Search

Copyright of Libyan Studies is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Urbanisation, comprising development, land reclamation and population growth along coastal margins, continues to place significant pressure on the maritime cultural heritage (MCH), particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Thus, there is a growing need for ascertaining the extent of the affected MCH resource and its condition. One such assessment is being undertaken by the Maritime Endangered Archaeology (MarEA) project, which is generating a unique informed database of the maritime resource in the MENA region. Through a regional overview combined with focused assessment on two case studies – Marsa Matruh (Egypt) and Bahrain – this paper demonstrates the threat urbanisation poses and the damage it has inflicted on MCH. The analyses and documentation that MarEA produces via remote sensing, desk-based and field-based assessments, constitutes a valuable resource that, at the very least, exists in digital perpetuity. It establishes a record that can be drawn upon to formulate targeted strategies and initiatives inclusive of the maritime cultural heritage resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently a significant imbalance in existing marine resource management frameworks. Across Africa and the Middle East there is a developing network of marine protected areas focused on natural heritage but with very limited engagement with area-based management for cultural heritage. Yet both natural and cultural heritage resources are subject to the same considerable threat levels from both natural and anthropogenic processes of change. The MarEA project is engaged in an extensive programme of mapping and documentation of endangered cultural heritage sites and landscapes across the MENA region. During the course of this and aligned work, its engagement with coastal communities and international practice has identified a clear need for more informed and holistic approaches to marine resource management. This study presents a model for the integrated management of natural and cultural heritage and proposes a framework for the future identification and designation of Marine Cultural Heritage in Protected Areas. • Marine Cultural Heritage tends to be secondary to natural heritage in MPA designation and operation. • Natural and cultural marine heritage should be managed in an integrated manner. • Proposed an integrated, participatory model for existing and future sites. • Outlined a detailed, phased approach towards the realisation of the effective inclusion of MCH in MPAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Middle East and North Africa have witnessed a surfeit of geospatial data collection projects, resulting in big databases with powerful deductive capacities. Despite the valuable insights and expansive evidentiary record offered by those databases, emphasis on anthropogenic threats to cultural heritage, combined with a limited integration of local perspectives, have raised important questions on the ethical and epistemological dimensions of big data. This paper contextualizes maritime cultural heritage (MCH) in those debates through the lens of the Maritime Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project (MarEA). MarEA is developing a unique for the region database for MCH designed to amalgamate a baseline record emphasizing spatial location, state of preservation, and vulnerability. This record will form a stepping stone toward finer-grained research on MCH and its interdisciplinary intersections. It is also developed as an information resource to facilitate local collaborators in prioritizing site monitoring and developing documentation, management, and mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have emerged as one of the primary legislative initiatives used to protect the marine environment. Additionally, they are recognised as an integral management mechanism used to address Climate Change, and some consider them to be a driver for sustainable community development. To date, these areas have been used primarily to protect the natural environment, but there is both a clear justification and need to integrate cultural heritage into this network of sites. Such an integrated model would allow for the better realisation of the socio-economic development aspirations around MPA designation, and allow for broader inclusivity, and participatory community action and engagement. The integration of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage into these frameworks will support enhanced social cohesion, and a strengthening of place-making. • Documented the Marine Cultural Heritage (MCH) potential and site density across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). • Identified the disconnect that exists between natural and cultural heritage management in the marine environment. • Proposed a designation and management strategy around MCH and MPAs, highlighting two candidate sites in Lebanon and Jordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]