There are currently 62 centres of excellence around the world that operate under the auspices of UNESCO and specialize in science and engineering. These centres contribute to the execution of UNESCO’s programmes: they are fostering responsible forest management, developing early warning systems for floods and droughts, using remote sensing to identify and study archaeological remains, training hundreds of water professionals all over the world each year from to bridge the chronic skills shortage in this field, and much more.
UNESCO brought these centres together in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to deepen collaboration and showcase their work last May. Fittingly, the meeting was hosted by one of centres of the network, the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre, which has been operating under the auspices of UNESCO for almost 25 years.
Below are some of the ways these centres are contributing to achieving the Sustainable Develoment Goals.
An early warning system for floods in West Africa
Meanwhile, in West Africa, UNESCO has been developing an early warning system for floods with the support of another member of its network of centres of excellence, the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management. Between 2008 and 2020, West Africa experienced unprecedented flooding which devastated agriculture, livestock, freshwater supplies, infrastructure and homes. ‘The damage has been catastrophic’, sighs Dene Salifou from the Volta Basin Authority’s Observatory for Water Resources and Related Ecosystems (Burkina Faso).
The project has created flood simulation models and trained more than 300 experts from the 11 countries involved, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria.
Taking inspiration from nature to reduce flooding risk in the UK
The UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy, and Science at the University of Dundee in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is taking a different approach. It is employing natural flood management techniques in the Scottish border region to boost local resilience to floods. By creating ponds, remeandering river channels and planting trees, the Eddleston Water Project has reduced the risk of flooding for local communities and protected local wildlife. The area where the project is being implemented is the UK’s only UNESCO Ecohydrology Demonstration Site.
The largest international facility training water specialists at graduate level
Training water professionals to ensure that we can manage water sustainably has never been more important than today, as climate change exacerbates the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. In the Netherlands, the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education offers accredited MSc and PhD programmes to students from around the world, as well as research opportunities. Since its inception in 1957, the institute has trained over 25,000 water professionals from 190 countries, making it the largest international facility for graduate water education.
Other centres operating under the auspices of UNESCO also provide advanced training. In Thailand, for instance, the International Training Centre for Astronomy has organized more than 70 educational and professional workshops since 2017 for over 3,800 participants.
Taking to the sky to observe our distant past
History is not the first thing that comes to mind when we think of space technologies, yet there is no better vantage point from which to ‘see’ into the distant past than from a high altitude. At this height, satellites and other space technologies can detect the remnants of buildings and other traces of human activity from thousands of years ago, which would go undetected from the ground.
When scientists from the International Centre on Space Technologies for Cultural and Natural Heritage in China collaborated with their peers from Italy, Pakistan and Tunisia to survey terrain in southern Tunisia that used to lie at the western end of the ancient Maritime Silk Road in 2018, they made several archaeological discoveries. Among them were ten ancient Roman sites, including two forts, three sections of defensive walls (limes), three water storage cisterns, an irrigation system, a military defence system and an ancient tomb.
A Decade to make a difference
As UNESCO implements the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), as the lead agency, its centres of excellence in science and engineering will be at the forefront, with innovative solutions that align with our shared goal of promoting sustainable development to address such crucial challenges as climate change, biodiversity loss and extreme poverty.