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  • Sandwatch
    • About Sandwatch
    • Contact Us
  • Latest News
    • 2015 Archives
  • Participating Countries
  • Our Publications
    • The Sandwatcher Magazines
    • The Sandwatch Manual(s)
    • Most Significant Change Stories
    • Sandwatch Brochure
    • Sandwatch Workshops
    • Sandwatch Competitions
    • International Conferences >
      • Lincoln Symposium
      • Rio+20 Conference
      • UNESCO Experts Meeting
      • The Bonn Conference
      • Paris, UNESCO HQ 2009
  • Beach Records
    • Beach Records (English)
    • Dossier Plage (Français)
    • Countries with Beach Records
  • Tools
    • Sandwatch Turtle Toolkit
    • Sandwatch Training Videos
    • CCESD Course Materials
  • The Caribbean Academy of Science

Paris, UNESCO HQ 2009

UNESCO's International Seminar on Climate Change Education,
​Paris July 27-29th, 2009


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​"The Flagship UNESCO Sandwatch Project is an excellent example of what can be achieved...Sandwatch provides a framework for school children and local communities to work together to critically evaluate the problems facing their beach environments and develop sustainable management solutions.  Since its launch in the Caribbean in 2001 which I myself attended, while visiting several islands of the region, Sandwatch has expanded to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and is now active in around forty nations worldwide, including about 20 SIDS (Small Island Developing States)"

- Excerpt from   The Opening Address by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the International Seminar on Climate Change Education - UNESCO, 27 July 2009, Paris. (Right: Director General of UNESCO, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura delivering the opening address)

It was a true pleasure for Gillian and myself to attend the Paris Seminar on Climate Change Education, not only to represent Sandwatch at such an important event, but also to meet many Sandwatch Team members from around the world, several of whom we previously knew only from email correspondence.
 
It was great to finally meet Pascale Gabriel, the Sandwatch Coordinator for Mayotte (who also our new French Programme Facilitator), as well as Sandwatchers Gail Townsend and Jane Taurarii from The Cook Islands, Carol-Faye George from Antigua, Laura Lee McIntosh from The Bahamas, and Monica Regisford-Douglin from Trinidad & Tobago.

In addition the seminar also gave us the opportunity to present Sandwatch to an international audience of professional educators and scientists from a wide variety of disciplines.  Two short videos of our 15 minute presentation are viewable on-line at www.youtube.com/user/SandwatchFoundation.
 
Our presentation was very well received and it gave us the opportunity to forge new friendships with many delegates who now want to start Sandwatch in their home countries or expand the existing project into more schools around their countries, these include South Africa, Seychelles, Fiji, Kiribati, the UK, The Maldives, Mauritius, New Zealand and Samoa to name just a few.  Hopefully we will be hearing more from these new friends in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
 
Paul Diamond
Director
Sandwatch Foundation
Video of the Sandwatch Presention at the Paris Seminar
​Sandwatch Foundation Directors, Dr. Gillian Cambers and Paul Diamond, give a presentation on the goals and methodology of Sandwatch at UNESCO's International Seminar on Climate Change Education, in Paris, July 27th, 2009

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