The Cultural Heritage Framework Programme: Ensuring a Place for Cultural Heritage’s Contribution to the UN Decade of Ocean Science

Abstract

Maritime and underwater cultural heritage (MUCH) is concerned with the relationship between people and the marine and coastal environment over time. Rooted in the past, MUCH is a resource that can help us understand and appreciate our current situation. But MUCH is also a medium through which we address the future to develop resilience and motivate adaptation. MUCH is both a source of inspiration and of evidence: to study and understand it requires and develops interdisciplinary skills across the social sciences, STEM, and SHAPE subjects. The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021–2030, in promoting a common framework for supporting stakeholders in studying the world’s oceans, presents a vital opportunity to improve the integration of MUCH within the marine sciences. The Ocean Decade Heritage Network’s Decade Action, the Cultural Heritage Framework Programme, focuses on ensuring that MUCH specialists—archaeologists and cultural heritage managers—can engage constructively with the marine sciences under the auspices of the Ocean Decade, and make the best of the opportunity that the Ocean Decade presents in addressing present and future challenges facing the world’s oceans.