HIST SIGNS ITS FIRST MOU FOR COOPERATION WITH AFRICAN PARTNER

Mr. Hong Tianhua, Executive Deputy Director of HIST and Prof. Natarajan Ishwaran, State Recruited Expert of HIST/AIR attended the 27th session of MAB/ICC convened at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France from 8 to 12 June 2015.
Mr. Hong and Prof. Michel Baudouin, Director of the Regional Post-Graduate Training School of Integrated Management of Tropical Forests and Lands (referred to by its French acronym, ERAIFT) signed an MOU to promote collaboration for applications for space technologies for conservation, monitoring, management and sustainable development of UNESCO designated World Heritage sites, biosphere reserves and geoparks, particularly those within Congo basin rainforests in Central Africa.
Launched in 1999, as a joint UNESCO-European Union project, ERAIFT, located in Kinshasa, the capitol of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) enrolls 20-30 students at the Master and Doctorate level Programs from all parts of Africa to address conservation, monitoring, management and sustainable development problems and issues of tropical forests and lands (see: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/capacity-building-and-partnerships/eraift/; http://www.eraift-rdc.org/). It has an international staff and a number of academic departments as well as a remote sensing laboratory.
That signing ceremony took place at 11:30 hours on 9 June 2015 during the 27th session of the MAB/ICC and was witnessed by representatives of a majority of the 35 Member States of the MAB/ICC (for the List of UNESCO Member States that are Members of the MAB/ICC, please see http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SC/pdf/sc_mab_members_icc2013_en.pdf) attending the session as well as several Members of the Secretariat of the MAB Program at UNESCO Headquarters. The details of the MOU were discussed when a Delegation of ERAIFT/UNESCO-MAB participated in the 6th training workshop of the East Asian Biosphere Reserves (EABRN) Network on “Sustainable Management of Biosphere Reserves” held in Wudalianchi Biosphere Reserve of China during 20-30 May 2015. In implementing the MOU, HIST and ERAIFT will collaborate closely on joint China-Africa research, development and capacity building initiatives for the conservation, monitoring, management and sustainable development of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves both in China and in African Member States of UNESCO.
Mr. Hong contributed to discussions of the 27th session of the MAB/ICC on other themes and issues. He was part of a panel held on 11th June 2015 on ways and means of promoting collaboration among UNESCO sectors. He described briefly the history, vision, mission, strategic and action plans and on-going projects and activities of HIST as a UNESCO Category 2 Centre and noted that applications of space technologies for addressing place-specific environmental, social, cultural, communicational and educational problems and opportunities in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves could be an interesting way to promote collaboration among UNESCO sectors. He informed the participants of the 27th session of the MAB/ICC results and outcome of the 1st Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO Designated places and Sustainable Development convened jointly by HIST, its host institution - The Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Huangshan Administrative Committee, Anhui Province, China. The outcome of the Huangshan Dialogue was a clear indicator of the value of UNESCO designated places, namely World Heritage sites, biosphere reserves and global geoparks, and how their site-specific conservation, monitoring, management and sustainable development issues and problems could provide substantial bases for promoting collaboration among UNESCO sectors and their partners.
Mr. Hong further reiterated the importance of space technology applications for UNESCO designated places during MAB/ICC discussions during the afternoon of 11 June on ways and means of integrating management of UNESCO sites which simultaneously enjoy two or more designations. Jeju Island of the Republic of Korea is currently the only site that has World Heritage, international biosphere reserve and global geopark status. Many other sites in several countries enjoy twin designation status. For example, Huangshan in China is World Heritage and Global Geopark; Wudalianchi is Biosphere Reserve and Global Geopark; and Jiuzhaigou is World Heritage and Biosphere Reserve, respectively.
Mr. Hong’s interventions on the 11th June during the 27th session of the MAB/ICC raised the interests of participants on the work of HIST and in particular the outcome of the 1st Huangshan Dialogue. They were also interested to learn from Mr. Hong that the 2nd Huangshan Dialogue is scheduled to be organized in the latter half of 2016 and on-going discussions between HIST and the Huangshan Administrative Committee to establish the Huangshan Dialogue as a permanent biennial forum on UNESCO places, global issues and problems of importance to sustainable development and the contributions space and other technologies, tools and approaches to enable UNESCO Member States to make the best use of UNESCO designated places as learning sites and laboratories for meeting their obligations and commitments to implement international conventions and programs relevant to sustainable development futures.
During their stay from 8 to 12 June 2015, Mr. Hong and Prof. Ishwaran met with both Mr. Kishore Rao, Director of the World Heritage Centre and Mr. Han Qunli, Secretary of the MAB Program to brief them on progress of HIST’s on-going projects and initiatives as well as on plans and ideas for the 2nd Huangshan Dialogue expected to be convened in the latter half of 2016. Mr. Hong, in the company of Mr. Yi Zhijun, Science Counselor for the Permanent Delegation of China to UNESCO, also met with the Assistant Director General of the Natural Sciences Sector of UNESCO, Ms. Flavia Schlegel and informed her of HIST’s plans for convening the 2nd Huangshan Dialogue during the latter half of 2016. He also conveyed to Ms. Schlegel, the wish of HIST, AIR, CAS as well as the Huangshan Administrative Committee to have the presence of Ms. Schlegel, as well as that of Ms. Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO, at the inaugural session of the 2nd Huangshan Dialogue. Further discussions on this as well as other matters relating to the organization of the 2nd Huangshan Dialogue will be taken up for discussion with Ms. Schlegel, and hopefully also with the Director General of UNESCO, when Mr. Hong and others from HIST/AIR will attend the 38th session of the UNESCO General Conference during 3-18 November 2015 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.