UNESCO Chairs

The UNESCO Chair on Education for Human Rights and Peace

The UNESCO Chair on Education for Human Rights and Peace was established in 1997 following an Agreement signed by UNESCO and A.U.Th.
The objective of the UNESCO Chair is “to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation activities in the field of human rights, peace and democracy at local, regional and sub-regional level”. The Chair participates in a European Master’s Degree Course in Human Rights and Democratization, and it runs an interfaculty, interdisciplinary academic programme entitled “Contemporary World Problems and the Scientist’s Responsibility: An Interdisciplinary Approach”.
This Chair is part of the UNESCO programme for the establishment of a culture of peace through universities. The academic programme of the UNESCO Chair comprises:
• The interdepartmental interdisciplinary programme of courses offered to the students of all A.U.Th. schools and departments (at an undergraduate level);
• The interdisciplinary postgraduate programme through which the UNESCO Chair represents Greece in the “European Master’s Degree Course in Human Rights and Democratization”.
The A.U.Th. UNESCO Chair has also been assigned the responsibility of setting up a website (www.unesco.auth.gr) in order to promote a culture of peace in the Balkan states.

Information

The Unesco Chair

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Address: P.O. Box 48,

541 24, Thessaloniki, Greece
Tel.: +30.2310.99.5311
Fax: +30.2310.99.7361
E-mail: dipeace@psy.auth.gr
Web page: www.unesco.auth.gr

UNESCO Chair and Network/International Network of Water-Environment Centres for the Balkans (INWEB)

The UNESCO Chair/International Network of Water-Environment Centres for the Balkans (INWEB) on “sustainable management of water and conflict resolution” was established in July 2003 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Department of Civil Engineering, Division of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, Hydraulics Laboratory (see www.inweb.gr).

The Division has 20-years experience in modelling of hydrological and environmental phenomena and water resources management. The majority of applications concern water management and flood protection studies in river basins in Greece and abroad.

The UNESCO Chair/INWEB is a network of academic and non-academic institutions. Each of the ten Balkan member countries has a focal point for its own country's members. Concentrating mainly on transboundary issues, the UNESCO Chair/INWEB promotes a multi-disciplinary approach to water resources management issues, involving scientists, engineers, economists, legal experts and sociologists. It encourages initiatives on water resources management issues from the bottom up, and promotes joint training projects and the sharing of expertise. Its aims are to:

Facilitate the exchange of information in the fields of water and environment by establishing an international, open network in the Balkan region
Raise public awareness in the fields of water resources and environmental protection
Promote training and professional development in the Balkan region by providing distance learning
Develop inventories of existing transboundary monitoring systems
Create and maintain databases on water and the environment by use of official, validated national data compatible to European Union standards and mainly related to transboundary water bodies (rivers, lakes, and coastal waters)
stablish an international expert network open to the Balkan States.
The UNESCO Chair/INWEB cooperates closely with UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO IHP) (Paris) and UNESCO’s Regional Office for Science in Europe (UNESCO BRESCE) (Venice), as well as other major international organisations such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

Activities to date include:

organisation of international workshops and conferences on transboundary water resources issues including the IV International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management 2008
development of web-based water databases on the internet powered by Google Earth
inventories of transboundary surface and ground waters in the Balkans and the Mediterranean region
database on transboundary aquifers in the Balkans powered by Google Earth
adaptation of UNESCO’s “Potential Conflict to Cooperation Potential” (PC-CP) programme to the Balkans.