UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

41.18 The Commission then turned to the Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and Small
Islands (CSI) initiative. A large number of delegations expressed their continued strong support for the CSI
approach, which they acknowledged as truly intersectoral. Many speakers, especially from small island
developing States, supported the further development of CSI in view of its contribution to the processes initiated
through the Focus on the Caribbean, the Pacific and Indian Ocean islands events. The interdivisional and
intersectoral follow-up planned for the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management
was commented upon favourably by many delegates from Africa, as well as Finland.
41.19 The Commission then discussed the activities of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
(IOC). Wide support was expressed for IOC’s programmes and activities. The Commission amply debated the
revision of IOC’s Statutes, the work of IOC regional subsidiary bodies and the need to strengthen the staff of the
two secretariats outside Headquarters. Many delegates considered that the incompressible budget of IOC should
be augmented in the future. Other delegates supported specific IOC activities such as the implementation of the
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the Floating University Programme. After an extended debate, the
Commission recommended that the General Conference approve the modified Statutes of IOC, with the wording
proposed by the IOC Assembly at its twentieth session. The Commission also noted concerns raised about the
lack of African specialists on the IOC Council.
41.20 With your permission, ladies and gentlemen, I will now report on highlights of the debate covering
Subprogramme II.2.5, Social transformations and development. This subprogramme, of which the key elements
were raised in the introduction by the Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, comprises the
intergovernmental social science programme MOST, a special project on cities and the environment, and a
section on poverty alleviation in urban settings. An array of contemporary issues is addressed by the MOST
programme, notably the management of multicultural and multi-ethnic societies, international and rural-urban
migrations, strategies of populations living in remote areas for coping with technological and economic changes
spurred by globalization, and urban management. The ample and positive debate on this programme confirmed
the importance of these themes for Member States in all world regions.
41.21 The Commission hailed the mid-term evaluation of the MOST programme as an important and positive
step which should be the norm rather than the exception in UNESCO’s work as the Organization moves towards
more results-based programming and budgeting. Delegates appreciated the Secretariat’s response to the key
recommendation in the mid-term evaluation report. In this respect delegates supported the conclusion by the
external evaluation team that the programme in the coming two biennia should focus on promoting understanding
of how research results could better nourish the decision-making process. To assist the MOST programme in
continuing to make headway on this issue, the Netherlands announced its intention to host, in cooperation with
Norway, an international conference on social science research and governance from 21 to 22 March 2000.
Delegates expressed their appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of the MOST programme, both between the
social and natural sciences and within the social science disciplines, since this reflects the reality of many of
today’s contemporary social development problems. The many interventions calling for strengthening the
autonomy and increasing the budget of the social science programme also stressed the need to continue working
in an interdisciplinary manner.
41.22 The Commission gave its backing to a policy that would associate UNESCO’s overhauled statistical
programme and its future-oriented programmes with the social and human sciences programme. This will require
careful and attentive planning for document 31 C/5, as outlined in the intervention by the President of the MOST
Intergovernmental Council, Mr Kenneth Wiltshire, whose comments were widely supported. Many speakers
voiced their approval of the Executive Board decision that the MOST programme should act as the
Organization’s umbrella for research on poverty alleviation.
41.23 The MOST projects on Growing up in cities, the Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network, the
Circumpolar project on coping with globalization, and the revitalization of historic city centres, implemented
with cooperation from the Coastal Regions and Small Islands programme, received particular mention. The
Member States of the Pacific region expressed its support for MOST activities and noted the establishment of
new MOST national liaison committees in Papua New Guinea, Israel and Cape Verde. The MOST Clearing
House was mentioned as a useful means for communicating the programme’s output.
41.24 Madam President, in referring to the special project on Cities: management of social transformations the
delegate from Senegal expressed his hope that the Yeumbeu project would yield specific best practice that could
be of use to peri-urban poverty-stricken areas in other countries. This project was winding down and should
produce material that would effectively demonstrate its utility and impact. A strong reference to the main line of
action, poverty alleviation, was made by the Islamic Republic of Iran to highlight the increasing feminization of
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