News and Views

Read all about the comings and goings of the National Commission during August and September 2021. Find out about our UNESCO Youth Leaders experiences at the Festival for the Future; learn more about what our UNESCO Creative Cities have been up to; find out about how we celebrated Te Wiki o te Reo Māori; and much more . . .

In the last weekend of July, our UNESCO Aotearoa Youth Leaders joined three National Commission scholarship recipients, as well as future-focused people from around New Zealand (and a global virtual audience) at Festival for the Future. The National Commission was involved in the Festival in a variety of ways including as a bronze sponsor; providing three youth scholarships to the Festival; a booth in the marketplace run by our UNESCO Aotearoa Youth Leaders; and hosting a workshop to improve awareness of the UN Decade of Ocean Science.

26 July is International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem! Mangrove ecosystems provide benefits and services that are essential for life. From advancing food security, sustaining fisheries and forest products and offering protection from storms, tsunamis and sea level rise to preventing shoreline erosion, regulating coastal water quality and providing habitats for endangered marine species -- the list is long on the importance of mangrove ecosystems

Discover what has kept us busy in June and July. Find out what has been happening in our Creative Cities Network. Learn more about our priority areas and read stories about some of our grant recipients. Plus meet some of our UNESCO Aotearoa Youth Leaders.

Our website has had a complete make-over, resulting in a fresh, modern look and design with Aotearoa New Zealand at its heart. It includes all our most popular content from our old site, presented in a new easy-to-navigate layout.

Matariki plays a significant role in Māori culture in signifying the start of the New Year and for plantings to begin. UNESCO Aotearoa Youth Leader Blair Kapa-Peters and Culture Commissioner Dr Dan Hikuroa share their experience and knowledge of Matariki.