At the beginning of the 1950s, the Organization pioneered the promotion of research in non-conventional and renewable sources of energy (particularly solar and wind energy) when the large-scale International Arid Zone Programme was established, in which the energy problems confronting arid regions were considered. It was the first example of international cooperation in the field of  new and renewable sources of energy, and it culminated in the International Symposium on Solar and Wind Energy of the Arid Zone, convened in New Delhi, India, in 1954. The Arid Zone Programme was terminated in 1962 but created a solid international scientific basis for later UNESCO initiatives

In the early 1970s, the world community began to suffer from shortages of energy as a result of a crisis in oil production and distribution as well as the inefficient use of available energy resources. Shortages and the rising cost of energy contributed considerably to the slow-down of the process of social and economic advancement of many developing countries in the past decades. This is why scientific problems connected with developing new methods for the use of energy, as well as the search for new sources, has become once again a preoccupation of the United Nations (UN), its specialized agencies, and various international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

In 1973, the Natural Sciences Sector of UNESCO convened the world congress ‘The Sun in the Service of Mankind’…………………”

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Fuel for thought: UNESCO initiatives on renewable energy sources was a contribution by Osman Benchikh to Sixty Years of Science at UNESCO 1945-2005, UNESCO, 2006 (695 pages) UNESCO Publishing, Click for direct purchase

For more information contact: o.benchikh@unesco.org

Osman Benchikh: Programme Specialist responsible for energy and renewable energies (since 1998), UNESCO Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences