Natural Sciences
Asia & the Pacific
Australia
- © UNESCO
- The Great Barrier Reef contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs
The country is covered by the UNESCO Cluster Office in Apia, Samoa.
Australia counts with a rich biodiversity and a variety of ecosystems, as reflected by the number of biosphere reserves (13) and Natural Wormd Heritage Sites (15).
In a land plagued by drought but endowed with numerous natural resources, it is deeply invested in the exploration of Earth’s history, formation and processes, extending its interest to include projects as diverse as dryland change and the development of Ventian biota.
It has been heavily involved with the establishment of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS). The Secretariat for IOTWS is based in Perth, Western Australia.
Below you can access the projects that are currently being implemented in the country within the framework of UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector.
Freshwater
- Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy programme (HELP) projects:
- Asian Pacific Flow Regimes from the International Experimental and Network Data (Asian Pacific FRIEND)
People, Biodiversity and Ecology
- Global change and mountain regions (GLOCHAMORE)
- Biosphere Reserves (WNBRs)
Oceans
- UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s (IOC) Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System programme (IOTWS)
- Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS)
- Pacific Islands Global Ocean Observing System (PI-GOOS)
Earth Sciences
- Triassic Time and Trans-Panthalassan Correlations (IGCP, Project 467)
- Images of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle (IGCP, Project 474)
- Deltas in the Monsoon Asia-Pacific region (DeltaMAP) (IGCP, Project 475)
- Monsoon evolution and tectonics-climate linkage in East Asia and its marginal seas during the late Cenozoic (IGCP, Project 476)
- Sustainable Use of Platinum Group Elements (IGCP, Project 479)
- Structural and Tectonic Correlation across the Central Asia Orogenic Collage: Implications for Continental Growth and Intracontinental Deformation (IGCP, Project 480)
- Dating Caspian Sea Level Change (CASPAGE) (IGCP, Project 481)
- The role of Holocene environmental catastrophes in human history (IGCP, Project 490)
- Middle Palaeozoic vertebrate biogeography, palaeogeography and climate (IGCP, Project 491)
- The rise and fall of the Vendian biota: Palaeoenvironmental, palaeoclimatic and plate tectonic controls on the preservation and biodiversity of the Vendian biota with a bomparison of Gondwana and northern assemblages (IGCP, Project 493)
- Quaternary Land-Ocean Interactions (IGCP, Project 495)
- Devonian land-sea interaction: evolution of ecosystems and climate (IGCP, Project 499)
- Dryland Change: Past, Present, Future (IGCP, Project 500)
- Global Comparison of Volcanic-hosted Massive Sulphide Districts (IGCP, Project 502)
- Ordovician palaeogeography and palaeoclimate (IGCP, Project 503)
- Marine and Non-marine Jurassic: Global correlation and major geological events (IGCP, Project 506)
- Palaeoproterozoic Supercontinents and Global Evolution (IGCP, Project 509)
- Global correlation of A-type granites and related rocks, their mineralization, and significance in lithospheric evolution (IGCP, Project 510)
- Submarine Mass Movements and their Consequences (IGCP, Project 511)
- Neoproterozoic Ice Ages (IGCP, Project 512)
- Karst Aquifers and Water Resources (IGCP, Project 513)
- Fluvial Palaeosystems: Evolution and Mineral Deposits (IGCP, Project 514)
- Geological Anatomy of East and South East Asia (IGCP, Project 516)
- Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor during the last 30,000 years: Sea level change and human adaptation (IGCP, Project 521)
- Arc-Continent Collision (IGCP, Project 524)
- Risks Resources and the Record of the Past on the Continental Shelf (IGCP, Project 526)
- Diamonds, xenoliths and kimberlites (IGCP, Project 557)
Sciences Policy and Sustainable Development
- Establishing Science and Technology Parks More
Renewable Energy
- Renewable Energy Technologies in Australia and New Zealand [PDF format - 162 Ko]