UNESCO’s course “Beyond the screen: journalism and technology”, will provide journalists in Latin America with new tools and perspectives to tell more thorough, critical and quality stories about the vast world of technology and the Internet. This course, led by Natalia Zuazo, an Argentinian journalist and political scientist, is aimed at journalists across Latin America and the Caribbean and it is designed to go beyond the trivial news and press releases about the latest technologies. It will explore innovative ways to report on technology-related issues taking into account the historical moment, diversity of sources, human stories, legal framework and social, economic, cultural and psychological effects. “In recent years technology journalism has been reduced to reviewing gadgets and blithely reporting on the newest releases,” Zuazo pointed out. She is the author of the books “Guerras de internet” (Internet wars) and “Los dueños de internet” (The owners of the Internet) and the director of Agencia Salto. “Along the way we've lost one of the essential purposes of journalism: providing relevant, groundbreaking information or helping us gain a better understanding of the world to make more informed decisions as citizens.”

Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, with around 81% of its population living in urban areas and seven cities with more than 10 million inhabitants. These megacities are engines of economic growth and centers of social cohesion and stability. Water security is key to their sustained and peaceful growth.

The Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean together with the IHP-LAC Working Group ISARM Americas, the regional initiative for the UNESCO ISARM Programme on Internationally Shared Aquifer Resources Management and the Regional Centre for Groundwater Management in Latin America and the Caribbean (CeReGAS) invite you to the ISARM Americas Symposium.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the second most disaster-prone region worldwide. From 2000 to 2019, 1,205 disasters were recorded in LAC, affecting 152 million people. Earthquakes have been one of the most devastating hazards, not only in terms of mortality but also damages. LAC’s high exposure and vulnerability to earthquakes are due to its location within the “Ring of Fire”, with more than a quarter of the world’s earthquakes magnitude 8.0 or higher occurring in South America. Between 2000 and 2019, the LAC region experienced 75 earthquakes that resulted in 226,000 casualties, 339,000 injured, 14 million affected population, and approximately US$54 billion in total damages. One of the main factors contributing to the high levels of seismic risks in LAC is self-constructed dwellings and the lack of modern resistant-design buildings, which cause casualties from structural collapses. In this sense, there is a need for strengthening the capacities of the local and national construction and policy sectors to increase the safety of the built environment and thus reduce the socio-economic impact of earthquakes in LAC.

UNESCO, as an organization promoting social inclusion, human right to science, bioethical principles and open science, has prepared the document “COVID-19 and vaccination in LAC: Challenges, needs and opportunities”, with which more evidence is generated and the production, access and distribution of vaccines against Covid-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean is analyzed, from bioethical, human rights and open science approaches.  The aim of this session is to present the report's findings and discuss the vaccination situation in the region, making proposals to try to speed up vaccination, especially for those people who are still at risk and with socioeconomic vulnerabilities.