EU-UNESCO information meeting on Underwater Cultural Heritage

Underwater cultural heritage encompasses a vast legacy of millions of ancient shipwrecks, sunken cities, prehistoric sites and submerged landscapes. It holds not only information about the history of humankind and the social importance of the oceans but also about the history of climate change and its impact on humanity. At the High-level Conference of EU Ministers of Tourism, held in March 2014 in Athens, this submerged heritage has moreover been recognized as important for the diversification of coastal and maritime tourism. Today underwater cultural heritage is however endangered and still insufficiently protected, known and researched. The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is the foremost international treaty concerning submerged heritage adopted by the UNESCO General Conference in 2001.

To increase awareness of the topic and facilitate knowledge exchange among experts, researchers and decision makers, an EU - UNESCO Information Meeting on Underwater Cultural Heritage is organized and will be hosted at the European Parliament. The objectives of the meeting are to provide information about latest trends in the protection, use and understanding of submerged archaeological sites, ranging from newest advances in 3D modelling of sites, new discoveries concerning historic climate change and submerged prehistory to the development of robot archaeologists able to dive in the deep sea.