Decrypting the future: ten long-term trends shaping humanity in the 21st century

The magazine you are holding is the trial issue of the new bi-annual UNESCO Courier. We hope readers will find it has the same rigorous standards and openminded approach that the old monthly magazine was admired for over several decades. We also hope you like the changes we have made such as:

• A lighter and more flexible layout, lending itself to both a quick glance - at titles, intros, excerpts, captions, brief items - and a good read.
• New sections –such as Zoom, UNESCO in the news and Partners– that will feature in each issue, giving different angles on UNESCO’s various activities.
• A new system of distribution too for a magazine that is now free of charge, through UNESCO’s regional offices and National Commissions, and the many other networks the Organization is linked to around the world.

The magazine will be chiefly aimed at these key partners. Each issue will include articles about topics linked to each one of UNESCO’s fields of activity – education, culture, communication, the social and exact sciences – written by journalists from our Bureau of Public Information. It will also contain a feature dossier put together by a specially chosen guest editor. In this issue we discuss some of the major challenges to be faced in the 21st century and next October we will focus on Afghanistan. We wish you an interesting read and thank in advance those of you who will send us comments, suggestions and criticisms.

Michel Barton, Director of the Bureau of Public Information

Discover this issue. Download he PDF.