News and Views

During the last two weeks of June, UNESCO Aotearoa Youth Leader and National Decade Committee member, Aimee Clark, attended the UN Ocean Conference and the Youth & Innovation Forum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Below, Aimee reflects on her experiences attending both the Youth Forum and main conference as a part of the official New Zealand Delegation.

Diplosphere’s Navigating a Stormy World: Te Ao Māori Perspectives conference, which was held in Wellington in early July, provided plenty of thought-provoking takeaways for our UNESCO Aotearoa Youth Leaders.

The conference asked the question: What does “western values” mean in Aotearoa New Zealand 2022? It explored the cultural, trade and political links that have long existed between Māori and the Asia Pacific region, and what the future holds.

New Zealand National Commission representatives joined UNESCO assessors this weekend as Waitaki Whitestone Geopark’s bid to become the first UNESCO Global Geopark in New Zealand was considered.

UNESCO Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.

Learn what the National Commission and it's partners have been up to over the months of May and June 2022.

UNESCO and Massey University have formally established a UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Livelihoods. Professor Stuart Carr from the School of Psychology, has been appointed as Chair. He believes that the Chair, like all UNESCO Chairs, is about friendship, human relationships, and working together to make a contribution to meeting humanitarian goals like the 2016-30 UN Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs).

The NZ National Commission for UNESCO has worked together with a leading designer from Whanganui City of Design to create a new logo which showcases our Kaupapa.