Underwater cultural heritage as a forgotten discipline in oceans governance

This chapter explores the role of underwater cultural heritage in informing responses to global challenges. It is essential to recognise underwater cultural heritage as part of the ocean governance agendas since the seabed and sand cover the archaeological objects, making it just one body. Also, the non-sedentary fishing species live around artificial reefs made by shipwrecks. As a consequence, a natural and cultural partnership is necessary to negotiate new approaches to provide a response to the challenges set out in the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, specifically Goal 13 (Climate Action), Goal 14 (Life Below Water) and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), all related to ocean governance. This chapter will acknowledge some important contributions that underwater cultural heritage can bring by increasing the knowledge about the oceans, a knowledge that can serve to achieve effective conservation practices and sustainable economic development. It will also include the perspective of Indigenous communities related to ocean government. The chapter hopes to bring to the field of ocean governance how underwater cultural heritage can become an essential tool to the United Nations’ agendas, especially in three main aspects: climate change, sustainable use of the oceans and natural/cultural partnerships.