Category: News update

This year we are celebrating the “World Environment Day” under exceptional circumstances, which have brought significant changes in the relationship between man and nature in terms of survival and recovery.

Despite its disastrous impacts on many sectors, the Coronavirus imposed biological rest for the benefit of ecosystems on land, sea, and air. Positive indicators have been monitored for improving air quality, the expansion of wildlife on the outskirts of cities, and the natural habitats of animals. We may ask, will this new situation lead the international community to reevaluate the concepts and goals of sustainable development and their relevance to nature?.

ICESCO reaffirms its support to the states and governments, environmental organizations, entrepreneurs, and scientists in their environmental action programs and believes that the human race will face extinction if it refuses to be bound by them to preserve nature. On this day, ICESCO calls for adopting the proposal for a joint environmental action based on lessons learned from the Coronavirus crisis, especially those related to preserving ecological diversity and its balance in the various ecosystems in forests, seas, agricultural systems, environmental tourism, urban environment, and others, and emphasizes the following:

-Biodiversity is the safety valve for both the health and development environment and must have the required place in joint environmental action programs.

-The life of the human race depends on stable and healthy ecosystems, and urgent action is required to put the world on the right path to a more sustainable future.

-There is a need to raise the profile of nature-based solutions in environmental governance, climate action, and developing policy tools.

-There is a need for anticipating the environmental and developmental ramifications of the depletion of natural resources to avoid crises for future generations.

The world continues to witness thousands of deaths due to Coronavirus. The place where World Climate Summit COP25 was hosted in December 2019 is now turned into the largest field hospital in Europe. But despite these contemporary crises, we have great hope in the providence and mercy of Allah (SWT). Our hope lies in the concerted efforts of peoples and our joint action within and outside our Islamic world. We hope for genuine quality initiatives to protect and preserve the environment and to continuously contribute to safeguarding the mother earth that we call home.

In line with the initiatives of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) in supporting the efforts to reduce the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on education, science, and culture, an agreement was concluded with Bibliotheca Alexandrina, one of the largest and oldest libraries worldwide, to provide access to its treasure troves of knowledge through “ICESCO Digital Home,” within the framework of the initiative of “Distance Culture,” via the link below:
https://www.icesco.org/%d8%aa%d8%ab%d9%82%d9%81-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%af/

The treasures of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, hosted by “ICESCO Digital Home,” include four key elements:
1- The Digital Assets Repository (DAR), which was developed by the International School of Information Science (ISIS) at Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It archives all types of media, including books, slides, movies, maps, and audiovisual materials. It also includes the most extensive Arabic book collection providing various viewing options, keyword search or expression, tagging, sharing books on other social networks, rating books, and interacting with other users through submitting comments.
2- Wellcome Arabic Manuscripts Online, which provides access, for the first time, to the largest collection of manuscript books and fragments on the history of medicine with high-quality digital image online along with associated rich metadata. It is part of the Asian Wellcome Library, which comprises 12 thousand manuscripts and 4 thousand printed books in 43 different languages.
3- Egyptian Press Archive, which archives 40 years of the Egyptian press production in various fields in Arabic, English, and French. It includes half a million journalistic articles, written by 17 thousand writers and journalistic correspondents on 30 different themes and published by 170 publishing houses, newspapers, periodicals, and magazines.
4- Digital Archive of the Egyptian Stamps, which includes 2300 postal stamps published by the Egyptian Post from 1866 to present times. It includes various kinds of stamps, such as regular mail, official mail, airmail, and commemorative stamps, which were published in special occasions and cover a large number of significant events in the history of Egypt and the world. Each stamp includes detailed information about its publishing date and occasion, and its full description.

This unique cooperation between ICESCO and Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the supreme effort of the two parties to sustain the cultural activity during Covid-19 pandemic. It provides the public with digital knowledge sources amid the closure of the cultural institutions and bodies to halt the spread of the virus and anticipate and support the future of digital culture.

It is worth mentioning that “ICESCO Digital Home” provides access throughout the lockdown period over 6 million e-books and online knowledge sources from Sharjah Library open to the public in more than ten different languages. “ICESCO Digital Home” also provides access to all the contents of the digital platform of the Mohammadia League of Scholars, in the Kingdom of Morocco, including Raed Platform for the dissemination of safe religious knowledge, Books of the deconstruction of extremist discourse, Museum of Science and Urbanism, Museum of Science History, and Portal of Mohammadia League of Scholars.

As part of the program “Languages of Africa, Bridges of Culture and History” previously launched by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), the Organization posted, on its YouTube channel, website and social media accounts, a video in the Hausa, Swahili, Mandingo, Fulani, Wolof, Fur, and Nubian languages to address the broader public in the Sub-Saharan countries as a contribution to raising their awareness through their local languages about the methods of protection from Covid-19 and ways to halt its spread. The effort falls within the framework of “ICESCO Digital Home” initiative supporting the Member States, especially the neediest countries most exposed to the risks of the current world health crisis triggered by Covid-19.

As part of the same initiative, ICESCO posted in May on its website several infographics in the abovementioned languages to ensure health education and raise preventive awareness. These infographics are downloadable to provide universal access to it. These materials can be found through the link:
https://www.icesco.org/%d9%84%d8%ba%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a5%d9%81%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%82%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d8%ac%d8%b3%d9%88%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ab%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%81%d8%a9-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%ae/

Through this awareness-raising video in the local languages of the African communities, ICESCO aims to highlight the crucial role of the local languages of the Sub-Saharan African peoples in disseminating basic knowledge and facilitate awareness and guidance for all social groups. It also seeks to add further efficiency to the programmes of health information and prevention education in Africa, ensure their dissemination to various social groups, promote the cultural, social and educational roles of the African languages, and keep these languages up-to-date with the information technology and benefit from digital publishing through the internet and social media.

It is worth mentioning that “Languages of Africa, Bridges of Culture and History” falls within a joint project with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to use the Arabic script in writing the languages of the Muslim communities in Africa. It consisted of educational, scientific, cultural and awareness-raising aspects and includes three ambitious programmes, in cooperation with the International University of Africa in the Republic of the Sudan (Yusuf Al Khalifa Center for Writing Languages in the Arabic Script), including a programme for computerizing the African languages by designing computer keyboards of fifteen languages and developing specialized software for the automated Arabic script. The second programme aims to improve the writing system of the African languages in the Arabic script by providing educational tools and materials, organizing training sessions for experts on the Arabic script, and preparing reading materials and teacher’s guide and educational media. The third programme aims to establish academic chairs on Arabic script.

The Moroccan National Commission for Education, Science and Culture stated that it had distributed the technological devices and educational equipment offered by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and its partner donors.

This is part of supporting the efforts of Member States to counter the repercussions of Covid-19 and ensure the continuity of the educational process after the closure of the educational institutions.
In its letter to the Secretariat of the National Commissions and Ministerial Conferences of ICESCO, the Moroccan National Commission highlighted that ICESCO and its partners offered an amount of US$58,000 to support distance education in the Kingdom of Morocco, of which US$30,000 was allocated to the Regional Academy of Education and Training of Marrakech-Safi and the US$28,000 to the Regional Academy of Education and Training of Beni Mellah-Khenifra.

Also, the Commission underlined that, in Beni Mellah-Khenifra, 350 tablets were distributed to students who attended to schools along with their parents, in coordination with the local authorities while taking all the precautionary safety measures. The beneficiaries are as follows:
1.​Communal School of Zaouiat Ahansal;
2.​School Group of Zaouiat Ahansal;
3.​School Group of Tighighit Znati;
4.​School Group of Tighanmin;
5.​High School of Zaouiat Ahansal.

Moreover, the Moroccan National Commission stated that the distribution started at 10:00 a.m. and continued for almost 12 hours to cover all the said schools with the participation of the Caïd of Zaouiat Ahansal, Principal of the High School of Zaouiat Ahansal, and the representative of the population at the Rural Town Council, in the presence of some parents.
The Commission added that the distribution of equipment to the students and schools concerned would continue tomorrow, Saturday 30 May 2020.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, held a virtual symposium to explore “the promotion of cultural institutions’ action and the preservation of cultural heritage in Palestine during and after Covid-19”, with the participation of several experts and specialists of cultural heritage and the management of cultural institutions to develop the plans and strategies likely to ensure the sustainable access to the right to culture during and after this health crisis.

The symposium, held yesterday via videoconferencing, was watched mainly through the live streaming on ICESCO page on Facebook. The seminar made several recommendations that praised the role of government cultural institutions in sustaining cultural resilience and preserving and publicizing the Palestinian identity despite its difficult situation before and during Covid-19.

This event also called for incorporating the protection of Al-Quds’ heritage within the partnership to be signed with the World Heritage Center and the Islamic World Heritage Center, recently established by ICESCO, to join and coordinate the relevant efforts; and preparing a new strategic plan along with its implementation mechanisms to protect the Palestinian heritage, particularly the heritage of Al-Quds and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Besides, the participants urged the staff working in the Palestinian cultural field to capitalize on modern technologies and social media to ensure the sustainability of cultural action and benefit all the social groups.

Moreover, they underscored the key role of ICESCO in preserving Al-Quds’ heritage, hailed the decision of establishing a special unit for Al-Quds’ heritage within the Islamic World Heritage Center, and called upon the Organization to schedule more activities to support institutions and protect the cultural heritage in Palestine in general, and in Al-Quds Al-Sharif in particular, through the Palestinian National Commission for Education, Culture and Science.