UNESCO Courier articles from December 2000

UNESCO Courier archives from December 2000

The Trans--Siberian's grand bazaar.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... From Moscow to Beijing, travellers have five days to indulge their nostalgia in a legendary journey alongside adventurers and the odd bit of illegal trade It takes more than five days to get from Beijing to Moscow through Mongolia--no trip...

When the rain in Spain is not enough.(water supply)
December 1, 2000... Spain uses vast quantities of water. To meet its country's needs, the government has resorted to technical solutions such as diverting the Ebro river--a project that many people have condemned for squandering a precious resource What we...

FREE OR FOREIGN : THE WATER BATTLE IN BOLVIA.(privatizing water supply)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Should water be supplied by local authorities or private companies? A violent conflict in Bolivia has recently shown that both can work, but only if the wishes of consumers are taken into account A bill to privatize Bolivia's...

Hands on: in this museum, touching is the rule.(La Caixa Foundation Science Museum in Barcelona)
December 1, 2000... Jorge Wagensberg eavesdrops on visitors to the science museum he runs in Barcelona. The conversations he overhears enable him to imagine the perfect museum--a place that speaks to all the senses, especially touch Some time ago I got into...

HERITAGE, A LESSON IN GIVING AND RECEIVING.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... This voyage is a personal one: seven writers share their vision of a small selection of wonders chosen from the 630 cultural and natural sites on UNESCO'S World Heritage List. The Senegalese poet Charles Carrere sets forth his approach to...

The past is not just made of stone.(World Heritage sites)
December 1, 2000... The world's heritage is about more than monuments and natural wonders--the intangible ideas and beliefs that make up our collective memory also have their rightful place What is the common thread running through the UNESCO World Heritage...

The soul of Suzhou's gardens.
December 1, 2000... The Suzhou gardens in southern China recreate nature in miniature to celebrate the harmony between heaven and Earth. An initiate guides us along their winding paths, decoding a host of refined symbols In the 13th century, the Venetian...

Irrigating time with the Kinderdijk windmills.
December 1, 2000... It's impossible to picture the Netherlands without windmills, but they have done far more than inspire the great Flemish painters. Without them, half the country wouldn't exist As a child, I thought of windmills as helicopters flying over...

The treasures in Mauritania's dunes.(ancient trading centers)
December 1, 2000... Once, Mauritania's ksours were thriving centres of trade and learning. Today, the country is struggling to save them from sand, wind and oblivion Waves of white, beige and red sand incessantly blow from the north and south, crashing...

Guanajuato: fortunes made of silver.(Mexico)
December 1, 2000... Once home to the world's largest silver mine, this Mexican town has bred many zealous and fiercely devout souls. Today, flocks of tourists, university students and a prestigious theatre festival kindle its spirit Nestled in a narrow gorge...

Dancing anew on the stairways to heaven.(Banaue rice terraces)
December 1, 2000... Safeguarding the spectacular rice terraces of the Philippines begins with preserving the culture of those who created them. In August, after nearly 50 years of silence, the drums of Ifugao priests once again resounded across the mountains of...

Jemaa-el-Fna's thousand and one night.(Morocco's oral tradition)
December 1, 2000... The oral traditions of Marrakesh's famous square are unique in the world for their richness and variety. They are also the roots of a new concept: humanity's oral and intangible heritage My first contact with oral tradition on Marrakesh's...

Striking where it hurts.(overcoming political corruption)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2000... Civic groups in Korea led an unprecedented campaign to blacklist corrupt politicians in recent elections, but the old guard is blocking the will to reform There is an old saying in South Korea that if a man rose to high political office,...

Striking where it hurts A THAI CRUSADE FOR CLEAN POLITICS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2000... New watchdogs now have the teeth to fight corruption but old-style politics aren't going to disappear overnight. Some say this will take no less than a revolution in political culture Not a day goes by in Thailand without some new tale of...

Jerusalem: source of sound and fury.(Temple Mount)
December 1, 2000... In a small precinct of Jerusalem's Old City, 4,000 years of history have generated a religious, symbolic and mythical intensity unmatched anywhere in the world Israelis and Palestinians do agree upon at least one point: their most recent...

When computers chip away at our memories.
December 1, 2000... Galloping advances in information technology promise to give us instant access to all the world's knowledge. But how will human memory fare against the rise of the super-machine? If the architects of technology's next great leap forward are...

Ian Tattersall: the humans we left behind.(prehistoric people)(Interview)
December 1, 2000... A world renown paleoanthropologist cuts down old notions of our family tree to reveal a host of unknown ancestors: extinct human species Like most people, I was taught to think of human evolution as a linear chain, with a "missing link"...