Mission Statement
From mapping ancient trade routes, surveying historic harbours and early settlements, to protecting wrecks of exploration, conflict, trade and global migration, ICUCH leads conversations that link the past to today’s global challenges.
From climate change to coastal and deep-sea development impacts, potentially polluting wrecks, unregulated ocean exploitation, illicit salvage or military activities, the threats to underwater heritage are increasing. Our work is grounded in cooperation, collaboration and empowering communities; we promote an ethical approach to inclusive research and management, ensuring that heritage is protected not only for its scientific, cultural and historical value, but its intangible significance as well. This includes supporting underwater cultural heritage that is included in UNESCO’s world heritage listing.
We are committed to advancing capacity-building in all regions, particularly where cultural heritage is most vulnerable, in line with the objectives of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which calls for the protection and sustainable management of ocean resources, including cultural heritage.
The ICOMOS-ICUCH Working Group on Underwater Cultural Heritage and World Heritage
The ICOMOS-ICUCH Working Group on Underwater Cultural Heritage and World Heritage was established in 2021 in response to a need to advocate for the inclusion of underwater cultural heritage (UCH) within the World Heritage Convention processes, as well as to improve UCH management and preservation.As the World Heritage Committee and the different World Heritage regional strategies and action plans identified, a more varied and representative World Heritage list is needed. The World Heritage Committee has also identified the need to build up synergies between the UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the 1972 Convention on the Protection of World Natural and Cultural Heritage in certain cases where the World Heritage sites -of Member States signatories to both conventions- contain submerged archaeological remains.
The ICOMOS-ICUCH Working Group focuses on:
Oversight
Monitoring World Heritage Committee decisions and ensuring underwater heritage is integrated into nomination files and management plans.
Assessment
Evaluating sites and advising on incorporating submerged archaeological remains into World Heritage inscriptions.
Guidance
Providing policy guidelines and advocating for ecosystem-based, community-centered approaches that bridge the divide between land and sea, and between culture, people and nature.
Outreach
Raising awareness and enhancing educational efforts about the value of underwater cultural heritage.
Our Core Values
- Our advice and work are driven by independence and integrity.
- We are committed to global collaboration, ethical stewardship, and educating others about the importance of our underwater past.
- Together we can manage and protect our underwater cultural heritage. ICUCH experts dive deep into current challenges, so that no story, no site, and no piece of our shared underwater history is lost.