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- Volume 2021, Issue 3, 2021
The UNESCO Courier - Volume 2021, Issue 3, 2021
Volume 2021, Issue 3, 2021
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Wide Angle: Restoring Biodiversity, Reviving Life: Pandemics: Humans Are The Culprits
Author: John VidalIn 1997, I went to Borneo to investigate fires which had been raging uncontrolled for months across a vast area of pristine tropical forest. An intense El Niño event had triggered a deep drought, and a thick yellow haze had settled over much of Indonesia, Malaysia, and beyond.
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Indigenous Peoples: Informed Custodiansof Biodiversity
Authors: Peter Bates and Prasert TrakansuphakonThe Karen inhabitants of the village of Hin Lad Nai, nestled in the lush forests of Chiang Rai province in northern Thailand, have practised rotational shifting cultivation for centuries. This sustainable slash-and-burn cultivation technique – once mistakenly criticized for contributing to climate change – has been used around the world to regenerate the land and support biodiversity.
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Species Migration: A Silent Revolution
Author: Jonathan LenoirThere are changes taking place all over the planet, at all latitudes. Most often, we are unaware of them. And yet they are altering the distribution ranges of the species on which we depend directly. This redistribution of living things is the tangible manifestation of the invisible movement of isotherms – imaginary lines of the same mean temperature that move towards the poles and mountain peaks like waves, driven by global warming.
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Africa: Mountain Gorillas Make A Comeback
Author: Baker Batte LuleThere was a time, not long ago, when communities around Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park were the mountain gorillas’ worst enemies. When the gorillas crossed their gardens, the inhabitants living close to these dense green rainforests would sound an alarm to confront the animals, who were viewed as a menace. This almost certainly resulted in the deaths of many endangered mountain gorillas.
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Islands: Fragile Showcases Of Biodiversity
Authors: Dena R. Spatz and Nick D. HolmesIslands all have distinct ages, geographical locations, and degrees of isolation. These characteristics make each island unique – allowing them to house ecosystems with concentrations of flora and fauna found nowhere else. Some of these species evolve rare traits – such as gigantism, dwarfism, and flightlessness.
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Protecting Cetaceans In The Yangtze
Author: Wang DingAs part of my work at the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan since 1982, I spent twenty years with Qi Qi [pronounced chee-chee], the world’s only captive baiji Yangtze River Dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer, “the flag-bearer who was left behind”).
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Australia: After The Bushfires
Author: Gary NunnWhen you walk into a forest that’s been burnt this badly, the overwhelming thing that hits you is the silence. No bird-song. No rustling of leaves. Silence.” This is how Mike Clarke, professor of zoology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, described Australia’s many forests that were recently decimated by the country’s worst bushfires.
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Cities: Widlife Thrives In Concrete Jungles
Author: Loïc ChauveauParakeets in the parks of Brussels, Amsterdam and London, wild plants thriving on asphalt, industrial buildings invaded by bats or birds of prey – recent studies show the astonishing ability of certain species to acclimatize to the noisy and densely populated environment of a city.
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Zoom: Titicaca: The Sacred Lake Reveals Its Secrets
Author: Katerina MarkelovaIt has been lying at a depth of six metres for nearly five centuries. Yet the Inca stone offering box found in Lake Titicaca in 2014 emerged almost intact from the water. Inside the box was a miniature shell figurine of a llama, and a rolled cylindrical gold sheet – signs of religiosity and power in the Inca Empire.
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Ideas: What Our Favourite Tv Programmes Say About Us
Author: Dara GreenwoodThis past year, many of us have turned to familiar or absorbing television shows as a soothing diversion from the daily threat and isolation of a worldwide pandemic. At a basic level, our media “diets” reflect our desire to be entertained, or to escape, however briefly, from personal stress, tedium, or loneliness.
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In Depth: The State Of Science Across The Globe
Author: Mila IbrahimovaIn 2015, countries pledged to spend more on research as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) when they committed to the Sustainable Development Goals. According to the UNESCO Science Report: The race against time for smarter development, released in June 2021, research spending actually increased by 19.2 per cent between 2014 and 2018 – with almost half of this growth driven by China alone.
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