A technical meeting on underwater cultural heritage began today on the island of Cozumel, Mexico, sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
The federal Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) are hosting the 42 specialists from 10 Latin American countries participating in the meeting, which is being held within the framework of the 2001 Unesco Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
During the inauguration of the meeting, the head of the Secretariat of the 2001 Unesco Convention, Ulrike Guérin, and the Secretary of Ecology of Quintana Roo, Josefina Hernandez Gómez, highlighted the value of bringing together experts with the objective of promoting visibility, responsible access and best practices regarding underwater cultural heritage.
The 42 panelists, from Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Mexico, began their presentations in the morning session.
Helena Barba Meinecke, head of the Office of the Subdirectorate of Underwater Archaeology of the Yucatan Peninsula of INAH, estimated that the participants are key agents in their countries, whether from research, legal protection, the business sector, ministries and secretariats of culture, education, tourism and environment.
According to the archaeologist, who is also a member of the organization’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Council, the meeting will be divided into four working sessions, where each speaker will make proposals or explain challenges and threats related to the democratization of underwater cultural heritage.
The activities will come to an end today with the generation of a regional road map on the subject, and with the signing of the Act of Conformation of the Coordinating Body of the Cozumel Island Biosphere Reserve, as part of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program.
The closing ceremony will also include the presentation of the biocultural itinerary ‘Nautical and underwater route of the Yucatan Peninsula. Cozumel Island, Quintana Roo’, which will be proposed as a candidate to Unesco to be recognized as a Best Practices Initiative.
Source: Prensa Latina][/bg_
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