Statutory meetings of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and Scientific Conference, UNESCO, Paris, 16-20 June 2025

The Tenth Session of the States Parties to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was held in Paris from 16 to 17 June 2025. The session was chaired by the Permanent Representative of Spain to UNESCO, H.E. Miquel Iceta Llorens. Since the last session, nine Member States have ratified the Convention – the Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Iraq, Ireland, Mauritania, Qatar, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone and Yemen – bringing the total number of States Parties to eighty-one as of 20 April 2025. The geographical distribution of States Parties by region varies considerably, with the Arab States group having the highest ratification rate at 84%, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean at 64% and Africa at 52%. Ratification rates remain lower in the Western Europe and North America region (31%) and the Asia-Pacific region (9%).

The Secretariat commissioned Prof. Colin Breena from the University of Ulster (Great Britain) to create pro bono the ''White Paper on Underwater and Coastal Cultural Heritage and Climate Change''. The preliminary version of the document was presented at the meeting "Thinking about culture and climate actions: the goal of MONDIACULT 2025 and COP30", held at the UNESCO headquarters in March 2025.

Regarding the evaluation of new Examples of Best Practices in underwater cultural heritage, at the proposal of the Convention's Scientific and Technical Advisory Body (STAB), three new examples were approved: 1. Albaola: The re-construction of the San Juan, an emblem of world maritime history, Basque country, Spain; 2. The protection, research and awareness-raising related to the Illes Formigues II wreck and the trade in Baltic products in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, Catalonia, Spain; 3. The protection, research and awareness-raising related to the Fort Royal 1 wreck off the Bay of Cannes, France.

ICUA Zadar Director Mladen Pešić, PhD, presented the Croatian System of protection and management of underwater cultural heritage on sites Velika shallows near Cavtat, Letavica and Baron Gautsct which was designated as UNESCO's example of Best Practice in underwater cultural heritage in 2023. In May 2024, the Centre and UNESCO jointly carried out an on-site mission for the STAB members (Maili Roio, Robert Domzal and Kalin Dimitrov). The exhibition "Examples of Best Practices in the Preservation of Underwater Cultural Heritage" (June-August 2024), was organized with the Spanish partner ARQUA at the newly inaugurated St. Nicholas Centre for Education and Presentation of Underwater Heritage in Zadar. The partners were Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media, Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the Kingdom of Spain, ARQUA and the Casa Mediterráneo public consortium.

Driven by the impacts of climate change and marine pollution, the underwater cultural heritage has become a central focus in environmental, scientific, and cultural strategies. In response, new research initiatives have been launched while the Secretariat of the 2001 Convention actively backs the Tangaroa project - a co-operation between the Lloyd's Register Foundation and the Waves Group - which aims to raise awareness about the risks of marine pollution from wrecks (fuels), particularly those dating back to the World War I and World War II that lie on the ocean floor worldwide. 

Notably, the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage remains the only UNESCO cultural convention without an established monitoring mechanism. To address this gap, a model questionnaire has been developed for States Parties to periodically report on achievements, emerging challenges, new trends, and reassessments of national priorities and measures. It is anticipated that this quadrennial report will serve as an effective tool for monitoring the Convention’s implementation on regional and global scales. Starting in 2027, these reports will become mandatory, and the resulting documents will form a crucial component of the second Global Report on Cultural Policies, prepared for the MONDIACULT conference in 2029.

On Wednesday, 18 June, Robert Domzal (Poland) opened the Sixteenth meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body (STAB) to the 2001 Convention. Six new members were elected: Ruth Geli (Spain), Dolores Elkin (Argentina), Laura Raquel Carrillo Marquez (Mexico), Azzedine Karra (Morocco) and Ahmed Gadhoum (Tunisia). The States Parties, which elect STAB members every two years according to the principles of equitable geographical distribution, rotation and gender representation, confirmed these elections, and Barbara Davidde Petriaggi (Italy) re-assumed the position of STAB President. ICUA Zadar Director presented provided a comprehensive overview of the Centre’s activities during the last period.

On Wednesday 19 June, following the meetings, a scientific conference titled "Underwater Cultural Heritage and the Challenges of Climate Change" took place, with its inauguration led by Mr. Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, and Mr. Arnaud Schaumasse, DRASSM Director and event co-organizer. In four sessions, twenty experts from around the world - including those from the UK, France, Poland, Estonia, Paraguay, Japan, Pakistan, the USA, Mexico, Ghana, Kenya, and New Zealand - discussed threat assessment, safeguarding strategies, adaptation challenges, and synergies for emergency response. The conference is an integral part of global efforts to link climate issues with culture, in line with initiatives such as the "UNESCO Meeting on Culture and Climate Action: Towards MONDIACULT 2025 and COP30" (March 2025) and the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3, June 2025). Brazil is hosting the UN Climate Change Conference COP 30, in Belém in November 2025.

On Friday, 20 June, a meeting of the UNESCO University Network for Underwater Archaeology, UNITWIN NETWORK, was held along with accredited NGOs, chaired by Dr. Kalliopi Baik (CNRS, Aix Marseille Université). Since its establishment in 2012, the Network now has 54 members – 11 academic teaching institutions with full membership, 3 UNESCO Chairs, 14 institutions with recognized partner status and 26 associate partners. Aix Marseille University has taken on the role of coordinator of the Network for the period from February 2023 to February 2026. In a comprehensive report on the activities of the past two years, the educational initiatives of the ICUA Zadar were highlighted, and the new web platform of the UNITWIN network was presented. New members are the Japanese Kobe University (presented by Prof. Tatsuya Nakada and Chihiro Nishikawa), and the Italian University of Napoli-L’Orientale (on-line by Dr. Chiare Zazzaro). Furthermore, the European SUBNORDICA project, launched in the first half of 2024, was presented, with the aim of developing innovative methods for finding and exploring hard-to-reach archaeological sites in the North Sea based on finds from the Baltic Sea. The project leaders are the University of Bradford (UK), Aarhus University (Denmark) and the Moesgaard Museum (Denmark). Alison Faynot announced an initiative of the Secretariat of the 2001 Convention, which is currently under development, with the aim of raising awareness and strengthening expertise on the Convention. It is a course called the "Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Underwater Cultural Heritage and Underwater Archaeology", which will be implemented in co-operation with the UNITWIN network.