By Arturo Rey da Silva, Co-Chair ODHN
UNESCO’s World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (Mondiacult) was held in Barcelona between 29 September and 1 October 2025. It brought together ministers, cultural leaders, academics, civil society, and youth from across the world to reflect on how culture fits into today’s global challenges. From the very start it was clear that Spain, as host, and UNESCO, as organiser, wanted to send a strong message. This was not only about diplomacy but about placing culture at the centre of international cooperation at a time when multilateralism and cultural diversity are under real threat.
The opening speeches set the tone. From the Spanish Prime Minister to the culture ministers of Spain and Mexico, to UNESCO and other authorities, the message was clear: culture is not a luxury, it is essential. It is the glue that holds societies together, a driver of peace, dialogue, empathy, tolerance, and sustainable development. Spain reinforced this by introducing two additional focus areas to UNESCO’s six main themes for Mondiacult: culture for peace and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on culture. These additions showed ambition and acknowledged the urgency of dealing with the biggest global shifts of our time.
In a world marked by conflict, climate stress, and political instability, this message resonated strongly. Culture was presented not as decoration, but as infrastructure, a vital element in how societies adapt and survive. Mondiacult felt at times like a thermometer measuring the state of culture in a fragile world. Issues such as cultural rights, the protection of heritage in crisis, the role of culture in climate resilience, digital futures, and the importance of culture in education and the economy were all front and centre. One clear objective stood out and this was to ensure that culture becomes a distinct and equal pillar in the post-2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Culture can no longer be treated as secondary or and ‘add-on’. This must be the moment when it becomes a full partner in shaping a sustainable future and is firmly recognised in global agendas.
As Co-Chair of the Ocean Decade Heritage Network (ODHN), I left Barcelona both inspired and concerned. Inspired, because it was powerful to see culture given such visibility on the global stage. Concerned, because Ocean Heritage still does not receive the recognition it deserves. Too often, heritage linked to the sea is understood only in material terms, restricted to UNESCO conventions definitions, rather than as a living and dynamic relationship between humanity and the ocean. We need to start talking about the ‘oceanicity’ of culture or culture with an ‘ocean gaze’. This recognises that the sea shapes identities, memories, and ways of life, especially for island nations, coastal communities, Indigenous Sea peoples, and maritime societies everywhere. At present, most cultural policy continues to treat Ocean Heritage as an extension of land-based heritage, managed under terrestrial frameworks and state jurisdiction. What is needed is a shift towards seeing the ocean itself as a cultural space, one that extends beyond national borders and deserves to be integrated into broader strategies for conservation, governance, and sustainable development.
If we understand culture not as an isolated element but as the outcome of a dynamic relationship between humanity and its natural environment, then we must also recognize that there are countless ways of expressing that relationship, reflected in an infinite cultural diversity. Every landscape, every ecosystem, every territory has generated distinct forms of life, memory, and identity. Yet, if we turn our gaze to the natural space that covers more than three quarters of our planet, we cannot but acknowledge it as the greatest cultural space of all. The sea is not merely a resource or a backdrop, it is a cultural realm in its own right, where for millennia exchanges, migrations, knowledge, technologies, beliefs, and cosmologies have unfolded. Across its immensity, the ocean has shaped entire cultures, connected continents, and inspired myths, religions, music, and ways of life. Within it, both the unity and the diversity of the human experience are inscribed. It is then my view that any policies looking at preserving culture globally would need to include as well an ocean gaze.
I believe we are on the right track, and one of the highlights of the conference was the recognition of the indivisible links between cultural and natural heritage, biodiversity, and the environment. It was a milestone to see several UNESCO Sectors, including Culture, Education, and Science, come together to push culture onto the global stage. It was disappointing, however, not to see a closer alliance with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), whose programmes increasingly acknowledge culture as a key part of ocean sustainability and ocean literacy.
At the Conference, UNESCO presented its first Global Report on Cultural Policies, which presents the state of culture, and heritage, today around the world. This was elaborated with data from the different reporting mechanisms of UNESCO’s culture conventions (note that the 2001 Convention has just approved one a few months ago, so data from underwater cultural heritage was not available to elaborate this report), as well as different type of open consultations with experts, academia and other recognised UNESCO partners (i.e., UNESCO Chairs or Category 2 Centres).
The report refers to underwater cultural heritage (UCH) within the broader evolution of international cultural rights frameworks, highlighting the adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention as a milestone for safeguarding submerged heritage and preventing its looting through international cooperation. The information on UCH draws in part on contributions from the Category 2 Centre, the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar. Beyond this, references to seas and oceans are mainly linked to environmental sustainability and climate change. The report underscores the role of culture in addressing environmental risks, stressing that cultural and natural heritage, including landscapes, must be protected against climate impacts. The ocean is therefore presented largely as part of the natural environment that underpins cultural life and biodiversity, rather than as a cultural sphere in its own right.
Mondiacult’s final declaration made a bold commitment by asking states to work with academia and civil society, and by calling for the development of a stand-alone Sustainable Development Goal dedicated to culture. This immediately raises the question of how a culture goal will connect with the successor to SDG 14 on the sustainability of the ocean. There is a real risk that the cultural dimensions of the sea, especially in areas beyond national jurisdiction, could once again be overlooked. ODHN’s role must be to help prevent this by connecting the dots, working closely with UNESCO, the IOC, governments, scientists, and communities to ensure that the cultural values of ocean systems are integrated into future global goals.
The themes of Mondiacult, ranging from cultural rights and education to climate, the economy, digital futures, heritage in crisis, and Spain’s additional focus on peace and AI, all relate directly to the ocean. Ocean Heritage is about rights and memory. It is about using digital technologies responsibly, building ocean literacy into education, supporting sustainable cultural economies along coasts, and preparing for the impacts of climate change on vulnerable sites and communities. The ocean has always been a space of encounters, migrations, and exchanges, a bridge for peace as well as a frontier. ODHN can and should help make this clearer within the cultural policy world.
Looking ahead, for ODHN and the Ocean Heritage community, the priority is to build on the momentum of Mondiacult. We must keep dialogue open with UNESCO, governments, academia, and communities to connect culture and ocean agendas. We must publish clear positions and advocate strongly so that Ocean Heritage is recognised in its full diversity. We must contribute to building capacity, especially in regions most at risk from climate change, so that maritime communities have the knowledge and resources to protect and share their heritage. And we must tell better stories through exhibitions, media, and education so that people everywhere see the ocean not only as a natural resource but also as a cultural space rich in meaning.
Mondiacult 2025 felt like a turning point. It showed ambition to finally give culture the central place it deserves in global development and diplomacy. But the work is only beginning. Mondiacult 2025 was a much-needed commitment, one that should perhaps have been made already at the first Mondiacult in 1982 in Mexico, when culture was identified as key for development. Now it is up to us to make sure that this time culture, including Ocean Heritage, takes its rightful place at the heart of global agendas, as a stand-alone SDG and as a cross-cutting element across all the other goals.
