The UNESCO Courier

Imagine a world without glaciers – a future defined by rising tides, drinking water scarcity, and a global ecosystem transformed. In the wake of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025, this UNESCO Courier podcast investigates the "great melt" and the global urgency to act. The scale of the crisis is vast: Antarctica’s ice is melting three times faster than it was just a decade ago,...

What if 20th-century economic models no longer fit today’s world? British economist Kate Raworth thinks it’s time for a rethink–and she’s sparking the shift with doughnut economics, a bold framework already shaping new policies in cities worldwide. Building on the work of thinkers like Herman Daly, who questioned endless growth in the 1980s, Kate Raworth’s doughnut-shaped model outlines a space wh...

The UNESCO Headquarters in Paris are home to the Garden of Peace, a unique public landscape by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.  Open to visitors, the Japanese garden is distinguished by its organic shapes, gently-sloping paths, and ponds with arched bridges.  Noguchi is known for his modernist sculptures, Akari lamps and the iconic coffee table, but few know that the creation of the...

Animals raised on factory farms often live in deplorable conditions. Knowing this doesn't stop us from eating meat. Why are we so indifferent to their suffering? Australian philosopher Peter Singer, one of the most influential intellectuals of his generation, has been addressing this blind spot in ethical thinking for more than fifty years. He has authored dozens of books, including Animal Liberat...

This is the story of one the greatest archeological rescue operations of all times. Under the aegis of UNESCO, over fifty countries put their differences aside in the midst of the Cold War to save temples and sites of ancient Egypt from drowning. Under threat from the rising waters of the Aswan Dam built in Egypt’s drive for modernization, they were in danger of being irrevocably lost. The campaig...