Official Visit to Japan
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Visits UNU
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and UNU rector Konrad Osterwalder at the conclusion of the town hall meeting with UN staff. Rector Osterwalder presented Secretary-General Ban with a selection of books published by UNU Press. Photo: Jeremy Hedley/UNU
2009.07.01 • UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, in Japan at the invitation of the government of Japan, visited UNU Headquarters today as part of his official visit. Secretary-General Ban was warmly welcomed by UNU rector Konrad Osterwalder before meeting with the heads of UN agencies in Japan and speaking at a town hall meeting of UN staff in Elizabeth Rose Hall. The secretary-general also met with UN goodwill ambassadors and supporters and sat for an interview with Aya Takashima of Fuji Television.
The series of meetings provided the secretary-general with an opportunity to highlight the importance for UN agencies to work together as “One UN,” especially when confronted with such critical challenges such as climate change. He reiterated the importance for the international community to “Seal the Deal” later this year in Copenhagen.
Secretary-General Ban had previously met with Japan’s foreign minister Hirofumi Nakasone, and will meet this evening with Japanese prime minister Taro Aso. After visiting Japan, he will visit Myanmar before travelling to Switzerland, Ireland and Italy.
Climate Change
The Role of Higher Education in Adapting to Climate Change
Speakers on the first day of the conference (from left, first row): S. B. S. Abayakoon, Konrad Osterwalder, Isao Kiso, (second row) Janette Lindesay, Diqiang Li, Nobuo Mimura, Toshio Koike, (third row) Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Kazushige Taniguchi, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, and Srikantha Herath. Photos: UNU-ISP
2009.06.29 • Representatives from more than 18 universities and research organizations from across the Asia-Pacific, as well as international and intergovernmental organizations, gathered at UNU headquarters in Tokyo to put higher education on top of the climate change adaptation agenda. The first of its kind in the region, the three-day event entitled ‘The Role of Higher Education in Adapting to Climate Change’ was jointly organised by the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace, and the Institute for Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) of the University of Tokyo.
The event successfully established a regional network that will provide the foundations for a comprehensive postgraduate educational programme to produce the necessary students, educators, and research needed for effective adaptation to climate change. More than 100 educators, researchers, policy makers and administrators participated.
World Environment Day
UNU Supports YouTube Think Green
2009.06.05 • In recognition of World Environment Day 2009 today, UNU is collaborating with YouTube Japan to support a special channel called Think Green.
More than 15 million viewers access YouTube each month in Japan. In order to help this community find videos that encourage them to think about environmental topics, YouTube has collaborated with some of its premium partners to create this new channel that will remain active for one year.
In addition to the UNU, partners include NHK, National Geographic, Asahi and Diginfonews. Around one hundred videos are showcased in the channel, including five UNU-produced video briefs published in Our World 2.0.
World Environment Day is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.
The day's agenda is to give a human face to environmental issues, empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development, promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues, and advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.
Higher education and climate change adaptation
Symposium on June 10, UNU Headquarters, Tokyo
The Financial Crisis and its Impact on Africa
The Tenth UNU Africa Day Symposium
Speakers and panellists at the 2009 UNU Africa Day Symposium held May 25 at UNU Headquarters, Tokyo. From left, first row: Konrad Osterwalder; Jean Christian Obame; Yoshiro Mori; Nobuhide Minorikawa. Second row: Elisabeth Tankeu; Eiji Hashimoto; Nobuyoshi Chihara; Kazushige Taniguchi. Third row: Takeshi Sagawa; June Kunugi; Drine Ime; and Noureddine Hached.
2009.05.26 • The financial crisis and its impact on Africa was the subject of this year's UNU Africa Day Symposium held May 25 at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo. The symposia are organised annually by UNU and the African Diplomatic Corps in Tokyo with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This year we celebrated the tenth year of the series.
Coming a year after the conclusion of the TICAD IV conference held in Yokohama, the symposium examined the financial crisis with regard to the role of Japan and the TICAD process. Expert speakers and panellists were drawn from government and the public sector, as well as from the UN system and the private sector.
Yoshiro Mori, former prime minister of Japan and president of the Japan-African Union Parliamentary Friendship Association, delivering his keynote speech at the 2009 UNU Africa Day Symposium. Photos: Jeremy Hedley/UNU
Keynote speeches were delivered by Yoshiro Mori, former prime minister of Japan and president of the Japan-African Union Parliamentary Friendship Association, and Elisabeth Tankeu, the African Union's commissioner for trade and industry.
Speeches and presentation files will be posted shortly to our Priority Africa website.
Biodiversity
José Sarukhán Lectures at UNU
José Sarukhán met with UNU staff at the university's Global Environment Information Centre to discuss biodiversity prior to delivering his lecture on Mexico, biodiversity, and the work of CONABIO (Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad). Photo: Jeremy Hedley/UNU
Interview with Sarukhán
During his visit, Dr. Sarukhán filmed an interview with UNU staff.
Visit the UNU channel for more videos.
2009.05.19 • Renowned scientist and educator José Sarukhán, senior researcher at the Institute of Ecology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, and coordinator of the National Committee on the Study and Conservation of Biodiversity, delivered a lecture at UNU Headquarters on May 18 entitled "Mexico: The Privileges and Challenges of a Megadiverse Country."
Dr. Sarukhán gave an overview of Mexico's biodiversity before introducing the work of CONABIO (the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad), focusing on the immense data sets the organization has been able to assemble and the uses to which these data are being put.
Before delivering his lecture, Dr. Sarukhán sat for a video interview with the UNU Media Studio (to be posted shortly) and toured the Global Environment Information Centre, a joint initiative of the United Nations University and the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, which is currently staging an exhibition on biodiversity (Japanese) ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22.
The lecture was organized by UNU and the Embassy of the Republic of Mexico, which is hosting prominent scientists and artists in Japan to help celebrate 400 years of contact between the two countries.
CONABIO (Spanish)
Mexican Biodiversity
(CONABIO's portal site on Mexican Biodiversity in English)
UNU-IC
Tenth Session of UNU International Courses Commences
Students, their professors, UNU-IC organizers and UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder at the opening ceremony of the 2009 UNU International Courses. Photo: DNP/UNU
2009.05.12 • The 10th regular session of the UNU International Courses commenced with an opening ceremony held at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo yesterday. Fifty-one post-graduate students and young professionals from 40 countries were selected to take part in the month-long courses.
The opening ceremony was attended by representatives from 35 embassies, including 23 ambassadors.
The International Courses are an integral part of the training and capacity development activities of the university and form a core part of its primary goal: finding sustainable solutions for the global problems of today and tomorrow.
The programme is designed for postgraduate students and young professionals in various occupations in Japan and abroad who wish to pursue careers in international fields in public-service or private organizations, including the United Nations, multinational corporations, non-governmental organizations. and national foreign service organizations. The courses are designed to provide analyses of global issues from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.
The 2009 courses introduce one core course (The UN System: Pressing Issues and Sustainable Solutions) and three optional modules: Peace and Human Rights; Global Change and Sustainability; and International Development and Cooperation.
The UNU warmly congratulates the students selected to take part and wishes them the very best for the tough but exciting month ahead.
Priority Africa
New Report on Higher Education in Africa
2009.04.30 • Revitalizing Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa presents the research findings of four African universities which focus on policy and reform, pedagogy, training of teachers, and academic research. The report explores policies and reforms of educational systems in Africa; it examines educational programmes, including pedagogy and teaching tools and further presents a synthesis of research on education in Africa. It puts forward recommendations for innovating educational programmes through reform which “must aim to improving the results and impact of educations systems on the harmonious fulfilment of individuals as well as on the development of communities”.
The publication of the report, which stresses the need for innovation in Africa and features several success stories, is especially timely in that it occurs a few weeks prior to the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education of which one plenary session will focus on African Higher Education.
This project is a joint initiative of the UNU and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) known as the Innovative Centre on Education Support in Africa and is lead by UNU Council Member Francisco Komlavi Seddoh.
Download the report:
Revitalizing Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (1.5 MB PDF)
New Director
Finn Tarp of Denmark Appointed Next Director of UNU-WIDER
2009.04.28 • The United Nations University (UNU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Finn Tarp as the next Director of the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). Director-Designate Tarp will take up the post on 1 September 2009. He succeeds Prof. Anthony Shorrocks, who served as UNU-WIDER Director from 1 January 2001 through 30 April 2009.
Since 2002, Prof. Tarp has been professor of development economics with the Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen, and since 2006 has also served as chair in development economics. Prior to that, he worked with the Institute of Economics at the university as associate professor and assistant professor and he also has served as coordinator of the Development Economics Research Group, a collaborative research initiative involving staff and Ph.D. students of the university’s Department of Economics.
“I welcome Prof. Tarp to the UNU family,” said UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder. “I am confident that he will take the UNU’s leading development economics institute in Helsinki to a new level of quality, activity, and outreach.”
New from UNU Press
Heads Up! Early Warning Systems for Climate, Water and Weather-Related Hazards
Edited by Michael H. Glantz
Heads Up! provides a useful review of early warning systems in operation today, while exploring a range of hazards including hurricanes, heat waves, floods, droughts, tsunami and volcanoes. With contributions from an international team of scientists, this practical handbook serves as a valuable contribution to our awareness and understanding of the role early warning systems play in disaster avoidance and reduction.
Download the UNU Press 2008-2009 catalogue
(7 MB PDF)
Global Seminar Series
UNU Global Seminars are held annually in Japan and abroad in an effort to increase awareness and enhance understanding of contemporary global issues and the role of the United Nations. This aim is achieved through close interaction of students and young professionals with scholars and experts working in the UNU's global networks.
International Courses
The UNU International Courses (UNU/IC) are organized annually for a select group of postgraduate students and professionals in various occupations in Japan and abroad who wish to pursue careers in international fields in public-service or private organizations
U Thant Lectures
The U Thant Distinguished Lecture Series is a forum through which eminent thinkers and world leaders speak on the role of the United Nations in addressing the challenges facing the world's peoples and nations in the twenty-first century.
UNU Library
The UNU Library plays a vital role in support of dissemination of the knowledge gained in UNU activities and assists learning and research through information resources.
UNU Video Portal
Tune in to UNU events as they happen, and on-demand. Recent additions to the UNU Video Portal:
- GEIC Symposium on Communities’ Responses to Climate Change
- Ecosystem Service Assessment Series: "An Eco-cultural Health Approach to the Assessment of Satoyama"
- International Women’s Day
Financial Assistance
The UNU Financial Assistance Programme is implemented by UNU with the generous assistance of the Government of Japan and JBIC which provides reimbursable funds to self-financed students from developing countries studying at junior colleges and universities in Japan.
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Page last modified 2009.07.03.
Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Achieve Universal Primary Education
Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Reduce Child Mortality
Improve Maternal Health
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Develop a Global Partnership for Development