The proposal to the UN to proclaim an International Year on Cultures and Civilizations for Human Development was approved by acclamation by the participants in the International Workshop on the same subject area which was held in Rome, Italy, December 12-14, 2005, and was attended by about 100 scientists. Below, the initial list of selected, distinguished persons that have expressed their inclination to support the proposal to the UN, is presented.

• Tor Halfan Aase, University of Bergen, Norway
  
• Ronald F. Abler, General Secretary, International Geographical Union, USA
  
• M.S. Abulezz, Chair, IGU National Committee of Egypt, Egypt
  
• Bulent Acma, Researcher and Lecturer, Anadolu University, Turkey
  
• Antoine Bailly, Chair, IGU Commission on Applied Geography, Switzerland
  
• Dan Balteanu, Chair, IGU National Committee of Romania, Romania
  
• R. Dick Bedford, Chair, IGU National Committee of New Zealand, New Zealand
  
• Giuliano Bellezza, Director, Home of Geography, Italy
  
• Chokri ben Frrej, Lecturer in history, France
  
• Peter T. Bobrowsky, Secretary General, International Union of Geological Sciences, Canada
  
• Mongi Bousnina, Director, Organisation Arabe pour l'Education, la Culture et les Sciences (ALECSO), Tunisia
  
• Rudolf Brazdil, Chair, IGU National Committee of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic
  
• Anne Buttimer, Former President, International Geographical Union (IGU), Ireland
  
• Manuela Silvia Campanini, PhD Student, University of Urbino "Carlo Bo", Italy
  
• Bianca Cassandro, Professor of Comparative Law, University of Genoa, Italy
  
• Claudio Cerreti, Professor in Political and Economic Geography, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy
  
• Chang-yi David Chang, Professor, Institute of Geography, National Taiwan University, ROC-Taiwan
  
• Sergio Conti, Chair, IGU National Committee of Italy, Italy
  
• Kenneth E. Corey, Professor of Geography & Urban & Regional Planning, Michigan State University, USA
  
• Giacomo Corna Pellegrini, Former President, Associazione dei Geografi Italiani, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
  
• Massimo Corsini, Undergraduate, LUISS University of Rome, Italy
  
• Giuseppe Dematteis, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
  
• Jean-Michel Dewailly, Professeur émérite, Université Lumière Lyon 2, France
  
• Giulia De Spuches, Associate Professor, University of Palermo, Italy
  
• Eduardo de Mulder, Former President, International Union of Geological Sciences; Chairman, Management Team of the UN International Year of Planet Earth, The Netherlands
  
• Jan Feranec, Chair, IGU National Committee of Slovakia, Slovakia
  
• Maria-Dolors Garcia Ramon, President, Catalan Geographical Society, Spain
  
• Barry Jay Glick, Spatial Justice Organisation, USA
  
• Olivier Graefe, Assistant Professor, University of Bayreuth, Germany
  
• Nathalie Gravel, President, Société de géographie de Québec, Canada
  
• Vincenzo Guarrasi, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy.
  
• Adnane Hayder, Chair, IGU National Committee of Tunisia, Tunisia
  
• John Paul Jones III, Head, Department of Geography & Regional Development, University of Arizona, USA
  
• Margaret Keane, Head of Geography, St Mary's University College, Queen's University Belfast, Ireland
  
• Aharon Kellerman, Chair, IGU National Committee of Israel, Israel
  
• Jarmo Kortelainen, Chair, IGU National Committee of Finland
  
• Leszek Kosin'ski, Former Secretary General, International Social Sciences Council, Poland
  
• Walter Leimgruber, Professor, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  
• Lindisizwe M. Magi, Vice-president, International Geographical Union, South Africa
  
• Mohammad S. Makki, Chair, IGU National Committee of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
  
• Kalpana Markandey, Chairperson, Board of Studies - Department of Geography, Osmania University, India
  
• Christian Wichmann Matthiesen, Chair, IGU National Committee of Denmark, Denmark
  
• Ahmed M'chareq, Ancient History Specialist, Tunisia
  
• Bruno Messerli, Former President, International Geographical Union (IGU); Former Rector, University of Bern, Switzerland
  
• Günter Meyer, Chairman of Geographie für Alle e.V., Germany
  
• Rosa Fernanda Moreira da Silva, Chair, IGU National Committee of Portugal
  
• Ricard Morén-Alegret, Coordinator, Migration Research Group, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
  
• Sospeter M Muhongo, Director ICSU Regional Office for Africa, South Africa
  
• Atsuyuki Okabe, Chair, IGU National Committee of Japan, Japan
  
• Paola Pagnini, University of Trieste, Italy
  
• Maria Paradiso, University of Sannio, Italy
  
• Jan Paulov, Former Chair, IGU National Committee of Slovakia, Slovakia
  
• Christian Pierret, Président Fondateur du Festival International de Géographie (FIG)
  
• Jean-Robert Pitte, Président, Université Paris 4 Pantheon-Sorbonne, France
  
• Franco Salvatori, President, Società Geografica Italiana, Italy
  
• André Louis Sanguin, Professor of Geography, University of Paris-Sorbonne, France
  
• Christopher Sharpe, Chair, IGU National Committee of Canada, Canada
  
• Rana P.B. Singh, President, Society of Heritage Planning & Environmental Health, India
  
• R.B.Singh, Secretary General, National Association of Geographers, India
  
• Larbi S'noussi, Modern History Specialist, Tunisia
  
• Theano S. Terkenli, University of the Aegean , Lesvos, Greece
  
• Alì Toumi, Secretary General of 2008 International Geographical Congress, Tunisia
  
• Adalberto Vallega, President, International Geographical Union (IGU), Italy
  
• Christian Vandermotten, Chair, IGU National Committee of Belgium, Belgium
  
• Hans van Ginkel, Rector, United Nations University
  
• Herman Verstappen, Former President, International Geographical Union (IGU), Former Chair ICSU-IDNDR (International Council for Science-Special Committee for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction), The Netherlands.
  
• Wuyi Wang, Chair, IGU National Committee of the People's Republic of China, China
  
• Benno Werlen, Chair, Commission on The Cultural Approach in Geography, International Geographical Union, German
  
• Donald J Zeigler, Professor of Geography, Old Dominion University, USA
  
• Shangyi Zhou,Vice-Chair, Commission of Human Geography, Geographical Society of China, China

g.bellezza, 10th May 2006