The UNESCO Courier
The UNESCO Courier is a podcast from UNESCO that explores global issues through diverse perspectives. It draws on sound archives, magazine articles, and exclusive interviews to examine topics ranging from culture and education to science and more. The series continues the magazine's mission since 1948 to be a window onto the world and tell the story of a constantly changing world. It gives voice to scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers from all over the globe.
Épisodes
The power of Indigenous knowledge
As we face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the time-tested knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, paired with modern science, may well hold the key to our collective future.This podcast episode transports you to the four corners of the world, from the Brazilian Amazon to Samoa, via the African bushland and Sámi territory in Northern Europe, to find out how.We hear how traditional fire management,
Vanishing glaciers
Imagine a world without glaciers – a future defined by rising tides, drinking water scarcity, and a global ecosystem transformed. In the wake of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation 2025, this UNESCO Courier podcast investigates the "great melt" and the global urgency to act.The scale of the crisis is vast: Antarctica’s ice is melting three times faster than it was just a decade ago, w
Kate Raworth: rethinking economics for the 21st century
What if 20th-century economic models no longer fit today’s world? British economist Kate Raworth thinks it’s time for a rethink–and she’s sparking the shift with doughnut economics, a bold framework already shaping new policies in cities worldwide.Building on the work of thinkers like Herman Daly, who questioned endless growth in the 1980s, Kate Raworth’s doughnut-shaped model outlines a space whe
Sculpting peace: the secret garden of Isamu Noguchi
The UNESCO Headquarters in Paris are home to the Garden of Peace, a unique public landscape by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Open to visitors, the Japanese garden is distinguished by its organic shapes, gently-sloping paths, and ponds with arched bridges. Noguchi is known for his modernist sculptures, Akari lamps and the iconic coffee table, but few know that the creation of the UN
Peter Singer on ethical eating
Animals raised on factory farms often live in deplorable conditions. Knowing this doesn't stop us from eating meat. Why are we so indifferent to their suffering? Australian philosopher Peter Singer, one of the most influential intellectuals of his generation, has been addressing this blind spot in ethical thinking for more than fifty years. He has authored dozens of books, including Animal Liberat
The Nubia campaign: when UNESCO moves mountains
This is the story of one the greatest archeological rescue operations of all times. Under the aegis of UNESCO, over fifty countries put their differences aside in the midst of the Cold War to save temples and sites of ancient Egypt from drowning. Under threat from the rising waters of the Aswan Dam built in Egypt’s drive for modernization, they were in danger of being irrevocably lost.The campaign
