: Contributing to alleviation of poverty through media for outlying islands

Freshwater resources - World Water Assessment Programme - Freshwater management issues in small islands to be addressed in the 2 nd World Water Development Report - Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) programme of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) to be established in the Pacific - Trinidad & Tobago. Assessing human watershed aquifer through establishment of an experimental catchment - SIV Global Forum discussion: Conservation and sustainable management of water UN wide: 2005 -2015: International Decade 'Water for Life'

Health (HIV/AIDS) - Focusing Resources on Effective School Health (FRESH) initiative - UNESCO & other partners - Joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS: - assessing implications of HIV/AIDS for early childhood schooling (Caribbean) - developing methodology for estimating and projecting the prevalence of HIV/AIDS within the national educational sector (Caribbean) - reinforcing cultural and communication dimensions in combating HIV/AIDS (Caribbean) - Youth Visioning projects in HIV/AIDS: Cape Verde, St. Lucia

Coastal and Marine Resources - Development of ‘Global Ocean Observation System’ in SIDS regions - Coastal zone management workshop, Barbados April ‘ 05 - Coral Reef Monitoring, Research & Capacity Building - Training course for young specialists – ‘Coastal, island wetland biosphere reserves’: Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zanzibar Support to Global Forum on Oceans, Coasts & Islands - Capacity building for mitigating coastal erosion in Cuba - Sandwatch activities in many SIDS

Natural and Environmental disasters - Scientific study and mitigation of natural hazards: earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, landslides and drought - Launch of Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (June 2005) - Groundwater for Emergency Situations project - Conservation and sustainable rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems following the tsunami of Dec. ’ 04

Culture - - Intangible Heritage: SIDS to ratify 2003 Convention (of 12 Member States that ratified so far, 2 are SIDS) Convention on Protection of Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions, to be submitted to General Conference Oct. ’ 05 Promoting Cultural industries (cinema, music, publishing, etc. ) through Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity Projects planned in Cuba, Fiji, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago - Assistance to develop cultural policies in SIDS - - Establishing cultural diversity observatory for Indian Ocean region, based in Mauritius. - Supporting national World Heritage (WH) strategy workshops in SIDS regions

Sustainable Capacity Development & Education for Sustainable Development UNESCO is 1. Lead agency for Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (20052014) 2. Implementer of ESD - education reforms and coordinating activities of ESD stakeholders - Developing public understanding & awareness of sustainability: inter-regional internet forum with over 20, 000 individuals connected in SIDS - Re-orienting existing education at all levels to address sustainable development, e. g. Sandwatch - Incorporating local & indigenous knowledge into ESD through formal and informal education system, e. g. activities in Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Palau - ‘learning by doing’, SIV support for sustainable development activities - Support SIDS University Consortium through UNITWIN

UNESCO will continue: - Mainstreaming SIDS special needs in its programmes - Supporting holistic, integrated approaches to sustainable island living and development - Inter-UN agency cooperation and IGO/NGO partnerships in and between island regions YV for island living art contest, winner 14 -17 yrs. St. Lucia