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Underwater Cultural Heritage

Published on 24/06/2020 (last modified 14/07/2020)

2001

Underwater cultural heritage has benefited, in the last decades, from protection with national and international laws, but the increasing of looting is still alarming.

The cultural treasures hidden by the Oceans and, in particular, the Adriatic Sea are immense, and they represent invaluable evidence of ancient history: wrecks and underwater structures are a capsule of time waiting to be opened since time has stopped with the sinking. In most cases, these are important evidence of great historical and cultural significance.

However, many national laws do not adequately protect the heritage; the Unesco Convention, represents an important step as a response of the international community to looting and destruction, “aiming to ensure and strengthen the protection of underwater cultural heritage” (art. 2.1). It offers a high international standard of protection of underwater cultural heritage through a broad regulatory framework and rules that provide the appropriate legal, administrative and operational measures adopted by states members following their respective abilities and skills.

The first principle of the Convention is that underwater cultural heritage must be protected from the risk of being exploited commercially for economic exchanges or speculation.

The second important principle, the preference for in situ protection of the underwater cultural heritage, is directly related to the UnderwaterMuse project. This is considered the first action to be implemented for the conservation of the heritage.

The Convention also represents a lex specialis, containing specific requirements for underwater cultural heritage, but it does not compromise the rights, the jurisdiction and the obligations of the states to the international laws.

The Convention contains an important regulation on the training of professional skills in the field of underwater archaeology. Training in the field of underwater archaeology is essential and the transfer of technologies, the sharing of information and the increasing public perception of the value and meaning of underwater cultural heritage are fundamentals.

Link to the convention.:

http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13520&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html