30 July to 28 September 2012, Social Media Tools, e-learning course.

UNITAR is pleased to announce the opening of registrations of the sixth session of the Innovative Collaboration for Development course from 30 July to 28 September 2012.

January 2012, New York, USA –“A wonderful workshop with very good teachers!” This delegate’s observation aptly sums up a successful year for the New York Office: in 2011, it planned, organized and evaluated 39 workshops (with over 70 days of training), trained over 1400 participants from Member States, UN staff and civil society, and secured new strategic partnerships with academia and the private sector. Building on these successes, UNITAR NYO will expand its thematic focus in 2012 and engage new partners.

18 January 2012, Geneva, Switzerland – The relationship between Swiss universities and UNOSAT continues to grow with success. As of January this year, UNOSAT shares its know-how with students of the University of Geneva in a new area, that of Geomatics. This discipline, also known as geospatial technology or geomatics engineering, is about gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information.

21 December 2011, Accra, Ghana – In the context of the GEF/UNDP/UNITAR/EPA-Ghana Project on Capacity Building for the Elimination of PCBs in Ghana, a Project Steering Committee (PSC) was held in Accra on 21 December 2011. The Committee reviewed the project status report, agreed on the 2012 Road Map, and acknowledged the progress made on the PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) inventory.

January 2011, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR’s Multilateral Diplomacy Programme (MDP), together with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), organises a High Level Panel discussion on cybersecurity and cybercrime at the Palais des Nations, Room XII, on 31 January 2012 from 15:00 to 17:30.

January 2012, Geneva, Switzerland – After over one year of positive research and experimental tests, the UNOSAT team has acquired its first Mini-UAV in late 2011 and placed orders for a second unit in 2012, while a third unit is planned for 2013.

December 2011, Rome, Italy – UNOSAT and the Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch of the World Food Programme  have decided to increase their cooperation in the area of geospatial information for crisis preparedness and response. WFP, the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger and bringing relief to millions of people during crisis and emergencies, makes use of geographic information systems and solutions to optimise its work and efficiency.

December 2011, Seoul, Republic of Korea - The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) organised its first international conference in Seoul in December 2011 around the theme of "Protecting the World's Cultural Heritage in Times of Change: Emergency, Preparedness and Response".

December 2011, Hiroshima, Japan.  Green Legacy Hiroshima is an initiative started in 2011 by UNITAR and ANT-Hiroshima, to spread worldwide the seeds - and the peace message - of trees that survived the atomic bombing.  Recently, Nassrine Azimi, one of the co-founders of "Green Legacy Hiroshima&

15 December 2011, Bangkok, Thailand - A think-tank conference organised by Wilton Park and ADPC with support from Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs gathered thinkers and practitioners in Thailand to discuss the future of disaster reduction as the country emerges from its worst floods in decades. Against this sobering backdrop, the conference was also a landmark event in the celebrations of ADPC's 25th anniversary.