Half of the existing 6,700 languages in the world will die away in a century and another 2,000 languages will be endangered if no efforts are made to save them, a top expert on social science said here Wednesday.

Li Shenming, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said at the on-going Globalization Forum on World Cultural Diversity that it is a pity that no genuine consensus has yet been reached on respecting and safeguarding linguistic diversity.

More than 180 senior officials and experts from home and abroad gathered here for the three-day event to discuss how to preserve and promote world cultural amd linguistic diversity against the background of globalization.

Zhang Xinsheng, elected chairman of the executive board of United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) last October, and Vice-Minister of Education, said: "a country should be conscious of combating stereotypes, prejudices and misconceptions so as to contribute to the richness of human civilization and a harmonious world of mutual prosperity."

With landslide votes, UNESCO adopted on October 20 the Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions, which is the first international convention of its kind.

Jointly sponsored by People's Daily, the Globalization Cooperation foundation and UNESCO's Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, the Third Globalization Forum on World Cultural Diversity kicked off in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua