Costa Rica has plenty of natural treasures, most at plain sight, but the country also has its share of underwater treasures, and these are the ones that the country is striving to protect with the help of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Heritage.

“Underwater cultural heritage means all traces of human existence having a cultural, historical or archaeological character which has been partially or totally under water, periodically or continuously for at least 100 years”, explains the UNESCO Convention in Article 1.

Shipwrecks, sunken ruins, and underwater caves are included as part of what would be considered “Underwater Cultural Heritage”, much of which remains unprotected and have faced the threat of “treasure hunters” throughout many years.

The purpose of the convention is to offer the same protection to underwater heritage as it is offered to on land heritage. Underwater heritage is not limited to “remains at the bottom of the sea”, but also findings in the rivers, lakes and even swamps.

In Costa Rica there are several underwater treasures, a shipwreck in Punta Cahuita, Limón; native burial site La Regla located in a mangrove area in the Nicoya Gulf and La Malla (mounds) in the Tivives mangrove, among others.

The initiative received in Costa Rica the approval of Congress in its first debate; now Congress has one month to give it green light. Out of the 193 countries that are members of the UN, 58 have already ratified the Convention, and in Latin America, 19 countries have already embraced it, while in Central America, Panama and Honduras are already subscribed to it.

Being part of the Convention would allow Costa Rica to finally have an official inventory of the sites cataloged as an underwater heritage; it will also give the country access to international cooperation funds for the conservation of these sites while also promoting the training of Costa Rican archeologists in the field of underwater heritage and raising public awareness.