Contact Person: Dr. Francesca Santoro
Role: WP5 leader (Mobilisation: Marine Governance)
Email: f.santoro@unesco.org
UNESCO's mission is to contribute to the building of peace, poverty eradication, lasting development and intercultural dialogue, with education as one of its principal activities to achieve this aim. The Organisation is committed to a holistic and humanistic vision of quality education worldwide, the realisation of everyone’s right to education, and the belief that education plays a fundamental role in human, social and economic development. UNESCO’s educational objectives are to support the achievement of Education for All (EFA); to provide global and regional leadership in education; to strengthen education systems worldwide from early childhood to the adult years; to respond to contemporary global challenges through education. As the only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education, UNESCO’s work encompasses educational development from preschool through to higher education, including technical and vocational education and training, non-formal education and literacy. The Organisation focuses on increasing equity and access, improving quality, and ensuring that education develops knowledge and skills in areas such as sustainable development, HIV and AIDS, human rights and gender equality. UNESCO works with governments and a wide range of partners to make education systems more effective through policy change.
UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) promotes international cooperation and coordinates programs in marine research, services, observation systems, hazard mitigation, and capacity development in order to understand and effectively manage the resources of the ocean and coastal areas. By applying this knowledge, the Commission aims to improve the governance, management, institutional capacity, and decision-making processes of its Member States with respect to marine resources and to foster sustainable development of the marine environment, in particular in developing countries. IOC coordinates ocean observation and monitoring through the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) which aims to develop a unified network providing information and data exchange on the physical, chemical, and biological aspects of the ocean. Governments, industry, scientists, and the public use this information to act on marine issues. IOC’s work in ocean observation and science contributes to building the knowledge base of the science of climate change. IOC also coordinates and fosters the establishment of regional intergovernmental coordinating tsunami warning and mitigation systems in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in the North East Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. The support to its Member States in the implementation of the IOC’s intergovernmental programmes is also implemented through educational activities.
Key Personnel Involved:
Dr. Francesca Santoro is a programme specialist whose main roles are: Technical Secretariat for the North-eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System, coordination of the Tsunami Information Centre for NEAMTWS, and coordination of WP for the FP7 EU Project on Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Mediterranean and Black Sea. She was awarded her PhD; ‘Operationalising Sustainable Development: A Transdisciplinary approach to coastal planning’ in 2007. Francesca has extensive experience, writing and delivering EU projects such as DG ECHO NEAMTIC (North-eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Information Centre) and EU FP7 PEGASO (People for Ecosystem based Governance for Assessing Sustainable Development of Oceans and coasts).
Dr. Peter Pissierssens