UNESCO
The United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter, it is the successor of the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. UNESCO has 11 associate members. Most of its field offices are "cluster" offices covering three or more countries. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences and communication/information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy and teacher-training programs, international science programs, the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity, translations of world literature, international cooperation agreements to secure the world's cultural and natural heritage and to preserve human rights, attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.
It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO's aim is "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture and information". Other priorities of the organization include attaining quality Education For All and lifelong learning, addressing emerging social and ethical challenges, fostering cultural diversity, a culture of peace and building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication; the broad goals and objectives of the international community—as set out in the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals —underpin all UNESCO strategies and activities. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, to elect a Commission to study feasibility; this new body, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation was indeed created in 1922.
On 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the onset of World War II interrupted the work of these predecessor organizations. After the signing of the Atlantic Charter and the Declaration of the United Nations, the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education began meetings in London which continued from 16 November 1942 to 5 December 1945. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an international organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States and the USSR; this was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944. Upon the proposal of CAME and in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held in San Francisco in April–June 1945, a United Nations Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization was convened in London 1–16 November 1945 with 44 governments represented.
The idea of UNESCO was developed by Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom, who had a great deal of influence in its development. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, a Preparatory Commission was established; the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCO's Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place from 19 November to 10 December 1946, elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General; the Constitution was amended in November 1954 when the General Conference resolved that members of the Executive Board would be representatives of the governments of the States of which they are nationals and would not, as before, act in their personal capacity. This change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the ICIC, in how member states would work together in the organization's fields of competence.
As member states worked together over time to realize UNESCO's mandate and historical factors have shaped the organization's operations in particular during the Cold War, the decolonization process, the dissolution of the USSR. Among the major achievements of the organization is its work against racism, for example through influential statements on race starting with a declaration of anthropologists and other scientists in 1950 and concluding with the 1978 Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO saying that some of the organization's publications amounted to "interference" in the country's "racial problems." South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. UNESCO's early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, started in 1947; this project was followed by expert missions to other countries, for example, a mission to Afghanistan in 1949.
In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory and universal. In 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, launched a global movement to provide basic education for a
Castlereagh Highway
The Castlereagh Highway is a 790-kilometre state highway located in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The highway's northern terminus is at a junction with the Carnarvon Highway, south of St George, Queensland, its southern terminus is at a junction with the Great Western Highway at Marrangaroo, 10 kilometres north of Lithgow. From north to south the highway traverses South West Queensland and the North West Slopes and Central West regions of New South Wales; the highway is part of the'Great Inland Way' linking Sydney and Cairns, provides all-weather access to rugged black opal country of Lightning Ridge. The Castlereagh Highway was named in 1954 after the Castlereagh River – which it parallels for most of its journey north from Gilgandra – with the river named in honour of Lord Castlereagh; the highway was extended past Gilgandra to include state route 86 in October 1997. As such the Castlereagh Highway starts just outside Lithgow at a junction with the Great Western Highway and runs in a north-westerly direction through Ilford and the junctions of Bathurst-Ilford Road and Bylong Valley Way, through the regional centre of Mudgee and Gulgong.
From there the Castlereagh Highway is concurrent with the Golden Highway through Dunedoo branches off in Dunedoo, continuing past Gilgandra until it reaches the Queensland border via Walgett at Hebel. From there it continues to the outskirts of St George where it terminates with the Carnarvon Highway; the highway was signed National Route 55 in 1974 north of Gilgandra, State Route 86 south of Gilgandra. Queensland however signed the Carnarvon Highway as National Route 55 rather than the Castlereagh Highway, causing a major discrepancy for many years in that National Route 55 met the border at Hebel but abruptly begun again over 100 kilometres east along the border at Mungindi; the Queensland Road Department changed this and signed National Route 55 over the border north to Charters Towers in years. This route was soon replaced with the A7 and A55 designations throughout Queensland in 2005, the B55 designation in NSW during 2013 to Gilgandra and south to Lithgow, replacing both State Route 86 and National Route 55.
Highways in Australia List of highways in New South Wales List of highways in Queensland
Eucalyptus rossii
Eucalyptus rossii known as Inland Scribbly Gum, Western Scribbly Gum, Snappy Gum or White Gum, is a smooth-barked eucalypt of eastern Australia. The small to medium-sized tree and grows to a height of around 15 to 20 m It has a solitary straight trunk and an open moderately dense crown that reaches a width of about 9 m The smooth yellowish bark sheds throughout the year in patches, giving a mottled grey to white aspect. Trees have scribble marks on the bark formed by the burrowing larvae of a small moth, Ogmograptis scribula; the insect lays eggs within layers of bark. The dull, green to greyish-green adult leaves have a disjunct arrangement; the leaf blade are up to 15 cm in length. The tree blooms between December and February producing white flowers in clusters of 5 to 12; the clavate flower buds have no scarring. The flowers form gum nuts or fruits that are hemispherical or globose in shape with a length of 4 to 5 mm and a diameter of 5 to 6 mm with a flat or raised disc and rim level valves.
The species was first formally described by the botanist Richard Thomas Baker and chemist Henry George Smith in A Research on the Eucalypts in regard to their Essential Oils. The only synonym is Eucalyptus racemosa subsp. Rossii, it has a scattered distribution over the New South Wales tablelands, western slopes and the central coast and is found from Tenterfield in the north down to Bombala in the south. The trees grow well in sandy and stony well-drained soils on slopes, they are found in areas with moderate rainfall of 600 to 1,000 mm per annum. They are part of open dry sclerophyll woodland communities and associated species include. E. rossii is availbale commercially in seed for or as seedlings. It is useful as a shade tree which grows well in full sun with well drained soils that can cope in poor shallow, stony soils, it is both frost tolerant with a flower display through summer that will attract birds. List of Eucalyptus species
State park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U. S. state, some of the Mexican states, in Brazil. The term is used in the Australian state of Victoria; the equivalent term used in Canada, South Africa and Belgium, is provincial park. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies. State parks are thus similar under state rather than federal administration. Local government entities below state level may maintain parks, e.g. regional parks or county parks. In general, state parks are smaller than national parks, with a few exceptions such as the Adirondack Park in New York and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California; as of 2014, there were 10,234 state park units in the United States, according to the National Association of State Park Directors.
There are some 739 million annual visits to the country's state parks. The NASPD further counts over 43,000 miles of trail, 217,367 campsites, 8,277 cabins and lodges across U. S. state parks. The largest state park system in the United States is Alaska State Parks, with over 100 sites encompassing 3.3 million acres. Many states include designations beyond "state park" in their state parks systems. Other designations might be state recreation areas, state beaches, state nature reserves; some state park systems include historic sites. The title of oldest state park in the United States is claimed by Niagara Falls State Park in New York, established in 1885; however several public parks or maintained at the state level pre-date it. Indian Springs State Park has been operated continuously by the state of Georgia as a public park since 1825, although it did not gain the title "State Park" until 1931. In 1864 Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were ceded by the federal government to California until Yosemite National Park was proclaimed in 1890.
In 1878 Wisconsin set aside a vast swath of its northern forests as "The State Park" but, needing money, sold most of it to lumber companies within 20 years. The first state park with the designation of "state park" was Mackinac Island State Park in 1895, first a national park before being transferred to the state of Michigan. Many state park systems date to the 1930s, when around 800 state parks across the country were developed with assistance from federal job creation programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration. List of U. S. state parks Wilderness preservation systems in Carol. "The Civilian Conservation Corps and Wisconsin State Park Development." Wisconsin Magazine of History: 184-204. In JSTOR Landrum, Ney C; the State Park Movement in America: A Critical Review excerpt and text search Larson, Zeb. "Silver Falls State Park and the Early Environmental Movement." Oregon Historical Quarterly 112#1 pp: 34-57 in JSTOR Newton, Norman T. "The State Park Movement: 1864-1933.
"When Forests Trumped Parks: The Maryland Experience, 1906-1950." Maryland Historical Magazine 101#2 pp: 203-224
Greater Blue Mountains Area
The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The 1,032,649-hectare area was inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairns in 2000; this area is one of rugged tablelands, sheer cliffs, inaccessible valleys and rivers and lakes teeming with life. The rare plants and animals that live in this natural place relate an extraordinary story of Australia's antiquity, its diversity of life; this is the story of the evolution of Australia's unique eucalypt vegetation and its associated communities and animals. The Greater Blue Mountains Area consists of 10,300 square kilometres of forested landscape on a sandstone plateau 60 to 180 kilometres inland from the Sydney central business district; the area includes vast expanses of wilderness and is equivalent in area to one third of Belgium, or twice the size of Brunei. The area is called "Blue Mountains" based on the fact that when atmospheric temperature rise, the essential oil of various eucalyptus species evaporates and disperse in the air visible blue spectrum of sunlight propagates more than other colours.
Therefore, the reflected landscape from mountains seems bluish by human eyes. The property, which includes eight protected areas in two blocks separated by a transportation and urban development corridor, is made up of seven outstanding national parks as well as the famous Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve; these are the Blue Mountains National Park, Wollemi National Park, Yengo National Park, Nattai National Park, Kanangra-Boyd National Park, Gardens of Stone National Park and Thirlmere Lakes National Park. The area does not contain mountains in the conventional sense but is described as a incised sandstone plateau rising from less than 100 metres above sea level to 1,300 metres at the highest point. There are basalt outcrops on the higher ridges; this plateau is thought to have enabled the survival of a rich diversity of plant and animal life by providing a refuge from climatic changes during recent geological history. It is noted for its wide and balanced representation of eucalypt habitats from wet and dry sclerophyll, mallee heathlands, as well as localised swamps and grassland.
Ninety-one species of eucalypts occur in the Greater Blue Mountains Area. Twelve of these are believed to occur only in the Sydney sandstone region; the area has been described as a natural laboratory for studying the evolution of the eucalypts. The largest area of high diversity of eucalypts on the continent is located in south-east Australia; the Greater Blue Mountains Area includes much of this eucalypt diversity. As well as supporting such a significant proportion of the world's eucalypt species, the area provides examples of the range of structural adaptations of the eucalypts to Australian environments; these vary from tall forests at the margins or rainforest in the deep valleys, through open forests and woodlands, to shrublands of stunted mallees on the exposed tablelands. In addition to its outstanding eucalypts, the Greater Blue Mountains Area contains ancient, relict species of global significance; the most famous of these is the discovered Wollemi pine, a "living fossil" dating back to the age of the dinosaurs.
Thought to have been extinct for millions of years, the few surviving trees of this ancient species are known only from three small populations located in remote, inaccessible gorges within the area. The Wollemi pine is one of the world's rarest species. More than 400 different kinds of animals live within the rugged gorges and tablelands of the Greater Blue Mountains Area; these include threatened or rare species of conservation significance, such as the tiger quoll, the koala, the yellow-bellied glider and the long-nosed potoroo as well as rare reptiles and amphibians including the green and golden bell frog and the Blue Mountain water skink. The largest predator of the area is the dingo; these wild dogs hunt for grey kangaroos and other prey. The greater Blue Mountains region has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because it supports a high proportion of the global populations of the range-restricted rockwarbler as well as populations of flame robins, diamond firetails and pilotbirds.
The endangered regent honeyeater is seen there regularly. It is a migration bottleneck for yellow-faced honeyeaters; the Greater Blue Mountains Area was unanimously listed as a World Heritage Area by UNESCO on 29 November 2000. It thus became the fourth area in New South Wales to be listed; the area totals 10,300 square kilometres, including the Blue Mountains, Kanangra-Boyd, Gardens of Stone, Yengo and Thirlmere Lakes National Parks, plus the Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve. A buffer zone of 86,200 hectares lies outside the protected area. Blue Mountains virtual video tour. Nomination of the Greater Blue Mountains Area for inscription on the World Heritage List by the Government of Australia 1998 Greater Blue Mountains Area at UNESCO World Heritage Centre Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute Blue Mountains, NSW, Australia Aerial video of the Jamison Valley below Katoomba
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area, selected by the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization as having cultural, scientific or other form of significance, is protected by international treaties. The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity. To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be an classified landmark, unique in some respect as a geographically and identifiable place having special cultural or physical significance, it may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet. The sites are intended for practical conservation for posterity, which otherwise would be subject to risk from human or animal trespassing, unmonitored/uncontrolled/unrestricted access, or threat from local administrative negligence. Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected zones; the list is maintained by the international World Heritage Program administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 "states parties" that are elected by their General Assembly.
The programme catalogues and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture and heritage of humanity. Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund; the program began with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since 193 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most recognized international agreements and the world's most popular cultural program; as of July 2018, a total of 1,092 World Heritage Sites exist across 167 countries. Italy, with 54 sites, has the most of any country, followed by China, France, Germany and Mexico. In 1954, the government of Egypt decided to build the new Aswan High Dam, whose resulting future reservoir would inundate a large stretch of the Nile valley containing cultural treasures of ancient Egypt and ancient Nubia. In 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites.
In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the member states for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. This appeal resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, as well as the salvage and relocation to higher ground of a number of important temples, the most famous of which are the temple complexes of Abu Simbel and Philae; the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. As tokens of its gratitude to countries which contributed to the campaign's success, Egypt donated four temples: the Temple of Dendur was moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Temple of Debod was moved to the Parque del Oeste in Madrid, the Temple of Taffeh was moved to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in the Netherlands, the Temple of Ellesyia to Museo Egizio in Turin; the project cost $80 million, about $40 million of, collected from 50 countries. The project's success led to other safeguarding campaigns: saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia.
UNESCO initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, a draft convention to protect the common cultural heritage of humanity. The United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation; the White House conference in 1965 called for a "World Heritage Trust" to preserve "the world's superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the entire world citizenry". The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, they were presented in 1972 to the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm. Under the World Heritage Committee, signatory countries are required to produce and submit periodic data reporting providing the World Heritage Committee with an overview of each participating nation's implementation of the World Heritage Convention and a "snapshot" of current conditions at World Heritage properties. A single text was agreed on by all parties, the "Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage" was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972.
The Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of May 2017, it has been ratified by 193 states parties, including 189 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See and the State of Palestine. Only four UN member states have not ratified the Convention: Liechtenstein, Nauru and Tuvalu. A country must first list its significant natural sites. A country may not nominate sites. Next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File; the Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. These bodies make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee; the Committee meets once per year to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List and sometimes defers or refers the decision to request more information from the country which nominated the site. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list
Glen Davis, New South Wales
Glen Davis is a village in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The village is located in the local government area of the City of Lithgow, it is located 250 km north-west of Sydney and 80 kilometres north of Lithgow. In the 2006 census Glen Davis had a population of 354. Glen Davis is situated in the Capertee Valley. Glen Davis is located north of New South Wales, off the road to Mudgee. From 1938, the town became the centre of an oil shale industry; the post office for the town opened on 1 March 1939. The township was abandoned in 1952 because shale oil was not viable in a non-war, non-government supported economic environment. After the closure of the oil shale mine, the skeleton of a town survived in the form of some properties, a post office and a shop or two that survived intermittently; the creation of the Wollemi National Park brought a degree of tourism to the area. The Wollemi National Park takes in 492,976 hectares and is the second-largest national park in New South Wales.
It includes some parts of the Capertee Valley downstream of Glen Davis. The National Parks and Wildlife Service marked out a track between Glen Davis and Newnes, in the Wolgan Valley, this became a popular walk known as the Pipeline Pass. Bushwalkers use Glen Davis as the starting point for camping trips in the national park. Another national park was created known as the Gardens of Stone National Park; this takes in some areas around the Capertee Valley, including the flat-topped mountain—or butte—called Pantony's Crown. This mountain was named after an early farmer; the National Trail, a long-distance walking trail that goes from Melbourne to Cooktown passes through the Capertee Valley. The Glen Davis Shale Oil Works and a property now resumed into the National Park downstream from these sites was the location for the 1980 Australian movie The Chain Reaction; the movie starred Mel Gibson and Steve Bisley, Cinematography by Russel Boyd, had George Miller as First Assistant Director. Many locals appeared in the movie as extras.
List of Blue Mountains articles Newnes Wolgan Valley Wollemi National Park Capertee, New South Wales Lithgow Tourism - Glen Davis. National Oil PTY LTD- Glen Davis oil shale works ruins. Knapman, Glen Davis in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Halstead Press, ISBN 9781920831707 "Capertee". Mudgee District History. Retrieved 30 April 2016
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