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.

The following events will mark the Day at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 10 November 2011:

Demonstration of the Global Microscience and Chemistry experiments
10:00-12:00, Open UNESCO, Hall Ségur
High school students will demonstrate the Global Microscience and Chemistry experiments in the Open UNESCO space in the morning. The Global Microscience Experiments Project is a hands-on science education project that gives primary and secondary school students as well as university students the opportunity to conduct practical work in physics, chemistry and biology, using kits that are veritable mini-laboratories. The Global Chemistry Experiment is a set of experiments developed by IUPAC and UNESCO for pupils of different ages to analyze the quality of water and learn how to treat their local water sources. They were developed in the framework of the International Year of Chemistry 2011.


Launch of the publication LHC (Large Hadron Collider)
13:00-13:30, Room IV
This publication richly illustrates the inner workings of CERN's Large Hadron Collider, showing the human dimension to this great scientific enterprise which aims to help us understand the origins of the Universe. An animated version of the text for schools will also be presented. The publication LHC (Large Hadron Collider) was co-published by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Lammerhuber and UNESCO Publishing.

• More information

Knowledge Systems, Knowledge Diversity, Knowledge Societies: Towards a UNESCO Policy on Engaging with Indigenous Peoples
13:20-15:00, Room IX
The event, hosted by Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO and co-chaired by Ms. Gretchen Kalonji, Assistant Director-General for the Natural Sciences and Ms Pilar Alvarez-Laso, Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences, will feature indigenous spokespersons at the highest-level from the three foremost UN institutions dealing with the rights of Indigenous Peoples: Mr James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Ms Myrna Cunningham, Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and Mr. Vital Bambanze, Chair, UN Expert Mechanism on Indigenous Peoples.

• More information

Related links:

• World Science Day for Peace and Development 2011  
• Local and Indigenous Knowledge Programme (LINKS) 
• From Green Economies to Green Societies (.pdf), UNESCO's vision for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20)