United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Building an Information Society for All

The active involvement of Russian science in the program activities of UNESCO creates an opportunity to receive expert support from the Organization in the implementation of Russian scientific projects, serves as a means of expanding our participation in international scientific cooperation and exchange scientific information, attracting the intellectual and material and technical potential of other countries, gaining access to the results and methods of the latest scientific research.

International Hydrological Program (IHP)

Water resources and related ecosystems are a top priority for the Natural Sciences Sector. UNESCO's activities in this direction are carried out within the framework of the seventh phase (2008-2013) International Hydrological Program(IHL).

The main tasks of the IHP are to formulate recommendations for the policy of managing water resources to meet human needs, as well as to play a leading role in the implementation of the Assessment Program water resources world within the UN system (WWAP).

The program aims to improve understanding of the vulnerability of water resources and the causes of conflicts associated with them, as well as the development of joint approaches and tools that contribute to their prevention or resolution through the effective management of water resources.

During the implementation of the work plan for the implementation of IHP-VII for the first biennium, the focus was on the lack of fresh water impacts of droughts and floods, training and capacity building at the national and regional levels in resource assessment and development groundwater, influence climate change on the structure and stocks of freshwater resources.

Russian participation in the UNESCO IHP is provided by the IHP National Committee headed by the head of Roshydromet A.V. Frolov (member of the Commission Russian Federation for UNESCO).

In close cooperation with the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, the Committee assists in the implementation of scientific and educational projects, as well as in the preparation and holding in Russia of international scientific events dedicated to various issues hydrology.

Russia is a member of the UNESCO IHP Intergovernmental Council.

Meaning for Russia:

The program is unique, has no analogues in world practice. Within its framework, Russian scientists got the opportunity to take part in multilateral projects on such priority global problems as the impact of climate change on water resources, water erosion, channel deformations, etc. They made a significant contribution to the creation of the World Atlas of Water Resources, which has a huge scientific and practical meaning.

UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB)

The MAB program was created in 1971 to resolve global contradictions arising in the field of environment and development.

As part of the program, a network of biosphere reserves (BR) has been created around the world, which cover all the major world ecosystems. Each of the reserves consists of at least one protected area, as well as an adjacent buffer zone and a cooperation zone. In total, as of December 2009, the World Wide Web includes 553 bioreserves in 107 countries.

Under the guidance of the Director of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Academician V.N. Bolshakova (member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO) the Russian Committee (RC) of the MAB Program is successfully working. Russian representative, Deputy Chairman of the RK MAB V.M. Neronov is vice president governing body Programs - International Coordinating Council.

The Committee represents the Russian Federation in two regional MAB networks - European and East Asian.

Biosphere reserves in Russia

Biosphere reserves are areas of terrestrial or coastal ecosystems that have received international recognition under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB). They are intended to promote and exemplify an optimal relationship between man and nature.

Currently, 39 Russian BRs are included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Activities related to the development and management of bioreserves are primarily determined by the provisions of the Madrid Action Plan (MAP) - a document approved by the 3rd World Congress “The Future of the Biosphere. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves for sustainable development"(February 4-8, 2008, Madrid). Based on the Seville Strategy, the IPOA aims to streamline some of its provisions and propose innovative approaches to address the challenges posed by further development BR.

Meaning for Russia:

Biosphere reserves are of great importance for the fulfillment of Russia's obligations arising from the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and natural heritage, for bilateral and international cooperation Russia in the field of environmental protection.

List of Russian biosphere reserves

	Name of the reserve	Year of inclusion in the World Wide Web
	Caucasian 3
	Prioksko-Terrasny
	Sikhote-Alinsky*
	Central Black Earth
	Astrakhan
	Kronotsky*
	Lapland
	Pechoro-Ilychsky*
	Sayano-Shushensky
	Sokhondinsky
	Voronezh
	Central Forest
	Baikal*
	Barguzinsky*
	Central Siberian
	Black Lands
	Taimyr
	Ubsunur basin*
	Dahurian
	Teberdinsky
	Katunsky*
	Non-Russo-Desnyanskoye Polissya
	Visimsky
	Vodlozersky National Park
	Commander Islands
	darwinian
	Nizhny Novgorod Zavolzhye-Kerzhensky
	Ugra National Park
	Smolensk Lakeland
national park
	Far Eastern Marine
	Kedrovaya Pad
	Valdai
national park
	Kenozersky
national park
	Khanka Biosphere (Lake Khanka)
	Big Volzhsko-Kamsky
	Middle Volga
	Rostov
	Altaic*

International Geoscience Program (IGCP)

IGCP is one of oldest programs UNESCO in the field of geology, research and protection natural environment and its resources. The program has been successfully developed for more than 30 years and covers specialists from more than 150 countries. Russian scientists take part in research on 25 projects (out of 38 active), being the leaders of some of them.

Within the framework of the Program, UNESCO's activities are aimed at developing partnerships in the field of Earth observation from space for environmental monitoring, natural resource modeling and sustainable development policy planning; strengthening the institutional and human capacities of Member States in the fields of geosciences; disaster risk reduction.

IGCP presents an exceptional opportunity for the joint study of unique geological objects and deposits around the world. The program makes a great contribution to the solution of global problems of geology, the study of natural resources, the prediction of natural and environmental disasters, and the development of new geotechnologies.

The Russian Committee of the Program is headed by Academician M.A. Fedonkin (member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO).

Meaning for Russia:

Possibility to study almost all unique geological objects of the world and use this experience to assess the mineral resources of Russia and forecast natural and man-made disasters. High economic effect from the received scientific data.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)

UNESCO's activities within the framework of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO are aimed at:

enhancing scientific knowledge and understanding of ocean and coastal processes to assist Member States in the development and implementation of sustainable ocean and coastal policies through the organization and coordination of major scientific programs;

organizing the collection of ocean and coastal observational data, modeling and forecasting necessary for management and sustainable development in the open ocean, coastal zones and inland areas; the use by Member States of ocean data through the International Oceanographic Data Exchange (IODE) and the development of "Ocean Data and Information Networks" (ODIN) in various regions of the world, in line with existing United Nations conventions and UNESCO approaches to data and information.

The Commission is composed of 136 Member States of UNESCO. IOC programs are aimed at solving problems related to the prevention and mitigation of the consequences of natural disasters, climate change forecasting, the study of living and non-living resources of the ocean, the integrated development of the coastal zone, protection marine environment from pollution, ocean mapping.

Chairman of the Interdepartmental National Oceanographic Commission - Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation A.L. Fursenko (member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO).

At the 25th session of the IOC Assembly held in June 2009, the Russian representative, head of the Data Processing Center of the All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Data of Roshydromet N.N. Mikhailov was re-elected to the post of Deputy Chairman of the IOC.

Meaning for Russia:

The active participation of Russian scientists in the activities of the IOC makes it possible to obtain unique scientific data and to carry out the broadest exchange of scientific research results.

Russia's participation in the system of the International Oceanographic Data Exchange (IODE) during the period of the IOC's activity gave a significant economic effect. Independent collection of data of a similar volume, necessary for various sectors of the economy of our country, would require, according to experts, costs of tens of millions of dollars.

UNESCO World Heritage

The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted at the XVII session of the General Conference of UNESCO on November 16, 1972 and entered into force on December 17, 1975. Its main goal is to attract the forces of the world community to preserve unique objects of culture and nature. In 1975, 21 states ratified the Convention, over the 40 years of its existence, 168 more states have acceded to them, and by mid-2012 total number 189 States Parties to the Convention. In terms of the number of States Parties, the World Heritage Convention is the most representative among other international programs of UNESCO. In order to improve the efficiency of the work of the Convention, the Committee and the World Heritage Fund were formed in 1976.

The first cultural and natural sites were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List two years after the program was established. Of the natural areas, the heritage status received Galapagos Islands(Ecuador), national parks "Yellowstone" (USA), "Nahanni" (Canada) and "Shimen" (Ethiopia). Over the past years, the List has become very representative both in terms of the regions of the planet represented and in terms of the number of objects: by mid-2012, it included 188 natural, 745 cultural and 29 mixed natural and cultural objects in 157 countries of the world. Italy, Spain, Germany and France have the largest number of cultural properties on the List (more than 30 each), the USA and Australia have the most a large number of Natural World Heritage Sites (more than 10 sites each). Under the protection of the Convention are such world-famous natural monuments as the Great barrier reef, Hawaiian Islands, Grand Canyon, Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Baikal.

Of course, to be on a par with the universally recognized world pearls of nature and culture for any object is honorable and prestigious, but at the same time, this is a great responsibility. To receive World Heritage status, a property must be of Outstanding Human Value, undergo a rigorous peer review process, and meet at least one of 10 selection criteria. At the same time, the nominated natural object must meet at least one of the following four criteria:

include unique natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic value;

present outstanding examples of major milestones in Earth's history, including traces of ancient life, serious geological processes that continue to occur in the development of forms of the earth's surface, significant geomorphological or physiographic features of the relief;

present outstanding examples of important, ongoing and ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

include natural areas of great importance for the conservation of their biological diversity, including areas of endangered species that are of outstanding world heritage from the point of view of science or nature conservation.

The security, management, authenticity and integrity of a property are also important considerations in its evaluation prior to inscription on the List.

The status of a world natural heritage site provides additional guarantees for the safety and integrity of unique natural complexes, increases the prestige of the territories, promotes the popularization of objects and the development of alternative types of nature management, and ensures priority in attracting financial resources.

World Heritage Project

In 1994, Greenpeace Russia began work on the World Heritage project, aimed at identifying and protecting unique natural complexes that are threatened by the serious negative impact of human activity. Giving natural areas the highest international conservation status to further guarantee their safety is the main goal of the work carried out by Greenpeace.

The first attempts to include Russian protected natural areas to the UNESCO World Heritage List were undertaken in the early 1990s. In 1994, an all-Russian meeting " Contemporary Issues creation of a system of objects of the world and Russian natural heritage”, which presented a list of promising territories. At the same time, in 1994, Greenpeace Russia experts prepared Required documents for inclusion in the UNESCO List of natural complex, called "Virgin forests of Komi". In December 1995, he was the first in Russia to receive the status of a world natural heritage site.

At the end of 1996, "Lake Baikal" and "Volcanoes of Kamchatka" were included in the List. In 1998, another Russian natural complex, the Golden Mountains of Altai, was added to the List; in 1999, a decision was made to include a fifth Russian natural site, the Western Caucasus. At the end of 2000, the Curonian Spit became the first international site in Russia (together with Lithuania) to receive the status of a World Heritage site in terms of "cultural landscape". Later, the UNESCO List included the Central Sikhote-Alin (2001), the Ubsunur Basin (2003, jointly with Mongolia), the Natural Complex of the Wrangel Island Reserve (2004), the Putorana Plateau (2010) and " Nature Park"Lena Pillars" (2012).

Nominations for consideration by the World Heritage Committee must first be placed on a national Tentative List. At present, it contains natural complexes, as "Commander Islands", "Magadan Reserve", "Steppes of Dauria", "Krasnoyarsk Pillars", "Big Vasyugan swamp”, “Ilmensky mountains”, “Bashkir Urals”. Work is underway to expand the territories of the Central Sikhote-Alin (by including the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Bikin River) and the Golden Mountains of Altai (by including adjacent territories China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan). Negotiations are underway with Finland and Norway on the joint nomination "Green Belt of Fennoscandia".

Russia, of course, is rich in unique natural complexes not affected by economic activity. According to rough estimates, there are more than 20 territories in our country worthy of the status of a world natural heritage site. Among the promising territories, the following natural complexes can be noted: the Kuril Islands, the Lena Delta, the Volga Delta.

Russian cultural sites included in the UNESCO World Heritage List include such recognized monuments of history and architecture as the historical center of St. Petersburg, the Kremlin and Red Square, the Kizhi Pogost, the Solovetsky, Ferapontov and Novodevichy monasteries, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Church of the Ascension in Kolomenskoye , monuments of Veliky Novgorod, Vladimir, Suzdal, Yaroslavl, Kazan and Derbent.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

On November 4, 1946, the Charter of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the largest intergovernmental organization in the UN system, came into force. The charter was approved on November 16, 1945 in London at the founding conference of representatives of 44 countries.

UNESCO's predecessor, the International Organization for Intellectual Cooperation, which had the rights of a technical body under the League of Nations, ceased to exist at the beginning of World War II. The Institute for Intellectual Cooperation, founded by her in Paris, donated all of its archives to UNESCO.

Today UNESCO unites 188 states of the world. The headquarters is located in Paris. UNESCO cooperates with more than 600 non-governmental organizations and foundations, international and regional structures.

The main goal of UNESCO:

Contribute to the peace and security of the world by promoting cooperation between countries in various fields. UNESCO's main areas of activity are education, science, culture and information.

In the field of education, the main task of the organization is to ensure universal primary and development higher education. The key program in this area is Lifelong Education for All. the main role here it is given to new information technologies in the field of providing basic education. In 137 countries, about 4,250 schools (including 60 Russian ones) participate in the UNESCO Associated Schools project. In addition, UNESCO contributes to the training of teachers, the construction and equipping of schools.

Structure of UNESCO

The policy and the main line of work, and the budget of the organization are determined by the General Conference, convened once every two years. The budget of UNESCO consists of contributions from Member States, which are determined depending on the size of the national income of the country.

The Executive Board, elected by the conference, meets twice a year. This body is responsible for the implementation of the program adopted at the conference.

The Director General is also elected at the conference on the recommendations of the Executive Board for a 6-year term. Since November 14, 1999, this post has been occupied by Koichiro Matsuura (Japan), who announced the start of reforms in the activities and structure of the organization. UNESCO's work is envisaged to focus on priority areas and renewal of the staff of the organization's secretariat.

Organizations under the auspices of UNESCO

Caribbean Network of Educational Innovation for Development (CARNEID);
European Center for Higher Education - CEPES, Bucharest;
International Center for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Bonn);
International Institute of Education in Latin America (Instituto Internacional de la UNESCO para la Educación Superior en América Latina y el Caribe - IESALC);
International Bureau of Education (IBE, Geneva);
International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP, Paris);
UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE, Hamburg);
the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA);
UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education - IITE, Moscow).

UNESCO programs

The most famous UNESCO programs in the scientific field are such as "Man and the Biosphere" (94 countries participate, aimed at protecting the environment), "Floating University" (developed on the basis of Moscow State University, about 20 countries participate, 25 thousand dollars are allocated annually, is aimed at research in the field of marine geology and archeology), "Science in the service of development" ($85 million allocated for the program), the CIPAR program (aimed at the interaction of science and industry).

In the field of information, UNESCO's activities are concentrated within the framework of the International Program for the Development of Communications (IPDC), approved at the 21st session of the General Conference of UNESCO in 1980. IPDC provides support to developing countries in creating national mass media structures: radio, television, print, news agencies. Currently, over 100 national and regional projects are being implemented through the IPDC.

In the field of culture, the main task of UNESCO is to protect cultural heritage. In 1972, at the 17th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was adopted, to which more than 150 countries are currently parties. A special committee was created, whose task was to compile a list of objects of world cultural and natural heritage to be protected. The list includes artistic, historical and natural monuments. Now the List includes more than 690 objects from 120 countries.

In 2000, UNESCO called on all member countries to create a list of invisible cultural heritage, which includes objects of intangible culture - handicrafts, rare national languages, folklore.

UNESCO action in the field of ICT

The two most important activities of UNESCO in the field of ICT are education; communications and information.

UNESCO conducts research on the use of information technologies in education and public administration. The main program in this area is the Basic Education for All Programme, recognized as a top priority for 2002-2003. at the World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal, April 2000). Taking into account the process of globalization and the increasing interaction of such spheres of human activity as sociology, economics, culture, science and technology, knowledge is becoming increasingly important. The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education plays an important role in terms of program orientation towards interdisciplinary activities. One of the main activities of the program is - "Promoting the use of information and communication technologies for education." As the Internet began to provide access to computer programs and educational courses, there is a need for a new approach to ensuring the quality of information services for education. To ensure quality, UNESCO provides policy advisory services, surveys, reviews of innovative activities, and collaborative activities among agencies. Expected program results at the end of the biennium:

· Creation of an Internet portal of UNESCO in the field of education within the framework of the common portal of the Organization;
e-publication of a survey on existing exchange centers
· information, portals and mechanisms for the evaluation of educational software and training courses in electronic form;
joint activities and partnerships with other private and government centers information, knowledge and development;
· promoting the implementation of multi-country projects in the field of ICT and education;
· operation of an electronic information exchange center and documentation of data relating to the exchange of materials;
creation and functioning of the consortium;
· analysis, production and dissemination of information on the innovative and strategic use of ICTs for education.

The most important program in the field of ICT development is Major Program V "Communication and Information" for 2002-2003, of which the "Information for All" Program is an integral part. Work on this program began at the turn of 2000. It is based on the Intergovernmental Program on Informatics and the General Program on Information, which created the technological basis for the development of international communications. The program consists of five sections:

· Development of information policy at the international, regional and national levels.
· Development of human resources, skills and abilities in the information age.
· Strengthening the role of institutions in providing access to information.
· Development of tools, methods and systems of information management.
· Information technologies for education, science, culture and communications.

The provisions of the Information for All program intersect with the ideas articulated in the Okinawa Charter of the Global Information Society, approved by the chapters " big eight" during the summit held in July 2000 in Japan. Therefore, the "Information for All" program can be considered as UNESCO's contribution to the implementation of the ideas of the Charter. in Paris.The most important task of this program is the development and adoption of the "UNESCO Charter for the Preservation of the World Cultural Heritage".

The second area of ​​Major Program V is to promote access to the public domain through the Memory of the World Programme. The main task is to promote the preservation of the documentary heritage of mankind, its wide popularization and accessibility. In this area, UNESCO promotes the development of global and regional information networks. As part of this program, the UNESCO World Web Portal is being developed as an interactive thematic portal that provides a wide range of services to members of professional communities, the public and private sectors, and the general public. The World Wide Web Portal should become an on-line directory of information on "Who does what and in what area" and a platform for building relationships between professional organizations all over the world.

UNESCO and Russia

The formation of UNESCO took place with the active participation of the USSR, although its formal entry into the organization took place only in 1954. On June 25, 1993, a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Russian Federation and UNESCO was signed in Moscow, and a UNESCO office was opened in Moscow a year later.

UNESCO assists the Russian side in the reform of education, legislative activity, in the field of protection of cultural and natural heritage, in the adaptation of science, education and culture to the conditions market economy. 13 cultural projects UNESCO. It must be said that cooperation with UNESCO is extremely beneficial for Russia. Russian contributions amount to about 4.5 million dollars a year, and funding from UNESCO projects is ten to twenty times more.

Currently, UNESCO projects in the Russian Federation are being implemented in accordance with the following programs:

education for all throughout life;
· science at the service of development;
· cultural development: heritage and creativity;
· Towards a communication and information society for all.

The most important projects in the field of "Natural and social sciences":

· democratization, governance and participation of citizens in the life of society on the threshold of the new millennium (together with UNDP);
· municipal centers for social rehabilitation of victims of the Chernobyl disaster;
· Issues of migration of the population of Eastern and Central Europe;
· the program "Man and Biosphere";
· reforming science;
· Creation of international UNESCO Chairs (for example, Chair "New Information Technologies in Education and Science", Chair "Copyrights and Intellectual Property", etc., 35 chairs in total). The UNESCO Chair "Computer Science" was established in 1996 on the basis of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, and in 1997 at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology - Department of Information Technologies in Education and Science.

One of national projects Russia is the project "Improving the qualifications of employees of the education system in the field of the use of information and communication technologies in education." The goal of the project is to develop a unified information environment in the education system of the Russian Federation. The main tasks of the project:

· to determine the ways of including the informatization of the educational process in the general context of the modernization of education;
· organize training of managers and leading specialists of the education system in the field of ICT use at school;

· to give basic fundamentals design and analysis of regional strategies and infrastructures of informatization of education.

In 1998, on the basis of Resolution 6 adopted at the 29th session of the General Conference and the Agreement between UNESCO and the Government of the Russian Federation, the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, IITE was opened (http://www.iite.ru/iite/index) . At its first meeting (Moscow, July 1999), the Board of Governors appointed by the Director General approved the first work program of the Institute and made several decisions on personnel matters and the activities of the Institute.

In cooperation with National Commissions and UNESCO field offices, IITE is building an international network national centers in order to systematically collect and analyze relevant fundamental documents, action plans and policy guidelines in this area. Special attention is given to teacher training, as well as the development of curricula and other teaching materials on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education. The main priorities of the IITE activities:

· acting as an international information exchange center on the use of ICT in education by creating a network of national focal points for the exchange of information and experience;
· promoting the development of national policies and guidelines regarding the use of ICTs in education;
· organization of sub-regional workshops and other training activities, including the development and testing of training modules.

Russia also participates in the Major Program V. At the end of 2000, in accordance with the instructions of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program was formed. Departments and organizations responsible for the formation of state policy in the field of informatization of Russia were invited to work in the Committee. About the first results of activity Russian committee The Program was informed by the participants of the meeting of the Interim International Committee of the Information for All Program held in Paris on May 14-15, 2001. Within the framework of the Program implementation in 2001 in the structure of the Kemerovo state academy culture and arts (KemGAKI), within the framework of the UNESCO program "Information for All", with the assistance of the Department of Libraries of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, a research institute for information technologies in the social sphere (NII IT SS) was established. Russia expects to be elected Russian representative to the International Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme.

Education in the era information society - building knowledge societies

I am very pleased to be with you today and on behalf of the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Information for All Program and the Russian Committee of this Program to welcome all the participants and guests of the conference. I am grateful to the organizers of the conference for the invitation to take part in it.

I am not a teacher or organizer of education, and I am not involved in education policy. Within the framework of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Program “Information for All”, I study the most common problems of the global information society, such as the availability of information, the preservation of information, information ethics, the use of information, information literacy, the preservation and development of multilingualism in cyberspace. The UNESCO Information for All Program is the only international Program that studies all these issues in their interrelationships, based on an interdisciplinary approach involving all stakeholders (multistakeholders). We invite specialists from the sphere of culture, education, science, communication and information, practitioners, theorists, managers, politicians to participate in our projects and events. We consider it important to organize our activities in this way, since it is at the intersection of different sciences and different approaches that a holistic view of the world, processes and problems in the global information society, ways and means of solving them is developed.

Some of our reflections and conclusions are directly related to education.

Almost all countries today declare that they are striving to build knowledge societies, that is, human-centered societies in which information and knowledge are recognized as the most important resource and play a decisive role in development. It follows from this that we must think about an education that will enable today's children to be active participants and builders of knowledge societies and independently solve the problems that confront them - professional, personal, social, national, global.

At the same time, we must be aware of the following. The processes of growing up and socialization today for the most part take place outside the traditional educational environment. Today, perhaps the main educator of children, especially adolescents, is not a teacher, not parents, not books, but television and the Internet, the creators of which do not set themselves the goal of developing thinking, language, abilities, creative imagination, educating morality and morality. We live in a fundamentally new information environment, our children are spending more and more time on the Internet, and for many of them, the virtual environment replaces real life.

What is fundamental differences of today's information environment from the one that existed 25-30 years ago, when the majority of those sitting in this hall were children?

Previously, publicly available content was created by a limited number of authors, publishers, television and radio companies. Today, almost all the inhabitants of the planet who have access to the Internet from a computer or any other gadget can act as authors, publishers, television and radio companies.

Previously, the number of distributed copies of a given printed text was limited. Distribution for the most part took place in a limited area, within one country or region, one culture, one language. Today, the dissemination of information is global.

The period of time during which this or that content was previously purposefully distributed was also limited. Only relevant content circulated. As content became obsolete, it fell out of circulation, ceased to be universally available, and eventually concentrated only in the largest archives and libraries.

Today, on the Internet, both up-to-date information and outdated information are available to everyone at the same time. It is far from always possible to distinguish between them, and in order to do this, special skills are often required.

The volume of electronic information being created and circulating is growing exponentially. Only textual information appeared last year more than in all the books that humanity has created in its entire history. At the same time, the share of textual information in the total amount of information is constantly decreasing, and now it is less than 0.1%. The rest is audiovisual information: movies, video clips, music, images.

Who created publicly available texts before, in the paper age? As a rule, these were the most educated, competent and responsible people. Before appearing in the public space, information passed through a sieve of selection in publishing houses. Information created by some qualified people was first evaluated, and then carefully verified by other qualified people - reviewers, editors, proofreaders, verification bureaus, and finally, censors. Graphomaniacs were cut off by publishing houses. The authors and distributors of the content were well known.

At present, the human right to self-expression is recognized almost all over the world. As a result, in the electronic information environment, a huge number of graphomaniacs, stupid, uneducated, irresponsible and malicious people also create publicly available content, freely distribute it and even impose it. Therefore, the information environment, primarily the Internet, is full of not only useful information, but also (for the most part!) - useless, meaningless, harmful, false, disorienting and downright dangerous. Huge amounts of information are created and distributed anonymously. There is no professional control both at the stage of creating information and at the stage of providing access to it.

We live in an excessive and polluted information environment, and it affects us against our will. And if the danger of pollution of the physical environment around us is well understood and the whole world is fighting for the preservation of a safe physical environment, then the danger of pollution of the information environment is barely beginning to be realized.

These are all global problems.

Today's globalized world is mastered by a child not by hearing, not by reading, but by means of images that he sees from early childhood on the screen of televisions and computers. Such knowledge of the world does not require training and tension of the intellect, imagination and memory. It is not surprising that all over the world interest in reading, in the competent development of serious texts, is declining, their perception is becoming more and more superficial. The number of active qualified readers is declining in all social groups, the quantity and quality of the material being read is declining. Reading has been relegated to the periphery of the way of life. The level of reading and general cultural competence of people in different countries is declining from year to year, and not only among children, but also among the working adult population. This is also a global problem, generated by the development of electronic media, the Internet, and the entertainment industry. The main motive for searching and consuming information on the Internet is the thirst for entertainment, rather than cognitive needs.

Due to the fact that people read less, they are less able to master the richness of the language and therefore it is more and more difficult for them to express any kind of complex thought even in their native language, they are less and less able to understand complex written and oral speech, deep meanings increasingly complex reality. There are fewer and fewer people who are encyclopedically educated, capable of deep comprehensive analysis. They are being replaced by the generation of the Internet, which, instead of skillfully searching, reading, analyzing information, professes a simple and fast method of “copy and paste” (“copy and paste”). This is also a global problem.

Information today knows no state boundaries. People living in one culture constantly and more and more encounter terms, meanings, patterns, models, clichés, stereotypes developed within the framework of another culture, borrow all this, operate with all this, often uncritically and even thoughtlessly. At the same time, not only processes of cultural enrichment, but also cultural expansion take place. Any foreign cultural borrowings, being transferred to another socio-cultural environment without taking into account its socio-cultural characteristics, give rise to unexpected consequences, often directly opposite to those expected.

The openness of the information space leads to the fact that many countries lose their information and cultural sovereignty.

Many young and not so young people who communicate in social networks, often with completely strangers, voluntarily give up privacy, and do not always understand the consequences of such openness.

Mass media are increasingly turning into a means of mass entertainment and manipulation. On the Internet and in the global media, there is a huge amount of manipulation of the mass consciousness.

Information has become trillions of times more, it is believed that the main sources of information are now much, much more, and than more information the more diverse it is, the greater the pluralism, the better for democracy or for the export of democracy. But hundreds of proliferating digital television channels buy information - both texts and pictures - from two dozen families that own almost all of the world's major media. Therefore, all media “feed” people in all countries, in fact, with the same content.

Today's information environment erases the concept of ideal and norm - both in behavior and in the content of the statement, and in language - written and oral. Children have access to what used to be forbidden. They, as a rule, consume content created by their peers, and they perceive as the norm what and how their peers write and say.

Parents often deal with computers and other devices less skillfully than their children, so they do not have authority in this area among their children and cannot teach them a competent existence in a complex information environment. And not always adults have the necessary competencies for this. In this regard, the role of institutions in the field of education is especially growing.

What I am telling you now is not an apocalyptic picture of the world at all. This is the modern information and communication environment, the features of which need to be known in order to develop an effective strategy of behavior, in order to develop the education sector in the right direction, taking into account the past and ongoing changes.

That is why in my report I want to dwell on the need to develop in children the ability to independently, responsibly and meaningfully live in this fundamentally new informational reality.

All over the world, it is now increasingly possible to hear about the need to form people's ability to understand and formulate their information needs, the skills and abilities to search for and find the necessary information, evaluate it, use it correctly, create their own information product and distribute it, understand the information needs of other people. This applies to both information on analog media and digital information, both the Internet and traditional libraries and archives.

People must be prepared for life in the information society from early childhood, from school and even from kindergarten, and further in institutions of secondary vocational education, at universities. This will help them overcome the "information jungle" and, wading through them, form a true picture of the world and find their own worthy place in it.

For recent decades In world practice, two close concepts are being developed and implemented - the concept of media literacy and the concept of information literacy.

Media literacy implies the ability to understand the specific language of media mass media, mastery of this language, the ability to navigate the turbulent flows of information that the media bombards us with.

Information literacy involves more than just computer technology, but also the formation of a person’s need for information from early childhood and during all further education, as well as a clear understanding that almost any question in traditional libraries or on the Internet already has a variety of answers that require thoughtful attitude and informed choice. I draw your attention to the fact that ICT literacy, that is, the ability to use a computer well, does not exceed 10% of the total concept of information literacy, shared and developed by an increasing number of countries.

Information literacy includes, on the one hand, highly intelligent procedures associated with the search, analysis, synthesis, critical assessment of information, and on the other hand, the inseparability of the search and semantic processing of information from the motivational component and the effective use of the information found in work, study, in any other activity. .

In Russia, we talked for a long time about the need to educate information thinking, information mentality, to form an information culture of the individual. We saw the solution to this large-scale problem in the integration of the efforts of educational institutions and libraries.

Most recently, within the framework of UNESCO, with the active participation of the Information for All Programme, an agreement was reached to combine all existing concepts and to continue to use the integrative term "media and information literacy".

In 2012, Russia hosted international Conference"Media and Information Literacy in Knowledge Societies". As a result of the conference, representatives of 40 countries of the world adopted the Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy. Today it is a highly cited document. UNESCO and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations announced in March 2013 that they intended to build their future work on the basis of the definitions, ideas and provisions of this particular document.

A Joint Action Plan is being implemented with the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), in particular, Recommendations on the promotion of media and information literacy for high-level politicians and governments have been developed. Developed and published Training program UNESCO for Media and Information Literacy Educators. UNESCO is currently developing indicators for media information literacy. Our Polish colleagues have prepared an excellent Catalog of Media and Information Literacy Skills. A month ago we published it in Russian. All these materials can be found on our website www.ifapcom.ru.

Thus, the formation of media and information literacy of the population is a new area of ​​activity that is being actively developed in the most advanced educational institutions in many countries of the world. We invite teachers and educational institutions to pay close attention to it. For my part, I can assure you that UNESCO and its Information for All Program are ready for cooperation and collaboration in this area.

Building an Information Society for All

Access to information and knowledge is a common human good, necessary for the development of education, science, culture and communications, the creation of new opportunities, the promotion of cultural diversity and the stimulation of open government. According to its Constitution, UNESCO is called upon to “encourage the free circulation of ideas by word and image”. UNESCO is charged with "maintaining, expanding and disseminating knowledge" through the "preservation and protection" of humankind's documented knowledge. In addition, the Organization should encourage "cooperation between peoples... in the exchange of publications" and other information materials, and provide "various types of international cooperation to all peoples with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with everything that is published in individual countries."

In order to recognize the opportunities provided by ICTs to fulfill this mandate, UNESCO has established the Information for All Programme. Its goal is to build an information society for all by closing the gap between the information rich and the information poor. This is a platform for international discussion of the policies and directions for the development of the Program in order to:

• a better understanding of the ethical, legal and social implications of ICTs;
• improving access to information in the public domain;
• saving information.

Goals

The Information for All Program sets the framework for international cooperation and partnership. It supports the development of common strategies, methods and tools for building an information society for all.

In particular, the objectives of the Information for All Program are:

• promoting international understanding and discussion of the ethical, legal and social challenges of the information society;
• facilitating and expanding access to information in the public domain by organizing, digitizing and preserving information;
• support for learning, continuing education and lifelong learning in the fields of communication, information and informatics;
• supporting the creation of local content and promoting the accessibility of traditional knowledge through general and ICT literacy training;
• promotion of the use of international standards and best practices in the field of communications, information and informatics in the field of competence of UNESCO;
• facilitating the exchange of information and knowledge at the local, national, regional and international levels.

Five areas of activity

Area 1: Development of international, regional and national information policy

• Achieving a unified worldwide approach to the concept of universal equal access to information as one of the fundamental human rights
• Contribute to the achievement of a globally unified approach to the system of views on ethical and legal norms related to cyberspace
• Creation of an international structure for collecting information on international, regional and national information policy
• Establishment of a clearing house on best practices in ICT-based management
• Creation of an international structure for the preservation of the world information heritage
• Development international agreement concerning the policy of managing the exchange of information necessary for worldwide monitoring of the environment and climate

Area 2: Developing Human Resources and Capabilities for the Information Age

• Supporting global conditions for basic and ICT literacy
• Building ICT-based learning networks for information professionals
• Support conditions for cooperation and exchange of information in the field of content and quality of education in the field of information
• Familiarize publishers and producers with available e-publishing and e-commerce training opportunities

Area 3: Strengthening the role of institutions in ensuring access to information

• Creation of a UNESCO portal for information institutions from all over the world
• Creation of national public points of access to information
• Creation national politicians digitization
• Promoting standards for the management and preservation of documented knowledge

Area 4: Development of tools and systems for processing and managing information

• Conduct a needs study and develop a planning system for the creation of information management tools at the regional level
• Creating a multilingual collection of free information management tools
• Publication of compilations of information management best practices and standards

Area 5: Information technologies for education, science, culture and communications

• Establishment of multi- and inter-sectoral clearinghouses to help all UNESCO programs formulate and make informed decisions
• Establishment of a monitoring system for the needs and trends in the use of ICTs to promote universal lifelong learning
• Creation of an educational portal containing links to various virtual universities
• Creation of international practice in the field of electronic scientific publications
• Adoption of international recommendations on providing remote access to scientific information
• Expansion of networks for the exchange of data and information about environment and relevant information centers in developing countries
• Global support for cultural and media communities of experts and institutions for peace, understanding and development
• Creation international system views on multilingualism and multiculturalism in cyberspace
• Creation of a global structure to collect information on the development of the media in the information society

Partnership and cooperation

The success of the Information for All Program depends on effective cooperation and communication with a diverse and growing number of parties. Therefore, it seeks partnerships within UNESCO and collaboration with other international programs within and outside the UN to harmonize positions and policies. It will work with stakeholders from NGOs and the private sector to create a multiplier effect from increased communication and collaboration.

Grade

Activities under the Information for All Program will be regularly monitored and evaluated upon completion to ensure that the Program can be adjusted. A summary evaluation of the Program and its expected results will be made in the seventh year of its implementation (corresponding last year UNESCO Medium-Term Strategy 2002-2007)

Project principles

At the implementation level, the projects implemented under the Information for All Program are catalytic and pilot in nature, subject to periodic review, contain an evaluation component and are subject to the subsidiarity principle (appropriate division of responsibility at the international and national levels).

Intergovernmental structure

The planning and implementation of the Information for All Program is managed by the Intergovernmental Council, which consists of representatives of twenty-six UNESCO Member States. The members of the Council are elected by the General Conference, taking into account the need to ensure a fair geographical distribution and proper rotation.

An unofficial translation into Russian of the unofficial text of the Information for All Program prepared by the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Information for All Program for publication on the Internet was made by Evgeny Altovsky (International Public Organization Information for All).