Meeting on Underwater Cultural Heritage begins in Cozumel (+ PHOTOS)

The Federal Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) are hosting 42 specialists from 10 Latin American countries who are taking part in the meeting held within the framework of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Culture. legacy.

During the opening of the meeting, the Head of the Secretariat of the UNESCO Convention 2001, Ulrike Guérin; Quintana Roo’s Secretary of the Environment, Josefina Hernandez Gómez, highlighted the value of bringing together experts with the aim of promoting visibility, responsible access and best practices around underwater cultural heritage.

The 42 participants, from Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, began their presentations in the morning session.

Helena Barba Meneke, Head of the Office of the Sub-Directorate of Underwater Archeology of the Yucatan Peninsula INAH, estimated that the participants are key players in their countries, be it research, legal protection, business, ministries and secretariats of culture. Tourism and the environment.

According to the archaeologist, who is also a member of the agency’s scientific and technical advisory board, the meeting will be divided into four working sessions, with each speaker presenting proposals or explaining challenges and threats related to the democratization of underwater cultural heritage.

Three round tables are scheduled to discuss the management and responsible management of aquifers (continental freshwater, underground and surface rivers, caves and rock formations), tourism related to diving and cave diving, speleology, hotels, infrastructure generation, pollution and other related issues.

Today’s activities will culminate in the generation of a regional roadmap on the subject, and in the signing of the Act of Formation of the Coordinating Body of the Cozumel Island Biosphere Reserve, as part of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Programme.

At the closing ceremony, the course of biological culture “Sea and underwater route of the Yucatan Peninsula” will be shown. Isla de Cozumel, Quintana Roo ”, which will be proposed as a candidate before UNESCO to be recognized as a best practice initiative.

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