UNESCO Underwater Initiative

Flinders maritime archaeologist Associate Professor Mark Staniforth attended the inaugural Meeting of States Parties to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, held in Paris during March. The 2001 Convention was activated with its ratification by a 20th national signatory in January this year.

With funding from the University, Associate Professor Staniforth represented two International NGOs at the meeting: the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology (ACUA)) and the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA).

“The coming into force of the UNESCO Convention marks the beginning of a process whereby it will become an important international instrument for the protection and management of the world’s fragile, finite and irreplaceable underwater cultural heritage,” Associate Professor Staniforth said.

One article of the convention charges states with regional co-operation in the provision of training in underwater archaeology and conservation, and the successful Australian Leadership Awards (ALA) Fellowship Program recently run by Flinders was applauded by both ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) and UNESCO.

ALA Fellowships are supported by AusAID, with recipients drawn from the public, private and community sectors of eligible countries for short-term study, research and professional attachment with an Australian host organisation.

The Flinders Maritime Archaeology Program has submitted a proposal to deliver another six-week ALA training program entitled Flinders University Intensive Program in Underwater Cultural Heritage Management in January 2010. Nominations have been gathered from eight countries in the Asia-Pacific: the Federated States of Micronesia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

March, 2009

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