Two days to explore the crucial role of underwater technologies in documenting, studying and preserving archaeological treasures as well as the ways of exploring submerged sites that would otherwise be inaccessible. The workshop “FORMA MARIS. Systems for the knowledge and mapping of underwater heritage” promoted by the University of Salento (Department of Cultural Heritage and DiSTeBA) with the Leonardo Foundation and the Navy as part of the initiative “Civilization of the Sea – Universities for Divers”. For some time now, the underwater dimension has been assuming a central role in the geopolitical debate. The abyss holds raw materials, hosts communication and data transport lines and energy resources, hosts fleets and submarines, is the habitat from which life is born, with a production of over 50% of the available oxygen, an absorption of 30% of the carbon dioxide produced by the planet – an estimated 22 million tons of greenhouse gases daily – and a biodiversity heritage equal to 4/5 of the global heritage.
Forma Maris will be presented in Lecce on September 5th and 6th. An important project on marine archaeology and new technologies. How can AI help man’s work in discovering the seabed?
If we think that today, thanks to AI, it is possible to “teach” machines new operations and progressively improve their capabilities, it is easy to imagine how much of a difference it will make to teach them what to look for and where, reaching the point of scanning the seabed and identifying, for example, wrecks sunk in the ocean depths. But, and this is one of the themes of “Forma Maris”, there are many technologies that can meet the challenges posed by the work of marine archaeology, by the peculiarity of the environment in which one operates, by the amount of data to be collected and analyzed. A valuable contribution comes to us, just to give a few examples, from the use of underwater photogrammetryas well as the integration of various types of cameras and sensors – such as sonar and multibeam – installed on remote-controlled underwater or surface drones. The new methodologies also allow the documentation and mapping of greater depths – precluded to human operators – and significant extensions of the seabed. Furthermore, the underwater heritage is currently reserved for professionals and sports divers: technologies can instead allow “expanded” accessibility, the use and sharing of underwater landscapes through 3D models and immersive or semi-immersive routes, returning to communities an “invisible” heritage or in any case still a privilege for a few”.
On a general level, how central are the abysses in geopolitical balances and why?
As emerged last February 29th at La Sapienza in Rome in the first of the meetings of the project “Universities for the Underwater” – which we started over a year ago (June 2023) in collaboration with the Navy and which has already seen over fifty Italian universities join – there are many issues at stake: the transit of submarine cables and pipelines, as well as the proven and potential mineral resources present on the seabed. If we look at the energy sector, the case of the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines has made it even more evident how the issue issafety of underwater infrastructure can have a direct impact on international balances. At the same time, if 99% of global Internet traffic passes under the seas and most of it is generated by large digital platforms such as Google and Meta, it is easy to understand the economic and political weight of the players in play. Moreover, the race to conquer deposits of rare earths and other critical materials, once again, puts the exploitation of the seabed back at the center of the debate, in a delicate and complex balance between the need to find crucial elements for the development of green technologies and the necessary protection of the biomarine environment.
According to OECD estimates, the Blue Economy is worth around 1,500 billion euros (equal to the GDP of Spain). What is missing to become a central asset?
On a global level, more than 100,000 people depend directly on the economy of the sea and the oceans. 3 billion people (40% of the world’s population) and over 80% of global trade in goods passes through their surface. Economic sectors linked to the seas and oceans ‒ including consolidated sectors such as commercial fishing and fish processing, aquaculture, shipbuilding and repairs, offshore oil and gas production, port activities, maritime trade and emerging sectors such as the exploitation of renewable energy ‒ generate annual revenues of USD 5,200 billion, representing a pillar of the global economy. Of these, USD 2,600 billion in gross value added (GVA), with 2/3 generated in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and 168 million jobs. Overall, in fact, seas and oceans contribute 3.3% to the entire global economy in terms of GVA, making them the seventh economic sector in the world. In our country, which is at the center of the Mediterranean, we are only becoming aware of all this extraordinary value in recent years. The promotion of the sea economy requires a holistic vision, which passes through different sectors and in synergy between different institutions and between the public and primacy, investing in economic resources, skills, training and technologies. From this point of view, it must be said that we are finally witnessing a favorable change of direction.
Are there any recent initiatives in Italy in favor of the Blue Economy?
The inauguration of the National Center for Underwater Dimension, on December 12, 2023 in La Spezia and the creation of the first Sea Plan are going in the right direction, providing the country on the one hand with a real incubator of technologies for the safety of the underwater domain, and on the other with an essential tool for building a unitary strategic direction within the national maritime policy. No less important is the commitment of the inter-ministerial working group, chaired and coordinated by the Ministry for Civil Protection and Sea Policies, which is currently drafting a bill to regulate underwater activities and establish an Authority for the Control of Underwater Activities: the more technological innovation advances, the more accessible the underwater environment becomes, the more necessary and urgent it is to regulate the activities and responsibilities of those who operate in this dimension.
How much does the reasoning about the “underwater” go hand in hand with that of the economy of space?
These are two strategic assets that have many interconnections. A concrete example: through satellite constellations such as Copernicus, the European Union program for Earth Observation, huge quantities of data arrive every day that, processed and integrated with territorial databases, can support environmental monitoring and the management of various activities, such as those related to ports. It is therefore no coincidence that in Italy we are working in parallel on both regulation of Space as well as of the Underwater. Two bills on which President Violante, through the network of expertise created in recent years with the research strands Civiltà del Mare and Civiltà dello Spazio, has given and is continuing to give a great contribution.