International Years

UNESCO participates in the celebration of the following International Years, most of them proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations:

• 2015 - International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (Resolution A/RES/68/221)
• 2014 - International Year of Crystallography (Resolution A/RES/66/284; implemented by UNESCO)
• 2014 - International Year of Small Island Developing States (Resolution A/RES/67/206; UN web site)
• 2014 - International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (Resolution A/RES/68/12)
• 2013 - Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 (not a UN international year, under the patronage of UNESCO)
• 2013 - International Year of Water Cooperation (Resolution A/RES/65/154; Coordinated by UNESCO on behalf of UN-Water)
• 2012 - International year of Cooperatives (Resolution 64/136)
• 2011 - International Year of Chemistry
• 2011 - International Year of Forests
• 2010 - International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures
• 2010 - International Year of Biodiversity
• 2009 - International Year of Reconciliation
• 2009 - International Year of Astronomy
• 2009 - Year of the Gorilla
• 2008 - International Year of Planet Earth
• 2008 - International Year of Languages
• 2005 - International Year for Sport and Physical Education
• 2004 - International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition
• 2003 - International Year of Freshwater
• 2002 - United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage

For a comprehensive list of all years the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies observe see International Years.