The UNESCO Future Forum series aims at fostering the reflection on key future-oriented issues in the domains of the Organization. These events launched in 2009 under the auspices of the Intersectoral Platform on Anticipation and Foresight are conceived as a contribution to a global debate on some of the key challenges of our time. Each session brings together leading scientists, intellectuals, artists and decision-makers from all parts of the world in a spirit of forward-looking interdisciplinary enquiry.

Several Forums took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France) and at other locations in various regions of the world:

2014

• 26-28 May: All Africa Futures Forum: Transforming Africa’s Future, Johannesburg, South Africa

2013

• 6 December: Decolonizing African Futures: Exploring and Realigning Alternative Systems, UNESCO Headquarters.
• 11March: Imagining Africa’s Future: Beyond Models of Catch-up and Convergence?, UNESCO Headquarters.
• 27 February: Exploring the Dynamics of Knowledge Societies: Using the Future to Shape Transformative Policies, UNESCO Headquarters, organised within the framework of the WSIS+10 Review Meeting.

2012

• 16 April: Paris-Nishan Forum on "Confucianism and New Humanism in a Globalized World", UNESCO Headquarters, co-organized with the Confucius Institute Headquarters.
• 12 April: Global Water Futures 2050+
• 24 January: The Arab Spring - a Year After - Egyptian Perspectives, UNESCO Headquarters, organized in collaboration with the Permanent Delegation of the Arab Republic of Egypt to UNESCO.

2011

• 27-28 June: 9th Euro-China Forum on "New Humanism in a Globalizing World", UNESCO Headquarters, organized in partnership with the China-Europe International Business School in Shanghai (CEIBS).
• 24 May: "Challenges of a Green Economy and Green Societies: Attitudes, Policies, Governance", UNESCO Headquarters, organized in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and Collegium International - French version of the proceedings.

2010

• 13 September: "UN Women: The New UN Framework for Gender Equality", UNESCO Future Forum, UNESCO Headquarters.
• 9-11 September: "Gender Equality: The Missing Link? Rethinking the Internationally Agreed Development Goals beyond 2015", UNESCO Future Forum, Athens, Greece.
• 8 July 2010: "Small Island Developing States (SIDS), with special emphasis on the Caribbean - the challenges for international development cooperation in the 2010's", UNESCO Future Forum, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

2009

• 10 December: "The special needs of Middle-Income Countries in the context of Development", UNESCO Future Forum, Montevideo, Uruguay.
• 25 November: "New approaches to Science Education: What role for UNESCO?", UNESCO Future Forum, UNESCO Headquarters.
• 26 October: "Mitigating Climate Change - Building a Global Green Society", UNESCO Future Forum, UNESCO Headquarters.
• 21 August: "Moving Towards a Green Economy and Green Jobs" - session organized in China just prior to the launch of the newly created Eco-Forum Guiyang (EFG).
• 9 June: “The Discoveries of Genomics: Towards a New Industrial Revolution” – session organized within the framework of the International Economic Forum of the Americas in Montreal, Canada.
• 11 May: "The Future Forum on Knowledge Acquisition and Sharing", UNESCO Headquarters.
• 7 May: “Investing out of the Crisis and Towards a Green Economy through Action in the Social Domains” – session organized within the framework of the World Civic Forum 2009 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• 2 March: "The Global Financial and Economic Crisis: What Impact on Multilateralism and UNESCO?", UNESCO Headquarters.