Culture: UNESCO's Role and contribution (including activities since the International Mauritius Meeting of January 2005 and future activities)

Worldwide, there is increasing recognition of the intrinsic importance of culture to all aspects of the development process, reflected for example in the debates of the World Commission on Culture and Development and its report Our Creative Diversity. In respect to Small Island Developing States, this widening recognition was reflected in the increasing profile given to culture in the lead-up to the Mauritius International Meeting, and to the inclusion of ‘Culture’ in the updated Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States adopted in Mauritius. From its side, since its founding some sixty years ago, UNESCO has strived to emphasize the cultural foundations of the human endeavour. In contributing to the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy, UNESCO draws on a set of standard-setting instruments in the cultural field, in promoting cultural pluralism and intercultural dialogue, the protection of the world’s tangible and intangible heritage, and the development of cultural enterprises. ----------------------------- PROJECTS Mauritius International Meeting (MIM) Plenary Panel on Culture Normative action Cultural policies Memory of the World Protecting the tangible heritage Protection of underwater cultural heritage Oral and intangible heritage Promoting cultural assets and industries Remembrance of slavery and its abolition Heritage tourism and youth empowerment: YouthPATH-Caribbean Arts and crafts for Pacific livelihoods International Council for the Study of the Pacific Islands (ICSPI) Local and indigenous knowledge and small islands Youth Visioning for Island Living Participation Programme UNESCO Focal Points for Culture in SIDS Regions