World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated each year on 10 November. UNESCO is happy to announce that the theme of this year’s World Science Day for Peace and Development focuses on the role of science, 'Towards green societies: equity, inclusiveness, participation'.

The 2011 Celebration of World Science Day is organized within the context of the Rio+20 Summit and is a tangible example of UNESCO’s efforts in encouraging the agenda of Rio+20 and its commitment to the promotion of 'Green Societies'. The objective of this year’s celebration is to engage people, including the scientific community, on the role of science towards Green Societies.

This strategy of the organization follows the call of the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, to broaden the discussion of Green Economies to 'Green Societies'. Green Societies means equity in science within all sectors of society, equity between men and women; equity between countries participating in and contributing to the global stock of knowledge. This involves a more holistic approach to the developmental agenda. It also involves sustaining positive social transformations and sustainability policies. In this context, inclusiveness means creative inclusive policy integrating the vision of people in science, including traditional knowledge systems in scientific processes while participation refers to creating opportunities for people to be involved in science and to participate in decision making in science.

The Rio+20 Summit will take place in Brazil on 4-6 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

Read the Director-General’s message.

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Programme of activities at UNESCO headquarters in Paris