The UNU report examines higher educational in Africa, including pedagogy and teaching tools; it further presents a synthesis of research on education in Africa and offers recommendations for innovative reform.

A seminar held on 22 April at UNU-IAS in Yokohama examined the intersection of peacebuilding, environmental change, and natural resources, and their linkage to conflict.

This UNU Press book explores the role of early warning systems in defending against the adverse effects of climate, water, weather and geologic hazards.

On 2 April, UNU and Kirin Holdings marked the successful completion of the 2008–2009 UNU-Kirin Fellowship Programme with an award ceremony for the programme’s five graduates.

Two Japanese government ministries and the Japan Foundation for UNU hosted a reception on 26 March to celebrate the establishment of the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace.

Who’s leading the race for the most fuel efficient cars of the future? What’s involved in planning an “eco-wedding”? Check out the newest articles in UNU’s Our World 2.0.

To commemorate International Women’s Day 2009, the UNU joined with 15 other UN-related organizations in Japan to hold a public forum at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo on Friday, 6 March. The forum’s theme drew attention to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s multi-year (2008–2015) campaign “UNite to End Violence against Women”.

In a message read at the forum, Secretary-General Ban warned that the consequences of socially ingrained violence against women “go beyond the visible and immediate. Death, injury, medical costs and lost employment are but the tip of an iceberg. The impact on women and girls, their families, their communities and their societies in terms of shattered lives and livelihoods is beyond calculation. Far too often, crimes go unpunished, and perpetrators walk free.”

In late February, African and Japanese university-based experts in teaching sustainable development met in Tokyo to launch a UNU project on Education for Sustainable Development in Africa.

On 17 February, UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder and Vice-Rectors Parayil and Takeuchi met with the Japanese Minister of the Environment to discuss continued cooperation between the UNU and the Ministry of the Environment.

This UNU Press book explores the evolution within the world’s major religions of attitudes and teachings related to the ethics of war, linking historical roots and interpretations to the challenges of modern warfare.

The strengthening alliance between scientists and curators in the battle to save some of humanity’s greatest art and cultural treasures was the focus of a four-day international conference in Caracas, co-sponsored by UNU-BIOLAC.

“Storing and protecting entire collections safely has become a priority and scientists have a key role: developing techniques and procedures that are fundamental to heritage conservation,” said UNU-BIOLAC Director José-Luis Ramirez.

Many of the world’s cultural treasures are made of organic materials such as paper, canvas, wood and leather which, in prolonged warmth and dampness, attract mould, micro-organisms and insects, causing decay and disintegration. Biotechnology techniques discussed at the conference include the use of micro-organisms to remove fungus on paintings, photos, documents and masonry.

The three-day international conference on sustainability science focused on topics critical to the promotion of sustainability science, including climate change, food and water, and sustainability education.

January 22 marked the centenary of the birth of U Thant who, in 1969 as UN Secretary-General, first proposed the creation of the United Nations University.

This 21 January symposium highlighted the need for reform of international institutions to better reflect 21st-century realities and more effectively deal with evolving threats.

On Friday, 16 January 2009, the UNU Office of Communications held the fifth in its ongoing series of Media/NGO Gatherings.

On 1 January 2009, the United Nations University combined the UNU Environment and Sustainable Development Programme and UNU Peace and Governance Programme to create the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP).

While there are many peace institutes and environmental institutes around the world, UNU-ISP is unique in that its innovative approach to sustainability combines both topics. UNU-ISP aspires to achieve a greater understanding of the broad, intersecting themes that extend across three of the most-pressing issues on the UN agenda: (i) global change and sustainability, (ii) international cooperation and development, and (iii) peacebuilding and security.

UNU’s Our World 2.0 web magazine has won the 2008 Weblog Award for Best Blog Design. In the field of 10 finalists, Our World 2.0 received 31% of the votes, 4% more than the second-place finisher.

The Weblog Awards are the world’s largest blog competition. In 2008, more than 933,000 votes were cast in 48 categories over seven days of…

In December 2008, the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security celebrated the fifth anniversary of its establishment in Bonn, Germany, with the publication of the report Five Years: UNU in Bonn.

In November, the UNU and UNCCD signed a memorandum of understanding to combine resources aimed at tackling the mounting challenge of forced migration caused by desertification, land degradation and drought.

The United Nations University Vice Rectorate in Europe — in collaboration with UNU Vice-Rector Govindan Parayil, who is in charge of e-learning at the UNU Headquarters, and the UNU Media Studio — hosted a strategic workshop on 26 and 27 November 2008 at the UN Campus in Bonn.

This two-day workshop explored the role of e-learning at…

The UNU-ViE is helping to implement a project aimed at introducing e-learning into East African universities in the area of watershead management education.

The UNU’s Environmental Monitoring and Governance in the Asian Coastal Hydrosphere project was established 12 years ago with support from Japan’s Shimadzu Corp.

The UNU’s first Our World 2.0 VideoBrief documentary, “The Electric Sunflower”, looks at Japanese ex-racecar driver Yoshio Takaoka and his quest to develop and market electric cars.

In a lecture at UNU Centre, Colombian vice president Francisco Santos discussed the devastating effects that cocaine production has on the environment of Colombia.