Two years after cutting off financial contributions to UNESCO, the United States of America lost its voting rights late last year (2013). UNESCO has been greatly supported by the U.S. since its inception and many experts and diplomats believe that this latest development will greatly undermine America’s ability to exercise its influence in countries around the globe through the United Nations agency’s educational and aid programs.
Under UNESCO’s constitution, any country that fails to pay dues for two years loses its vote in the UNESCO general assembly. The United States ceased all support for the agency in 2011, in response to a vote at UNESCO giving Palestinians full membership, and it was the first time that the U.S. had voluntarily given up its vote in a UN organization. The U.S. Congress enacted laws in the 1990s decreeing that the United States stop providing money to any United Nations agency that accepts Palestinians as full members.
UNESCO has expressed regret over the outcome and stated that what has happened is not some kind of punishment on behalf of UNESCO for nonpayment, but the rules and the organization feel very sorry as it has lost it’s biggest contributor as well as miss the voice of the U.S. on issues like freedom of expression and girls’ education.
Late in 2013, during the UNESCO general conference in Paris, The American ambassador to UNESCO, David T. Killion, spoke about the recent developments and noted that the U.S. had been involved in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization since its beginnings in 1945 and promised that it would remain involved. He praised UNESCO for its role in consensus and peace building, saying the agency was important for American work abroad.
According to the reports, before withdrawing its financial support, the U.S. provided about $70 million, or 22 percent, of the agency’s annual budget, and the suspension was felt almost immediately. Some UNESCO staff members were laid off and programs and projects delayed, including some that potentially could have benefited the United States. In response, UNESCO created an emergency fund and got contributions from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Norway and other countries.

It has been less than three years since the pest by the name of fungus Buxicola cylindrocladium became prevalent in the forests of Northern part of Iran. During 2012 summer, disease symptoms and severe defoliation of boxwood trees were seen in two areas. This pest specifically attacks the leaves and branches of the Buxus hyrcana.  Based on the latest assessments around 55,000 acre of the forests of the northern part of Iran are affected by this fungus.

Boxwood (Buxus hyrcana Pojark) is one of the protected evergreen trees species that grow as compact colonies in the preserved forests of the Caspian Sea region of Iran. The Buxus hyrcana is one of the most outstanding and unique species of Hyrcanian forest of northern part of Iran, and southern part of the Caspian Sea. It is also believed to be the relics of the third geology era and is one of the first species trees ever to exist. The Buxus hyrcana or scientific name of Buxus hyrcana Pojark is in the list of endangered plant species of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

It is believed that several reasons have contributed to the current crisis and these include: decreased amount of precipitation; increasing temperature; and imported wood affected by disease-causing fungus. Unfortunately, no major prevention and treatment measures have been undertaken by the authorities and no public awareness steps have so far been offered.

If you are interested in a career combining science, social sciences, and archeology, and working on focusing the preservation of archeological artifacts and sites, this could be a great degree for you.

ARCHMAT is a 2-years Erasmus Mundus Master Course (120 European Credit Transfer Scheme – ECTS) within a consortium of 3 HEI (Evora-UE, Rome-UNIROMA1, Thessaloniki-AUTH) as full partners, 5 HEI (Avignon-UA, Palermo-UNIPA, Zaragoza-UNIZAR-ICMA, Fez-UF and Rio de Janeiro-UERJ) and 3 non HEI Research centres  (Laboratorio Jose Figueiredo/Instituto dos Museus e da Conservacao-IMC, Scientific Laboratory Musei Vaticani-MV, Archaeological Museum of AIANI) as associated members, providing students with specialized skills in archaeology and analytical charaterization of materials from prehistory (megalithic) to classical times (Greek and Roman).

The study and conservation of Cultural Heritage materials is a research area with a strong multidisciplinary connotation and requires skills that span across the Humanities and Science research fields. ARCHMAT provides a common, integrated platform for high quality students coming from different educational backgrounds (Science and Humanities) to understand the advanced scientific methods used to investigate archaeological materials and aims to form highly specialized professional experts in the emerging field of Archaeometry, i.e.  Physical Sciences applied to the study of Archaeological and Cultural Heritage materials.

For more information and/or to apply for this degree program, you can visit:

http://www.erasmusmundus-archmat.uevora.pt/overview.html

We thank Professor Nick Schiavon, University of Evora, Portugal and the Coordinator for ARCHMAT: ERASMUS MUNDUS Master in ARCHaeological MATerials Science for sending us information about this program.

The Iranian Cave-fish Iranocypris typhlops is one of the rare and endemic Iranian species of our time. Iranocypris typhlops, the Iran cave barb, is a species of ray-finned fish in the Cyprinidae family, and the only member of the monotypic genus Iranocypris. It is endangered species which inhabits a cave in Lorestan province in Iran and is considered to be the first true cave fish in the world (freshwater, cave dwelling species). It was registered as one of the national heritage species in Iran in 2005, and it has been recognized as a vulnerable species for its threatened habitat according to the IUCN Red Data Book since 1990.

Many factors have contributed to the present situation and currently threatening the existence of this unique species. These factors include: Human intrusion of their living cave, lack of funding for researchers for further research and improvement of the conditions, accumulated agricultural waste in the water and as a result in the cave, inadequate environmental monitoring, lack of additional fish-farms outside the fish’s natural living zone (for additional breeding) and small populations of fish.

Lastly, the construction of a new dam within 500 meters of these caves makes environmentalists and researchers even more concerned than ever before. The authorities have recently made a number of promises for new measures but none has been fulfilled yet.

For more information for Iranocypris typhlops being on the Vulnerable Red List visit http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/10849/0

The Road to Persiana: The Cyrus Cylinder 2013 U. S. Tour

Book by author A.J. Cave

The Road to Persiana:The Cyrus Cylinder 2013

U. S. Tour, is an informal look at the ground-breaking tour of the Cyrus Cylinder across 5 U.S. museums. It is the first known declaration of Human Rights, issued by the emperor Cyrus II of Persia. In the 1970s, the Cyrus Cylinder has been described as the world’s first charter of human rights (Wikipedia).  A free eBook download is available on our Education page under the Literature tab.