scholarly journals Underwater Cultural Heritage in Asia Pacific and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-38
Author(s):  
Chihiro Nishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Unesco Convention ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
Underwater Sites

Underwater cultural heritage (UCH) is a precious part of humanity’s shared history and heritage as it provides vital evidence and information about the interaction of humans with oceans, lakes and rivers. The Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 2001 to protect this heritage which has become significantly vulnerable to threats such as pillaging, commercial exploitation and the development of the seabed with the evolution of marine technology in the latter half of the 20th century. The Convention celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021 and has been ratified by 68 countries. Its annex, which provides rules about the activities directed at UCH, has become a major reference and is recognised as the established scientific standard for underwater archaeology and research today. Despite the growing recognition and application by the international community, the Convention has been ratified only by four countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Many underwater sites and shipwrecks have been commercially salvaged, particularly in Southeast Asia, and numerous artefacts recovered from the sites were often put up for auction, leading to irrevocable damage and loss of this valuable cultural heritage to future generations. This article as one of the themed articles dedicated to the UCH in Asia Pacific argues the roles of the Convention and the challenges and opportunities for the protection of UCH particularly in Southeast Asia. UCH contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and can play an important role in sustainable community and economic development. Its values and importance deserve to be widely recognised and advocated. Efforts for safeguarding cultural heritage in Asia Pacific needs to be pursued and enhanced through joining the 2001 Convention and with international support and cooperation.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Impacts and Sustainability Strategies for Regional Recovery in Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8907
Author(s):  
Suparak Suriyankietkaew ◽  
Suthep Nimsai
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Regional Sustainability ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Recovery Strategies ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainable Recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis is threatening our progressive social, ecological and economic development toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Studies of its impacts on sustainable development in emerging economies and on fast-growing regional development, such as Southeast Asia or the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), are scarce to date. This paper aims to investigate the COVID-19 impacts and identify challenges and opportunities for possible sustainable recovery solutions with respect to the UN SDGs. We employed a qualitative research method through analytical literature reviews and in-depth interviews with 33 organizations. Our results reveal various pandemic effects, challenges and opportunities for cooperative regional sustainability development and recovery strategies, such as intra-trade strategy, green economy and public–private–people partnerships. The findings provide practical guidance on policy implications for transformative regional sustainability and innovative recovery strategies to achieve the sustainable development agendas (i.e., ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and UN 2030 Agenda). Overall, the paper contributes to advance our limited understanding in this realm and benefits diverse stakeholders toward our sustainable futures.

scholarly journals Strengthening Efforts to Protect and Safeguard the Industrial Cultural Heritage in Montilla-Moriles (PDO). Characterisation of Historic Wineries

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5791
Author(s):  
Antonia Merino-Aranda ◽  
Isabel Luisa Castillejo-González ◽  
Almudena Velo-Gala ◽  
Francisco de Paula Montes-Tubío ◽  
Francisco-Javier Mesas-Carrascosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Wine Industry ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Industrial Heritage ◽  
Wine Making ◽  
Protected Designation Of Origin ◽  
Development Goals

Industrial heritage is linked to the cultural processes that human society sets through the traces from the past. The conservation and dissemination of this industrial–cultural heritage are crucial for sustainable urban development, and positively influences the transition to resilient and sustainable cities. The wine industry around Montilla has suffered as a result of a sharp reduction of the vineyard area in the last 25 years. Wineries, as one of the historic typologies of wine-making facilities in the Montilla-Moriles Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), as well as their materials and construction techniques, are a reference in the agricultural landscape of Montilla. Many historic wineries are the result of the abandonment and cessation of the wine industry. These buildings are linked to the agrarian activity in this area, mostly wine-making, although in some cases, they coexist with similar production processes, such as milling the fruit of the olive grove. This research characterises and analyses four historic wineries in the Montilla-Moriles PDO, which represent an example of architecture in the wine-making transformation during the 19th–20th centuries. This manuscript contributes to the attainment of some objectives set in one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), protecting and disseminating the industrial cultural heritage in Montilla-Moriles.

scholarly journals Towards Sustainable Mobility? The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Romanian Mobile Citizens in Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 4023
Author(s):  
Silvia Marcu
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Human Mobility ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
New Models ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Depth Interviews

Using the case study of Romanians in Spain, this article highlights how the COVID-19 crisis presents both challenges and opportunities when it comes to human mobility and sustainability. Drawing on in-depth interviews with mobile people during the period of lockdown and circulation restrictions, and in accordance with the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the paper advances and contributes to the relevance of sustainability and its impact on people’s mobility in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. I argue that even in the midst of the crisis, sustainable ways may be found to promote and protect human mobility. The paper raises the way sustainability acts as a driver, gains relevance and influence, and contributes to the creation of new models of resilient mobility in times of crisis. The conclusions defend the respect for the SDGs regarding human mobility and emphasise the role of people on the move as sustainable actors learning to overcome distance and the barriers to their mobility during the pandemic.

scholarly journals Making the Invisible Visible: Underwater Malta—A Virtual Museum for Submerged Cultural Heritage

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1558
Author(s):  
Timmy Gambin ◽  
Kari Hyttinen ◽  
Maja Sausmekat ◽  
John Wood
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Virtual Museum ◽  
Underwater Imaging ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
The Public ◽  
3D Photogrammetry ◽  
Underwater Sites

The seabed can be considered as the world’s largest museum, and underwater sites explored and studied so far provide priceless information on human interaction with the sea. In recognition of the importance of this cultural resource, UNESCO, in its 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, determined that objects/sites should be preserved in situ, whilst also advocating for public access and sharing. The implementation of these principles is not without difficulties. Some states have opened up underwater sites to the public—mainly through diving, yet the vast majority of the world’s population does not dive. In Malta, 7000 years of human occupation is reflected in and on the landscape, and recent offshore surveys show that the islands’ long and complex history has also left an indelible mark on the seabed. Besides difficulties related to their protection and management, these sites also present a challenge with regard to sharing and communicating. Recent advances in underwater imaging and processing software have accelerated the development of 3D photogrammetry of submerged sites and the idea for a virtual museum was born. The virtual museum, UnderwaterMalta, was created out of a need to share the plethora of underwater sites located on the seabed of the Maltese Islands. A multitude of digital tools are used to share and communicate these sites, offering visitors a dry dive into submerged sites that would otherwise remain invisible to the vast majority of the public. This paper discusses the basic principle of the sharing of underwater cultural heritage and the difficulties that beset the implementation of such a principle. A detailed explanation and evaluation of the methods used to gather the raw data needed is set in the context of the particular and unique working conditions related to deep water sites. The workings of this paper are based on first-hand experiences garnered through the recording of numerous wrecks over the years and the creation and launch of The Virtual Museum-Underwater Malta—a comprehensive virtual museum specifically built for “displaying” underwater archaeological sites that are otherwise invisible to the general public.

scholarly journals The Effect of the Characteristics and Activities of the Board of Directors on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Disclosures: Empirical Evidence from Southeast Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 8007
Author(s):  
Lintang D. Sekarlangit ◽  
Ratna Wardhani
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Research Work ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
One Year

This study aimed to analyze the board of directors’ commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by looking at the influence of the characteristics and activities of the board of directors and the existence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) committees on disclosures regarding the SDGs. The directors’ characteristics that were analyzed in this research included the board size, the proportion of independent directors, the presence of female directors, and the presence of foreign directors. The activities analyzed included the number of board meetings held in one year and the percentage of directors in meetings. The context of this study was companies in five Southeast Asian countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines—during the 2016 and 2017 reporting years. This study was an initial research work aiming to empirically examine the effect of the board of directors on SDG disclosures in public companies from five countries in Southeast Asia. The study shows that the percentage of attendance of board directors’ meetings and the existence of CSR committees positively affected SDG disclosures. It also indicates that the presence of the board at the meeting can encourage more intensive SDG disclosures. Companies with a high commitment to sustainability, as shown by their forming of CSR committees, also tended to have a higher level of SDG disclosures.

scholarly journals WHAT WE HAVE LOST FROM WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE: ETHICAL PROBLEMS OF THE SALVAGED SHIPWRECK CARGOES IN INDONESIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-234
Author(s):  
Hutomo Putra
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
Indonesian Government ◽  
Archaeological Methods ◽  
Underwater Sites ◽  
Term Management

The struggling in the ethical issues of submerged underwater sites and underwater cultural heritage have been undertaking in Indonesia for the last two decades. During these 20 years, commercial companies in collaboration with the National Shipwreck Committee recovered and salvaged substantial numbers of material cargoes. Unfortunately, the majority of these operations occurred without the involvement of archaeologists and lack of proper and controlled archaeological methods and excavation techniques. Since 2010, the Indonesian Government has declared a moratorium that temporarily stopped all commercial survey and salvage activities, and prohibits the sale of the artefacts.  Nowadays, more than 190,000 artefacts raised by salvagers are currently stored at the National Shipwreck Committee warehouses near Jakarta, in Cileungsi, West Java, Indonesia. This study attempts to illustrate the disadvantages of the commercial salvage practices and the auction of salvaged artefacts. This research also discusses some recommendations to contribute to a more ethical system of protection and the long-term management of the Indonesian maritime cultural resources, including its existing collections from salvaged shipwreck sites that are stored at the National Shipwreck Committee warehouse today.

Part II Substantive Aspects, Ch.13 Underwater Cultural Heritage

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
O’Keefe Patrick J
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
Unesco Convention ◽  
Time Capsule ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
A Site

This chapter focuses on underwater cultural heritage. This form of heritage is important because it constitutes what has been called a ‘time capsule’—meaning everything on a site may well be as it was when it disappeared beneath the water’s surface. It may be the wreck of a ship, the remains of a town, or a prehistoric settlement where land has subsided. There is general agreement that what remains is important to humanity. As such, protection and preservation of the underwater cultural heritage is a significant objective of the international legal system. The UNESCO Convention of 2001 is illustrative of this. However, the Convention exists within the international political and legal framework. In negotiating it, States were constrained by what they felt this framework required. Many were prepared to be generous in how they interpreted those requirements—others not so. The result is a complex agreement requiring care in implementation.

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