Ocean acidification occurs when seawater pH falls as more carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean.

More acidic water reduces the availability of calcium minerals that corals need to build and repair their skeletons.

Ocean acidification is cited in the context as another well-known cause of coral bleaching and reef decline alongside warming-driven bleaching.

Researchers have explored non-chemical reef restoration methods such as replaying healthy reef sounds to increase coral settlement, but they describe these experiments as preliminary and not a complete solution to climate-driven reef loss.

Laboratory studies show that fish early life stages (eggs and larvae) are especially vulnerable to combined ocean warming and acidification.

A controlled study on Pacific cod found temperature was the dominant stressor affecting growth, condition, and mortality while acidification effects were generally modest and inconsistent in that experiment.

That Pacific cod study also reported that fish can buffer increased acidity in blood but doing so carries an energetic cost that can influence condition and survival.

Field studies of wild fish exposed to natural CO2 vents documented changes in brain gene transcription linked to circadian rhythms and immune function, and changes in ion-regulation associated with neuronal signalling, and suggested some species with faster evolutionary rates may have greater adaptive capacity.

The provided context emphasizes that ocean acidification often acts together with other stressors such as warming and pollution, including microplastics, increasing overall stress on corals and other marine organisms.

The documents supplied here do not present direct experimental or observational findings about ocean acidification impacts on cephalopods or octopuses.

For marine mammals the provided materials focus on other major threats—notably noise and persistent chemical pollutants like PCBs—which can impair hearing, communication, increase stress, and harm reproduction and immune function.

In summary, the context shows ocean acidification clearly harms corals by reducing calcification, can affect fishes especially at early life stages though effects vary by species and temperature, some fish show molecular responses that may enable adaptation, and the supplied documents do not provide direct evidence about acidification impacts on cephalopods or marine mammals.

Ocean acidification occurs when seawater pH falls as more carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean.

Title:

Content: Can ‘good sounds’ help coral islands recover from bleaching?

Many coral islands like India’s Lakshadweep are inhabited by people

March 25, 2024 05:30 am | Updated 05:30 am IST

Staghorn corals seen in the waters off Man Nai Island, near Rayong province, Thailand, February 28, 2024. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Climate change is the most serious environmental problem facing the world today. One of the main reasons for this is the global warming caused by the extraction of coal and oil, which have been underground for millennia, and burning them for industrial and non-industrial purposes to generate energy. The effects of these activities were exacerbated by other causes of global warming, such as deforestation.

Global warming has many consequences, including rising sea levels and changes in the frequency of extreme weather. Another is the destruction of coral reefs. India’s Lakshadweep islands for instance are islands formed on such reefs.

Coral reefs have started to die

Coral reefs are built by a type of organism that, when it accumulates, forms reefs and islands. They live in large colonies. Corals have a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae called zooxanthellae, which live in the corals’ tissues. Life becomes tough when the temperature of the water around them rises. When it does, the corals expel the zooxanthellae. An important visual symptom of these effects is that the colour of the coral reef changes, and subsequently they die off in droves. This event is called bleaching.

However, not all coral bleaching events are due to warm water. Ocean acidification – which is when the pH of the water drops as more carbon dioxide dissolves in it – is another well-known cause. More acidic water reduces the availability of calcium minerals that the corals need to build and repair their exoskeletons.

In many parts of the world, coral reefs have started to die due to global warming experienced over the years. The U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year in 2005 due to a large-scale bleaching event after warm waters around the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico expanded southward. When scientists collated satellite data of the region from the previous 20 years, they were able to confirm that the 2005 event exerted more thermal stress than those in the previous 20 years combined.

A source of hope

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest coral reef in the world. Recently many people there protested strongly against a plan to open a new coal mine because they were worried about the survival of the reef – not because the mine would directly affect the reef but because of the effects of burning fossil fuels at large.

Many coral islands like our Lakshadweep are inhabited by people. The destruction of these coral reefs will naturally affect the people there. A rising sea level due to climate change is another problem for them. Many small island countries like Tuvalu and Vanuatu are facing the threat of submergence and have articulated that at international climate conferences. Their submergence is a certainty now; the only question is when it will happen. Therefore, it is very scary that the coral reefs themselves are being destroyed and, axiomatically, any chance of saving the corals can and does become a source of hope.

It is against this background that about 5,000 scientists gathered in New Orleans, in the U.S., in February this year for the American Geophysical Union’s biennial ‘Ocean Sciences’ meeting. Here, Amy Apprill, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts and who studies coral reefs, provided information about a study she had been part of.

The coral polyps

To understand this study, we need to first understand what a coral reef is. Coral reefs are built by an organism called a polyp. A coral group is a colony of a large number of genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal, usually a few millimeters wide and a few centimeters tall. It has a set of tentacles surrounding a mouth-like opening. Polyps are gregarious: they like to socialise.

Every polyp also sheds an exoskeleton at its bottom and over many generations this discarded substance accumulates to form a large structure up to several metres wide. The polyps organise their lives around this structure. A coral reef is formed when a large number of polyps collects in this way.

Polyps use sound to communicate with each other. Naturally, the sound of a healthy colony will differ from that of an unhealthy colony. Dr. Apprill and her team used this distinction in their new study.

The sound of a health colony

The investigators set about examining whether a degraded reef could be enriched by replaying healthy reef sounds, and increasing the rate at which polyps settled in it. They conducted a series of field studies in the Virgin Islands of the U.S., where they quantified the settlement rates of three species of corals with two different breeding strategies.

They found that in degraded coral reefs, the settlement rate increased when such sounds were played (using a novel underwater speaker system). They also reported that the settlement rate was higher closer to the speaker and reduced as one moved away from the speaker, indicating the impact of the sounds played.

Finally, it would be a mistake to think the researchers have solved the reef settlement problem posed by climate change. Their study was just an experiment. If what they did is tested repeatedly and at least a good fraction of instances are successful, then we can decide that their technique can help in practice. But we still don’t know what problems might arise when this project is implemented on a large scale to save coral reefs. We also need to find out the volume at which the sound has to be played and if there are any other parameters to be controlled.

In sum, the new study is just a pointer, even if also a positive one.

V. Sasi Kumar is a scientist formerly at the Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

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What is the main cause of ocean acidification?

water absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere

More acidic water reduces the availability of calcium minerals that corals need to build and repair their skeletons.

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

Ocean acidification is cited in the context as another well-known cause of coral bleaching and reef decline alongside warming-driven bleaching.

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

Researchers have explored non-chemical reef restoration methods such as replaying healthy reef sounds to increase coral settlement, but they describe these experiments as preliminary and not a complete solution to climate-driven reef loss.

Laboratory studies show that fish early life stages (eggs and larvae) are especially vulnerable to combined ocean warming and acidification.

Title:

Content: There were 734 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 394,615 in the last 365 days.

Study explores combined impacts of ocean warming and acidification on pacific cod

Newly hatched Pacific cod larva. (Image credit: NOAA Fisheries/Emily Slesinger)

As the climate changes, the ocean is simultaneously warming and acidifying. Both have been shown to adversely affect the vulnerable early life stages of Pacific cod. But until now, the interplay of these two environmental stressors was unknown.

new NOAA Fisheries study takes a look into the future by replicating predicted Alaska ocean conditions in the laboratory. The study is the first to look at the interactive effects of ocean warming and acidification on Pacific cod. Researchers evaluated the growth and survival of eggs and larvae at combinations of temperature and acidity representing current and future ocean environments. The findings can help improve predictions to ensure climate-ready Alaska fisheries and communities in the future.

Alaska Fish Face Multiple Climate-Driven Stressors

Ocean warming and acidification are escalating faster in Alaska and other high latitude regions than anywhere else on the planet. Alaska produces more than half of the nation’s wild-caught seafood. Local communities depend on the ecosystem for their livelihoods. Understanding how climate-driven stressors will affect these valuable resources is critical to ensuring resilient Alaska communities and a strong blue economy in the future.

Because fish are cold-blooded, temperature profoundly affects their growth and behavior. The effects of acidification are more nuanced. Fish can buffer acidity in the bloodstream but at an energetic cost.

Very young fish—eggs and larvae—tend to be the most sensitive stages of the fish life cycle to both warming and acidification. Unlike adult fish that can move to cooler waters, these tiny creatures are incapable of migrating to more favorable conditions. Subtle differences in their growth and condition can make a big difference to the number of young fish that make it to the adult population.

Laboratory set up for ocean acidification and ocean warming experiments with early stages of Pacific cod. Large tanks in the background provide chilled and ambient seawater that are mixed to temperature. Small round tanks house eggs and larvae at different temperatures and acidification levels. Acidification is controlled by bubbling carbon dioxide into the seawater: more carbon dioxide causes higher acidity (lower pH). (Image credit: NOAA Fisheries/Emily Slesinger)

Pacific cod is an important subsistence food, a key species in the food web, and the second-largest commercial groundfish catch in Alaska. Understanding how warming and acidification together may affect this ecologically, culturally, and commercially valuable species is key to predicting future climate impacts.

“Knowing how individual species will respond to multiple climate stressors helps us put together this puzzle to figure out what species are more vulnerable than others,” Emily Slesinger said. “And that will help guide ecosystem-based fisheries management to ensure their sustainability.”

Partnerships and Unique Laboratory Capabilities Expand Possibilities for Studying Alaska Species

Finding answers posed some hurdles. “It’s really challenging to study these fish that are found in remote and cold environments,” Slesinger said.

They met those challenges through partnerships and a specially equipped laboratory facility.

Fishermen played a key role. To obtain eggs and larvae for experiments, they first needed live adults, ready to spawn. Commercial fishermen used baited fishing pots to catch adults off Kodiak Island during the spawning season.

Fertilized eggs were shipped to the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center Laboratory in Newport, Oregon. The eggs and larvae were reared at six combinations of temperature (3°C, 6°C, 10°C) and acidification (ambient and high acidity). Scientists measured their hatch success, growth, nutritional condition, and mortality throughout the nine-week experiment.

“The Newport lab is very special,” Slesinger said. “What is most unique is our seawater system that can chill water to Arctic temperatures. The lab has the capacity to house many fish at all life stages and the expertise to keep them thriving. And it has the facilities to run these complicated experiments on the younger life stages.”

Experiments Reveal a Dominant Stressor

The study found that overall, Pacific cod’s early life stages were more sensitive to warming than to acidification:

  • Temperature affected all measured traits: growth, condition, and mortality
  • Mortality of both eggs and larvae was highest at the warmest temperature
  • 6°C was the optimal temperature for hatching, condition, and survival
  • At the warmest temperature (10°C), Pacific cod grew the fastest but were in poor condition with high mortality rates
  • At the coldest temperature (3°C), mortality rates were lower, but both growth and condition were also low
  • Acidification effects were more modest and inconsistent
  • The single instance of a negative effect of acidification was at the optimal 6°C temperature

“We’re seeing that either temperature or acidification drove the response—they were not additive. At optimal temperatures, Pacific cod may be impaired by acidification. At the warm temperature, they were overwhelmingly negatively impacted, but there was pretty much no effect of acidification,” Slesinger said. “Our findings suggest that temperature is the dominant stressor and ocean warming is likely the greater threat.”

The research highlights the complexity of species- and stage-specific responses to multiple climatic stressors and the importance of understanding them.

“This work is exciting because we are able to provide information about these fish that can be useful for future management. It is really important to me that my research can be directly helpful to societies, economies, and communities,” Slesinger said. “This research contributes to our common goal of ensuring productive, sustainable fishing into the future.”

Ecomagazine, 30 April 2024. Press release.

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At what stage of life are calcium carbonate-based organisms most vulnerable to changes in water pH?

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

How does elevated water acidity affect fish ability to survive?

A controlled study on Pacific cod found temperature was the dominant stressor affecting growth, condition, and mortality while acidification effects were generally modest and inconsistent in that experiment.

That Pacific cod study also reported that fish can buffer increased acidity in blood but doing so carries an energetic cost that can influence condition and survival.

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

How does elevated water acidity affect fish ability to survive?

Field studies of wild fish exposed to natural CO2 vents documented changes in brain gene transcription linked to circadian rhythms and immune function, and changes in ion-regulation associated with neuronal signalling, and suggested some species with faster evolutionary rates may have greater adaptive capacity.

Title:

Content: Carbon Dioxide Makes Ocean Acidification Study Suggests Rapid Evolution Could Make Fish Easier to Deal With
March 03, 2022 17: 00
Eastern Network Television
More News Clips
Some fish can evolve rapidly to cope with ocean acidification.
(courtesy of Shutterstock)
In addition to causing climate warming, global emissions of large amounts of carbon dioxide will also cause sea water to become acidic, and marine life may be affected.
The study found that volcanic infiltration of high CO2 partial pressure, that is, high concentrations of CO2 dissolved in water, changes in the genetic transcription of fish, predict the response of wild fish to the continuous acidification of the marine environment.
The results show that some fish with faster rates of evolution may be more flexible in coping with ocean acidification, maintaining population size and diversity. One species of fish may be able to acidify the marine environment with its rapid evolution of gene molecular transcription regulation, but the population size and diversity of fish with slower rates of evolution are difficult to maintain in acidified environments.
As carbon dioxide emissions from human activities increase year by year, and the CO2 absorbed by the ocean continues to rise, causing the pH of seawater to decline and become acidic, scientists expect “ocean acidification ” on the surface of the world ’ s oceans, which may affect the physiology, growth and survival of some fish, and change some key behaviors that affect survival chances.
A team led by Celia SCHUNTER from the Faculty of Biosciences of the University of Hong Kong and the Swire Institute of Marine Science, along with foreign researchers, travelled to Papua New Guinea, the Pacific island nation, to extract the brains of six species of coral fish, including five species of finch and one species of celestial bream, from a carbon dioxide spill at the bottom of a volcano and about 500 m nearby coral reef. The organization conducts gene transcription group sequencing to understand the changes in fish gene transcription in the ocean acidification environment.
The results show that high CO2 partial pressure can cause transcription changes in genes related to circadian clock and immune function in several species, demonstrating that fish function is important in coping with acidifying environments, and that the core genes of circadian rhythms determine the 24-hour cycle of most species.
Immune-related regulation has been found in many species of fish in acidified environments, so regulation of the immune response may also be an important response to acidification, especially in nocturnal fish, which exhibit a greater proportion of immune regulation and are modulated in the opposite direction to diurnal fish.
In contrast to the fish body ’ s ability to regulate the pH value of the cells, the researchers found that the brain of the spinosus is used to maintain a large number of changes in potassium, sodium, chlorine and calcium ions that transmit signals in the carbon dioxide ooze. Corresponding changes are needed to cope with the acidification environment, but differences in the expression of related genes disappear when stress is reduced, and genes return to normal levels of expression.
Further research by the team found that this finch has evolved significantly faster than other fish over the past 15 million years, potentially giving it greater potential to adapt to environmental changes.
It is speculated that this species may have evolved molecular mechanisms to cope with future ocean acidification.

How do scientists expect ocean acidification to impact specific fish species?

it will affect their physiology and growth

The provided context emphasizes that ocean acidification often acts together with other stressors such as warming and pollution, including microplastics, increasing overall stress on corals and other marine organisms.

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Q&A: Two ways researchers are studying marine microplastics

Tiny pieces of plastic in the ocean might seem innocuous on their own, but their growing presence is a frustrating issue facing marine ecosystems. The particles' small size makes them difficult to clean up, and it also allows them to easily burrow into marine environments or even get ingested by ocean organisms.

Two University of Washington researchers are using very different methods to investigate the issue of marine . Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, a UW associate professor of aquatic and fishery sciences, plans to study how microplastics are affecting coral reef ecosystems. Michelle DiBenedetto, a UW assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will study how microplastics move across the surface.

For Earth Day, UW News asked them to discuss their research.

Professor Padilla-Gamiño, your lab's experimental study in 2019 showed that corals are ingesting microplastics along with their typical food. Why are microplastics a problem for corals and other marine organisms?

Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño: This material can prevent them from feeding, or damage their tissues. Plastics also contain plasticizers—chemicals used to provide flexibility and to reduce brittleness—which may cause hormone disruption and affect the ' reproduction.

What have you learned since then?

JPG: We have continued to explore the abundance and diversity of microplastics in coral reefs, including in water, sediments and other , such as sea cucumbers.

We are also doing other experiments to learn how different types of plastics can affect the performance of corals, because not all plastics are the same.

It's scary to think that corals and other marine organisms, which are already stressed by warming and acidifying oceans, are at the same time also consuming microplastics. How can research offer any hope?

JPG: Research can help us to understand what species are more sensitive to plastics. It can also help us to generate ecological baselines that can be used to assess impacts. Both can help us design strategies to reduce plastic pollution's impacts.

What motivated you to incorporate microplastics into your wider area of research on how climate change affects marine organisms?

JPG: Plastic pollution is a global problem and it is also a carbon dioxide problem. The process of plastic manufacturing creates more than a billion tons of per year. At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. We need to understand the impacts of these plastics in marine ecosystems.

Professor DiBenedetto, what motivated you to study the movement of microplastics?

Michelle DiBenedetto: Plastic pollution is a relatively new issue and there is still a lot we do not know about what happens to plastic once it is in the ocean. For example, we do not know exactly how long it takes to degrade in the ocean, where it might settle out or at what rates it will be deposited on our beaches.

Many of these processes are influenced by the fluid dynamics in the ocean, such as waves, turbulence, wind and currents. How plastic behaves and is transported in the ocean is an interesting problem because plastic is different from traditionally studied ocean topics, such as bubbles, oil spills, sediment and biology. Thus, it leads to a lot of interesting physical questions that we can study in the lab.

Can you describe what those experiments look like?

MD: We turn on an adjustable wind tunnel that blows over the surface of a wave tank. This creates waves, turbulence and current in the water.

Next, we release particles upstream in the tank. In the middle of the tank, we have an area where we can take images of the particles. We use cameras and lighting to illuminate the particles so we can track their position and orientation (when using non-spherical particles). We either track the particle shadows, or we track the particles themselves.

How will tracking the particles in this way better inform our knowledge of microplastics transport in the ocean? Could this potentially help us design future cleanup methods?

MD: The goal of this research is to be able to develop a fundamental model for microplastics' vertical distribution at the ocean surface: How far below the surface do we expect buoyant microplastics to be mixed under different conditions?

This model would increase the accuracy of simulations of microplastics transport (ocean currents are typically faster at the surface) and degradation rates (sunlight degrades microplastics and is strongest at the surface). A model would also decrease uncertainty in measurements—we have many surface measurements of microplastics, but these need to be corrected for the number of microplastics mixed below the surface.

To design effective cleanup methods, we need to know how fast microplastics leave the ocean surface naturally, so that we can decide the value in designing cleanup methods—or focus our energies on polluting less plastic in the first place. This work's goal is to better our understanding of plastic's natural transport and fate in the ocean so we can decide how best to manage it.

Citation: Q&A: Two ways researchers are studying marine microplastics (2023, April 19) retrieved 19 April 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-04-qa-ways-marine-microplastics.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

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What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

What factors lead to damage of coral reefs?

The documents supplied here do not present direct experimental or observational findings about ocean acidification impacts on cephalopods or octopuses.

For marine mammals the provided materials focus on other major threats—notably noise and persistent chemical pollutants like PCBs—which can impair hearing, communication, increase stress, and harm reproduction and immune function.

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The hidden ocean pollution killing marine mammals
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Noise and chemical pollution in our oceans are affecting marine mammals' ability to navigate, communicate and detect danger.
I

I've worn glasses since the age of five, my hearing isn't brilliant in busy environments and, like many others, I lost my sense of taste during Covid-19, which was incredibly disorientating. Perhaps once our senses are pushed to their limits, we begin appreciating them all the more. But we're certainly not the only ones relying on multiple senses: marine mammals depend on them to communicate, navigate, feed, hear and detect danger.

It's hard for us to imagine how marine creatures sense within their world. What's clear is that the picture is complex, and that human-induced impacts make that even more challenging.

Pollution is ubiquitous but not homogenous. There is oil and gas exploration on the seabed, military exercises, increasing shipping traffic and the relatively new threat of deep sea mining. Add to that sewage outflows, industrial discharge and agricultural run-off, the marine environment is getting busier, noisier and more polluted. So what are the hidden dangers to marine life?

As a marine strandings volunteer for the Devon Wildlife Trust in south-west England, I'm regularly asked to take photos and measurements of marine mammals stranded along my local coastline. Sometimes, there'll be noticeable injuries, rake marks from the teeth of bottlenose dolphin attacks perhaps, long straight cuts in the skin from a fishing line or occasionally a tail clean cut off as a result of bycatch. Usually though, the actual cause of death isn't simple to identify. A crack team of scientists are on a mission to discover more about how human-induced impacts affect UK populations of whales, dolphins and porpoises.

To find out more about their research, I visited Rob Deaville, a strandings scientist at the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, this summer. Every year, he dissects about 150 stranded porpoises, dolphins and whales to find out what might have killed them. "In some cases, it can be very evident, for example bycatch, ship strike, grey seal predation, bottlenose dolphin attack, those causes of death are really obvious. But even a high level of pollution is not necessarily causal in an animal's death, it's more associated," says Deaville. "You're looking through a keyhole at one aspect, at what I call the terminal end, and then trying to look backwards at what that animal has experienced throughout their lifetime.

"High noise pollution or limited prey availability, climate change, chemical pollution all those things have an impact – it's hard to tease that apart for any single individual pressure," he says.

Marine mammals depend on their senses to communicate, navigate, feed, hear and detect danger

Watching Deaville deconstruct this porpoise was a fascinating biology lesson in itself. But more than that it highlighted just how much these creatures can reflect their marine environment and how they live within it. From the parasitic worms living in their lungs, guts and liver to the delicate fish bones found within one of porpoise's three stomachs, every insight is valuable.

But the most crucial of all, Deaville tells me, is the sample of blubber, that fatty layer just beneath the skin, that he cuts from just by the base of the dorsal fin. It's about an inch thick and acts as a ledger – Deaville will send it off for pollutant analysis by expert toxicologists. This helps build a picture of some of the less visible impacts that may be affecting marine life and potentially contribute to their death.

I set out to investigate how the less visible forms of human-induced pollution – both chemical and acoustic – could affect the senses and survival of porpoises, dolphins and whales, and discovered that there's a lot going on beneath the waves.

Super senses

"For whales and dolphins, 'listening' is as important as 'seeing' is for humans, as they live in a world of water and sound," says Danny Groves, communications manager at the non-profit Whale and Dolphin Conservation. He adds that the impacts of human-induced disturbance on cetaceans are "huge".

"Noise pollution threatens whale and dolphin populations, interrupting their normal behaviour, driving them away from areas important to their survival [for breeding, socialising and feeding] and at worst injuring them or sometimes even causing death," he says. Natural impacts such as earthquakes and lightning strikes also make big, sudden noises but tend to be more intermittent.

Toothed whales, a group that includes narwhals, dolphins and porpoises, hunt using echolocation or biosonar. They hear at high frequency ranges. Baleen whales hear at lower frequencies, and may be more affected by shipping noises as a result.

A porpoise autopsy revealed just how much these creatures can reflect their marine environment (Credit: Alamy)

There's more to sound than just noise though. Joy Reidenberg, a professor who studies whale anatomy at Mount Sinai in New York, explains that sound acts as a pressure wave. "Wherever in the body there are air-containing spaces, those can compress, then overexpand as a whale dives and ascends but if tissues can't deform accordingly, they'll rupture," she says. Seismic surveys – used to pinpoint deposits of oil and gas in the seabed – are incredibly intrusive, loud booms of sound. "I'm pretty sure the whale would feel that as a pressure wave moving through their body and also as a sound that they can hear. So there is a tactile aspect to hearing that we often overlook." How much of that pressure is felt by the skin is unknown.

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Chemoreception, that includes both smell and taste, could play a significant role too. Reidenberg explains that baleen whales can possibly smell, while some whales have taste receptors on their tongues but that it's not yet clear what exactly they are detecting. "They tend to swallow prey whole so maybe they are tasting the water to detect when they get close to prey or sensing salinity which may help them navigate," says Reidenberg. "It's even possible that narwhals could sense salinity through the sensitive pores in their tusk – that could be a really important sense."

DO WHALES HAVE WHISKERS?

Baby whales rely on whisker sensation "to help them figure out where the nipple is so they can nurse," says Reidenberg. Whiskers are usually lost by the time these animals become sexually mature, but in some toothed whales, 'pits' remain where the whiskers were.
In some species of dolphins, it has been shown that these pits have the anatomy of electrical sensors.

"So some dolphins plunge their faces into the sand of the seabed and do this spiral manoeuvre with their bodies, possibly detecting the electromagnetic field of a fish buried in the sand," says Reidenberg. Besides detecting prey, she says that hairs could be used to sense water currents flowing past, to indicate when an animal has reached the surface to breathe, or to detect friendly or aggressive encounters from other animals.

Whale vision is "much better than we'd expect it to be," says Reidenberg, though some species rely on it more than others. Indus and Ganges river dolphins are functionally blind because their murky habitat precludes them needing to see. Orcas, on the other hand,spy-hop out of the water when hunting seals and have relatively good eyesight.

An industrialised ocean

Research suggests that all these ways of sensing are being impaired by human activity.

For whales, dolphins and porpoises, both chemical and acoustic pollution affect the way their bodies can function in many ways. Some effects are immediate and acute while others are more long-term and chronic. Besides impacting their senses and ability to communicate, marine pollution can impair their fertility and immune systems.

Thomas Goetz, an expert in bioacoustics at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, studies how marine mammals are affected by human-generated noise and how sound can be used to keep animals away from harm. He explains why context is key: "To really understand the effects of a pollutant, you really need to understand the physiology of this animal, of the sensory systems for each species." Each pollutant in a cetacean's habitat can have different effects. "There's unfortunately no way around looking in real detail and accepting the complexity of it…because they have all evolved very different sensory organs and their perceptual worlds differ," says Goetz.

Acoustic pollution can hinder communication and echolocation sounds, change an animal's behaviour and elevate stress levels. For North Atlantic right whales, low-frequency noise from big ships can result in an increase in stress-related chemicals linked to growth suppression, reduced fertility and poor immune system function. That chronic stress is having a physiological impact.

Sudden and acute impulsive noise in the marine environment might lead to ear trauma haemorrhage, while more chronic exposure from the constant low-level whirr of a shipping lane nearby could perhaps shift its behaviour patterns and make communication or feeding more difficult. Deep-diving whales and dolphins can also suffer from decompression sickness or 'the bends' when they surface too quickly. Over time legions or tears in the internal tissue form due to nitrogen bubble formation, but it's hard to conclude whether that happened due to natural causes or human-induced noise.

"Different species are more sensitive to sound than others," says Deaville, who motions towards the Cuvier's beaked whale tooth on the desk in front of him. "That's the deepest diving cetacean species, it holds its breath for nearly three hours, dives down to 3000m (9843ft) in some instances and is really operating at the edge of what is physiologically possible," he says. "That's perhaps why they are more sensitive to noise disturbance - most of these mid-frequency sonar navy-related mass strandings involved beaked whales, particularly Cuvier's. So I suspect if they dive down as deep as they possibly can they're more at risk of coming to the surface too quickly and getting into conditions that might be problematic."

Scientist Maria Morrel at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover, Germany, is studying the ears and ear bones from stranded toothed whales such as pilot whales and developing a protocol to assess loss of hearing in whales. Once stabilised in formalin to preserve the sample, she analyses the ear using a scanning electron microscope and has noticed that the loss of the tiny hair cells and membrane scarring within the inner ear may indicate loss of auditory function. But when that hearing loss happened exactly and what caused it remains unknown.

SENSORY OVERLOAD

From the microplastics sprayed on farmland to the noxious odours released by sewage plants and the noise harming marine life, pollutants are seeping into every aspect of our existence. Sensory Overload explores the impact of pollution on all our senses and the long-term harm it is inflicting on humans and the natural world.

According to Reidenberg, military sonar pulses act like a sound bomb and certain frequencies could result in decompression sickness. The US Navy, she adds, does its best to protect marine wildlife: "Sonar is well-regulated but in wartime those regulations are lifted – the navy is making extraordinary efforts to tag, track and monitor whales to protect them from sonar exercises."

That said, military operations in Europe have been implicated in mass cetacean deaths. When 85 harbour porpoises stranded along 100km (62 miles) of Danish coastline within one week of each other during April 2005, bycatch was initially established as the cause of death for most, due to net markings on their skin and the loss of tail flukes. Local fishermen confirmed that porpoise bycatch was much higher than usual in nets that had been set to catch lumpfish. Further investigation revealed military ships in the area that week, en route to a huge naval exercise.

In a study, Andrew Wright, a marine mammal researcher from Aarhus University in Denmark, concluded that while the use of sonar cannot be confirmed, it certainly cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor to increased bycatch rates. Perhaps sonar resulted in more porpoises being driven away from the noise towards nets, or perhaps disturbance masked their ability to detect the static fishing gear, he said. As Deaville states, "these things stack up in combination".

That highlights the problem – it's impossible to disentangle every effect.

Besides impacting their senses, marine pollution can impair mammals' fertility and immune systems

Deep-sea mining could also cause severe disturbance, according to new research. Marine researchers estimated that noise from just one mine on the seabed could travel approximately 500km (311 miles) through the water column in gentle weather conditions. In places where multiple mines might operate, the cumulative effect of acoustic pollution could be far greater. Because seabed mining companies have not yet shared their data on noise pollution, this study used noise levels from well-studied industries such as oil and gas industry ships and coastal dredges to model 'conservative' estimates.

The actual seabed mining equipment is far larger and more powerful than the proxies, the experts say. One of the study co-authors, Christine Erbe, a professor in underwater acoustics at Australia's Curtin University, says: "Estimating the noise of future equipment and installations is a challenge, but we don't have to wait until the first mines are operational to discover the noise they make. By identifying the level of noise in the engineering design phase, we can better prepare for how this might impact marine life."

In the Arctic, narwhals – deep-diving whales with the long, protruding unicorn-like tooth – live relatively far from human activity. But as the ice melts, more shipping routes are opening up through this region and oil and gas exploration is increasing. Scientists from the University of California have recently found that when narwhals in Greenland were exposed to seismic air guns (oil and gas survey instruments which produce high-intensity sound bursts), they immediately began diving quickly down from the surface. Normally, they'd glide down to conserve energy, but this speedy escape tactic is affecting how much blood and oxygen circulates in their body. It also distracts from other behaviours such as feeding, according to data collected using monitoring tags.

Rather than having to cope with one threat a time, marine mammals experience the combined pressures of multiple forms of pollution (Credit: Francois Gohier / Getty Images)

All of these invisible pollutants need to be taken into account. Hanna Nuutila, a marine ecology researcher at Swansea University, Wales, says it's vital to appreciate the cumulative effect of different stressors and pathways to disturbance. "Disturbance is both physical such as in-water structures (that includes every single coastal and offshore construction from oil and gas platforms to windfarm piles, harbours and marinas, and renewable energy structures) but also mobile in terms of ships, ferries, tankers and luxury cruisers," she says. She adds that all marine renewables are having to undergo much more detailed scrutiny in terms of impacts on wildlife than oil, gas and nuclear ever did.

"Obviously fishing too causes not just entanglement but also decreasing prey availability. All these tend to have a noise effect as well while most also leak oil, organic waste or chemicals into the sea." Nuutila emphasises the need to create designated safe zones free from human disturbance and the Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force runs a global initiative to create just that, in the form of Important to Marine Mammal Areas.

Swimming in a toxic soup

Toxic, synthetic chemicals are perhaps one of the most insidious forms of pollution entering the ocean. The worst culprits are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that don't break down easily and are lipophilic or fat-loving; they end up in the blubber of porpoises, dolphins and whales. One particularly toxic legacy contaminant – so-called because it's still causing problems decades after being banned – is a class of 209 industrial chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. Invented in the 1920s, they  were used in machinery coolant, electrical goods, flame retardants, paints and building sealants. Although banned globally more than 40 years ago, they linger in landfills and escape into the marine environment.

Deaville explains why PCBs are so concerning: "They work in two ways, they affect the immune system, so [animals] might have lots of secondary diseases because [their] immune system is basically knackered and more insidiously they also affect reproduction so in highly PCB-exposed populations there'll be a drop-off in young animals being born.

"A population of whales might not have a calf for a long time even though they should be reproductively active – that to us would be a red flag and indicate potential PCB exposure."

In 2016, an orca known as Lulu was found dead on the coast of the Isle of Tiree, the most westerly island of the Inner Hebrides in Scotland, after becoming entangled in fishing gear. A post-mortem of her body found that her body contained extremely high levels of PCBs (100 times the toxicity threshold for PCBs in marine mammal blubber) and scientists concluded that she was one of the most contaminated animals on the planet in terms of PCB burden. On examination of her ovaries, the scientists at the Scottish marine animal stranding scheme found no evidence of her ever having been reproductively active.

Industrial chemicals known as PCBs linger in landfills and escape into the marine environment, damaging mammals' reproductive systems (Credit: Robertus Pudyanto / Getty Images)

Throughout any animal's lifetime, exposure to pollutants changes from place to place and from time to time. Exposure impacts different species to varying degrees too. Orcas tend to live for longer than porpoises, for example, so they have more time to accumulate chemical pollutants in their bodies. They also feed at a higher level within the food chain, so they are eating bigger fish and other marine mammals which themselves contain contaminants. Deaville explains that POPs are stored within the blubber. When an animal's nutritional state deteriorates, either seasonally or as a result of illness perhaps, those toxic contaminants are released into the blood as the fat layer thins. Toxic chemicals are also passed on to calves via breast milk and so a mother can unwittingly offload toxic pollution onto a firstborn calf, sometimes resulting in death.

Rosie Williams, a toxicologist who works alongside Deaville, found in a 2021 study that high levels of PCBs in blubber samples from 267 stranded harbour porpoises are associated with reduced testicle size in male harbour porpoises. These pollutants are having a direct impact on fertility and potentially affecting the future breeding success of the species. PCBs are also known to suppress the immune system so porpoises with higher contaminant levels are more likely to die from infectious disease

Of course, marine mammals are not experiencing just one chemical at a time. Since it began in 1990, the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme has carried out more than 4000 necropsies on porpoises, dolphins and whales and tested for a wide range of pollutants, from the widely known banned pesticide DDT to anti-foul paint residues and flame retardants added to textiles. "An animal may be living in a heavily fished area, with lots of bycatch, less prey, heavily contaminated, lots of noise, all those things are happening in tandem all at once – that's how the animal lives its life," Deaville says. "There's a cumulative impact. It's a complex thing to get a handle on."

In the case of the stranded porpoise being dissected in the lab, chemical pollution may well have played a part. In a few months' time, toxicology reports will show more about its specific chemical burden. Ultimately, for Deaville and Williams, it's about noticing changing trends, which could then inform policy and change how pollutants are managed. Plastics are high up on the agenda too – a 2019 study by the University of Exeter found microplastics within all 50 marine mammals sampled that had stranded on UK shores. As yet, the actual impacts of those plastic particles on cetacean survival remains inconclusive.

Experts say that rather than having to cope with threats one at a time, animals experience the combined pressures of multiple forms of pollution within the marine environment. Marine mammals are living in a "soup" of pollution issues, says Deaville. The effects change depending on location or depth, and the animals' season or stage of life, he adds.

So much of the damage and disturbance human activity causes is accidental and preventable, says Tom Mustill, filmmaker and author of a new book called How to Speak Whale. By designing things differently and considering how something might affect other animals, especially whales and dolphins that use such sophisticated communication, we can drastically reduce those negative consequences, he says. Enforcing speed limits on shipping vessels could drastically reduce collisions, for example – on the east coast of the US, proposals to introduce 'dynamic speed zones' could help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales in areas where these marine mammals are detected.

Slower ship speeds give the animals more time to adapt their navigation accordingly and reduce the risk of ship strikes. "This science of discovering what the sensory lives of these animals are like, how they perceive the world and how they communicate within it, allows us to understand how we might impact that and modify our impacts to that. That could be transformative," says Mustill.

As stomach-wrenching as this porpoise post mortem was to witness, it's clear that each stranding provides scientists with invaluable insight into how these cetaceans live and die, and how our actions are impacting them. The next step is to adapt strategies and policies accordingly so that by reducing pollution, marine wildlife and ocean health are better protected.

--

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In summary, the context shows ocean acidification clearly harms corals by reducing calcification, can affect fishes especially at early life stages though effects vary by species and temperature, some fish show molecular responses that may enable adaptation, and the supplied documents do not provide direct evidence about acidification impacts on cephalopods or marine mammals.


Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province has been historically famous for skilled glassblowing craftsmen.

Traditional glassblowing in Syria dates back more than two thousand years, since the time of the Phoenicians.

After liberation from terrorism, some artisans in the Aleppo countryside restored facilities and revived glassblowing.

Artisans such as Yassin Arab learned the craft from their fathers and returned to work using recycled glass to make hookah bottles, vases, plates, jugs and decorative items.

Hussein Najjar reported working manually as a glassblower for 40 years and considered glassblowing a plastic art.

UNESCO inscribed traditional glassblowing on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in December 2023.

Syrian reports describe traditional crafts nationwide as suffering sharp decline, with many workshops closed, high migration of craftsmen, and production drops linked to war, economic crisis and loss of markets.

No precise figures for the number of traditional glassblowing craftsmen are provided in the available context.

Syrian cultural bodies and exhibitions work to promote revival and training to preserve traditional crafts, including glassmaking, through capacity-building and displays.

In summary: Syrian traditional glassblowing is an ancient craft practiced in places such as Urem Al-Kubra, currently revived in some areas but endangered by war and economic decline, which led UNESCO to list it as in need of urgent safeguarding.

Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province has been historically famous for skilled glassblowing craftsmen.

Title:

Content: Art of glassblowing returns again in Aleppo countryside liberated from terrorism

The town of Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province in northern Syria has historically been famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen. The war considerably affected this traditional craft inherited from our ancestors, but after the liberation of the city from terrorism, some artisans have brought it back to life. The artisan, Yassin Arab learned the glassblowing craft from his father when he was a child, and after the town was liberated from terrorism, he returned to his small facility, where he worked to restore it and start working again. Arab does not hide his enormous passion for the craft of glassblowing and his belief in the need to preserve this ancient Syrian heritage. Regarding the working mechanism, the artisan explained to SANA that he uses recycled glass, melts it again in the oven at high temperature, and then chooses a specific shape for its manufacture, whether hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs, fish houses for decoration, decorated cups and antiques of different sizes. After that, t he piece is blown, rotated and processed by the artisan until it takes its final shape using white and brown colors, and once the manufacturing of the product is finished, it is decorated and colored to give it the required aesthetics. For his part, Hussein Najjar noted that he learned the craft of blowing glass manually since he was young and has been working in this field for 40 years. He added that he is able to make any shape or glass container, using his imagination, and considered that the art of glassblowing is one of the types of plastic arts. Traditional glassblowing is a profession that dates back more than two thousand years (since the time of the Phoenicians) and was included in December 2023 by UNESCO on the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity that needs urgent preservation. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Traditional glassblowing in Syria dates back more than two thousand years, since the time of the Phoenicians.

After liberation from terrorism, some artisans in the Aleppo countryside restored facilities and revived glassblowing.

Artisans such as Yassin Arab learned the craft from their fathers and returned to work using recycled glass to make hookah bottles, vases, plates, jugs and decorative items.

Hussein Najjar reported working manually as a glassblower for 40 years and considered glassblowing a plastic art.

UNESCO inscribed traditional glassblowing on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in December 2023.

Syrian reports describe traditional crafts nationwide as suffering sharp decline, with many workshops closed, high migration of craftsmen, and production drops linked to war, economic crisis and loss of markets.

Title:

Content: What is the reality of traditional and traditional professions in Syria?
DAMASCUS – The traditional professions and crafts in Syria were not immune to the repercussions of the war. In light of the difficult economic and security conditions that the country has been witnessing for more than a decade, these professions are suffering from an unprecedented decline related to production and market conditions, which makes them today threatened with extinction.
The head of the Union of Craftsmen in the province of Latakia Jihad Pro, in a recent statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan, the decline of the production of handicrafts and handicrafts of various kinds by 50% within the province, considering the high costs of production inputs and increased income taxes as direct reasons for this decline.
Bassam Qalaji, head of the artisanal association for confectionery in Damascus, told the local newspaper Global last month that more than half of the confectionery craftsmen had stopped producing and switched to other professions due to low demand and insufficient profits.
Successive statements reveal the reality of Syrian traditional and traditional crafts, which are suffering under the weight of the economic decline that the country is suffering from.
This situation has prompted thousands of craftsmen to close their workshops and shops and switch to other jobs, or migrate and move their work abroad, amid the real threat of the disappearance of many traditional traditional traditional professions and handicrafts, which constitute vital sectors of the economic sector in the country and an integral part of its cultural identity.
What are the main reasons for this decline?
How does it affect the economic life of the country?
Lack of support and unequal competition
Anton, a 42-year-old Damascene craftsman and former owner of a mosaic workshop in rural Damascus, says his struggle for years to keep his workshop open, producing and selling enough to pay its workers has been futile.
He adds in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: "I tried hard to maintain the workshop and its workers for as long as possible, but the constant high prices of wood (local and imported) in an inappropriate manner, the long interruption of electricity (16-18 hours a day), and the low demand for mosaic in the domestic and foreign market, all factors forced me to lay off workers, and later to close the workshop after months, during which I received only two orders."
In addition to these factors, Anton attributed the low demand for "original" mosaics and other handicrafts and heritage artifacts (copperware, damask, antika, textiles) to:
The reality of the market at the moment in the absence of tourists.
• The decline of external demand for the commodity as a result of the interruption of trade relations with foreign markets.
• Migration of brokers and traders and thus reduced export.
• Unequal competition.
With heritage products becoming “more than luxury ” for Syrians suffering from poor purchasing power (average monthly salaries of about $20), and the lack of support for craftsmen and awareness of the importance and authenticity of these products by trade unions and government agencies, Syria ’ s craftsmen face major challenges to continue their craft.
Although there are no accurate figures on the number of craftsmen who have been driven by working conditions to emigrate outside the country, the head of the Damascus Craftsmen ’ s Union, Ali Qarmashti, revealed in an interview with the local news website Click News last year that the percentage of Damascene craftsmen migrating has become very high, especially among young people.
Repellent economic and social policies
In addition to the direct economic factors that led to the decline of traditional crafts during the past few years, represented by the high prices of raw materials, the poor reality of services, and the decline of the sale and purchase movement, there were indirect factors that affected these crafts.
Syrian economist Younis Karim believes that the artisan crisis began in 2008 after being subjected to great pressures due to the change of the general economic orientation in the country.
He said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: "Since 2008, the authorities have put their hands on the spread of these industries due to the importance of their geographical location, and work to change their features in favor of wealthy investors, or provide them as donations to countries that Damascus seeks to establish bilateral relations with."
According to the expert, the reality of the work of traditional crafts after 2011 became more complex and difficult with "the continued adoption of economic and social policies by the regime that restrict the owners of these crafts, exclude them from support, take their places of deployment, in addition to the cessation of exhibitions and the difficulty of participating in external events because of the political positions of the regime.
Karim explains that the family and social disintegration suffered by Syrians as a result of large-scale migration during the last decade was an added reason for the decline of these crafts, which “relied on inheritance between generations of the same family as a tradition followed by Syrian craftsmen long ago. ”
Kilo to Piece and Pieces
It seems that some traditional crafts and crafts are in the same trench with traditional crafts in their war against extinction, where the owners of many traditional crafts are no less original than those of heritage, especially the confectioners from the high costs of raw materials in production, high costs of energy stands, and successive losses due to the reluctance of citizens to buy expensive Arabic sweets.
Suhaib, 55, owner of a sweets shop in the Jazmatiya area of Damascus, told Al Jazeera Net: "Days pass without selling a total of a kilo of various items, and two years ago the stagnation of goods in the shop became a familiar phenomenon to us, and had it not been for the holiday seasons, and some occasions and weddings held here and there, we would have closed long ago."
Al-Halwani Al-Damascene adds in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net: "Our profits, and the profits of most of the shops of Halwanis in Damascus, have decreased by a large percentage since the beginning of the economic crisis in the country."
Al-Halwani pointed out that the price of a kilo of some varieties of Arabic sweets has exceeded 400 thousand pounds recently, adding: "Which is not able for Syrians to buy, so we have become selling methods in which we rely on small quantities, so we sell baklava, crystal, shaped, asian, brominated and other items in ounces, grain (piece) and two grains to keep the sales movement, and do not stop customers from our shop."
As for the reasons why sweets in Damascus stopped working and many of them emigrated outside the country, Al-Halwani said: “Many reasons start from the large annual taxes that are inconsistent with high operating costs and low profits, in addition to the high prices of commercial electricity and fuel needed to operate shops and laboratories, the huge increase in the prices of raw materials, the high wages of workers, and the reluctance of customers to buy these sweets except on occasions. ”
High prices
Prices of food, nuts and other components of Arabic sweets have risen by varying rates recently, as the price of a kilo of animal margarine reached 150 thousand pounds ($equivalent to about 2511 pounds), while the price of a kilo of pistachio love rose to 300 thousand, and the price of a kilo of walnuts to 120 thousand.
The prices of popular sweets such as Al-Barazek and Al-Ma ’ amoul in Damascus markets, by the holy month of Ramadan, were between 100 and 130 thousand pounds per kilo, while the prices of medium and luxury sweets such as “Al-Belouria ”,“ Al-Mashkeel ”, “Kool and Shakour ”,“ Aish Al-Bulbul ” and “Baklava ” ranged between 250 and 500 thousand per kilo, which is equivalent to the salary of a Syrian employee in the public sector.
The head of the artisanal association for confectionery industry, Bassam Qalaji, attributed this rise in confectionery prices to the government lifting subsidies on oil derivatives, which led to a direct increase in costs by 150%, pointing out that raising the price of electricity by 5 times will lead to an increase in the price of about 650 products.
Qalaji said in a statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan last month that the largest number of confectionery craftsmen emigrated, and their first destination was Algeria followed by Germany.
In March last year, the head of the artisanal association for the confectionery industry revealed that 70% of the workshops of the confectionery industry were closed due to the economic crisis and the low demand for sweets and refreshments.
A severe blow to the economy
This gradual disappearance of traditional crafts is a painful blow to the Syrian economy, says economist Younis Karim, “For decades these crafts have been the largest incubator of Syrian labor, and their contribution to the economy before 2011 ranged from 40 to 50%. ”
This is what Matanios Habib, a researcher and former Syrian oil minister, said in a research paper entitled “The private sector in Syria ” (2005), when he pointed out that the private industrial sector in Syria tended to invest in crafts for fear of nationalization policies, whether during the era of Syrian-Egyptian unity (1958-1961) or after the revolution of March 8 (1967).
Karim stresses that the crisis of workers in traditional crafts, such as confectioners and others, dates back to before 2011, specifically to the period between 2007 and 2009, when there was “an attempt by the regime to pressure the owners of traditional crafts and crafts by forcing them to pay taxes, and to keep them away from city centers in favor of large investors. ”
Younis Karim believes that the gradual demise of these crafts will have negative effects on the Syrian economy because of their role in "providing job opportunities beyond those provided by large laboratories and their excellence in ease of operation and achievement, and the ability to spread.
Source: The Island

No precise figures for the number of traditional glassblowing craftsmen are provided in the available context.

Syrian cultural bodies and exhibitions work to promote revival and training to preserve traditional crafts, including glassmaking, through capacity-building and displays.

Title:

Content: Exhibition of craft products by Syrian and Russian artists in the public park in Aleppo
Halab-Sana
On the grounds of the public park in the city of Aleppo, the activities of the exhibition of craft products were launched today, with the participation of 20 craftsmen and artists from Syria and the Russian Federation.
The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Industry in cooperation with the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus, the Federation of Artisans in Aleppo and the Syrian Professional Center Association, includes a collection of heritage and artistic works, paintings of Ajami thread, ornaments and handicrafts of wool, orphans, leather, rugs, carpets, bamboo and silver industry.
According to the President of the Union of Artisans in Aleppo, Mohammed Hossam Hallak, in a statement to SANA correspondent, the exhibition aims to highlight the traditional handicrafts and crafts and folklore professions to revive them by training the younger generations and mastering their industry to preserve them.
Mustafa al-Nu, President of the Syrian Professional Center Association, pointed out that the association worked to attract professionals and handicrafts, and provided them with financial grants to encourage them to continue their work, to preserve these crafts from extinction, in addition to training young people wishing to learn these crafts and develop them to suit the times.
The Russian artist Yuri Lishin, famous for the manufacture of blowing on glass, talked about his professionalism for more than 54 years, and his participation in many exhibitions in the world, indicating that his visit to Syria to learn about the glass industry, and participate in workshops on the manufacture of hand glass in Syria.
A number of participants noted the importance of the exhibition, which allows for the marketing of their products, where Zakaria Sultan, who works in the craft of silver and peat breaking, explained that he participates with silver and copper products and accessories made by hand in various forms for swimming pools, steadfastness, image cadres and chandeliers, in addition to grafting copper on wood, calling for providing the necessary support to maintain this profession.
The craftsman Ayman Saeed presented the results of the drawing on wood, which is called Ajami art, and stated that he learned to make this art and plant motifs and painting in Arabic calligraphy in the association, and became a trainer contributing to the revival of heritage, and that the exhibition is an important opportunity to market his products.
Artist Tala Naravyan participated in watercolor, oil and other paintings painted with pencils and charcoal, talking about the Armenian and Arab heritage and the neighborhoods of Aleppo and its citadel, pointing out that she participates to introduce people to the components of the rich Syrian heritage through painting because it constitutes the language of the world.
Samira Misto, who works in the craft of making the ancient traditional macrame, using colored threads and ropes to decorate the Koran, mirrors, clothes and jewelry, pointed out that she is working to develop this profession by adding beads and tree trunks to revive and preserve it.
Qusay Razzouk
Follow SANA news on Telegram https: / / t.me / SyrianArabNewsAgency
Look, too.
Aleppo Public Park

Title:

Content: The news tape.
UNESCO National Committee discusses raising awareness of the importance of tangible and intangible heritage
Damascus-Sana
Discussing the activities of the National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, and the need to promote awareness of the importance of tangible and intangible heritage in Syria through schools and external participation, were the most prominent points that the members of the Committee focused on during their meeting today at the Ministry of Education building.
The members of the committee, which includes representatives from relevant ministries and national bodies, stressed the need to develop capacity building programs in the field of tangible and intangible heritage and prepare time-consuming files to include heritage elements on UNESCO regulations, in addition to organizing tours and trips for school students to the Geological Museum in Damascus and cultural museums in all governorates.
The Minister of Education and Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Mohammed Amer Al-Mardini, pointed to the role of the Committee in coordinating between institutions and UNESCO to enable the implementation of projects and plans according to needs, pointing to the importance of working to benefit from expertise and employ them, and cooperation to determine priorities.
During the meeting, the Director General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), Dr. Mohamed Ould Amer, referred in a video speech to Syria ’ s role in supporting joint Arab action in the organization and its efforts to present projects that contribute to enhancing this work by hosting a number of conferences and events in various fields and supporting the organization ’ s programs.
Dr. Ould Amer pointed out the importance of pushing the efforts of the organization in the field of promoting the Arabic language in support of its cultural, educational and scientific mission, noting the impact of Syrian educational and cultural experiences and leaders in the reference visions and the preparation of major plans and programs for them.
For his part, the Secretary of the National Committee for UNESCO, Dr. Nidal Hassan, gave a presentation on the implementation of the plan last year, comparing it with the plan of the current year and the activities and events that were participated in.
Rehab Ali
Follow SANA news on Telegram https: / / t.me / SyrianArabNewsAgency
Look, too.
Focus on tangible heritage and its revitalization at UNESCO National Committee meeting
Damascus, SANA – The need to focus on the material heritage and its revival as the human cultural heritage existing in Syria, and to contribute

In summary: Syrian traditional glassblowing is an ancient craft practiced in places such as Urem Al-Kubra, currently revived in some areas but endangered by war and economic decline, which led UNESCO to list it as in need of urgent safeguarding.


Traditional glassblowing in Syria is an artisanal craft practiced historically in towns such as Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province.

Urem Al-Kubra was historically famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen and for passing the craft across generations.

The craft of glassblowing in Syria dates back more than two thousand years, with roots since the time of the Phoenicians.

The recent conflict considerably affected traditional glassblowing, and after liberation of some areas a number of artisans returned and restored small facilities to resume production.

Artisans in revived workshops use recycled glass melted at high temperature, then blow, rotate, shape and decorate items such as hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs and decorative objects.

Glassblowing and other traditional crafts form part of Syria’s cultural heritage and are described in the context as an integral element of the country’s cultural identity and its economic fabric.

Traditional crafts in Syria have suffered an unprecedented decline owing to difficult economic and security conditions, high input costs, power shortages, reduced demand and migration of craftsmen.

The provided context does not include accurate figures for how many craftsmen currently practice traditional glassblowing or exact counts of those who have emigrated.

Local exhibitions and revival initiatives have been used to market craft products and to train and attract younger generations to traditional handicrafts, including hand glass manufacture.

UNESCO inscribed traditional Syrian glassblowing on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in December 2023.

The context indicates that UNESCO’s listing responds to the craft’s great antiquity and to threats from the conflict and economic decline that put traditional glassblowing at risk of disappearance, thus requiring urgent safeguarding.

In short, Syrian traditional glassblowing is an ancient craft centered in places such as Aleppo’s Urem Al-Kubra that has been seriously affected by war and economic pressures, was listed by UNESCO for urgent safeguarding in December 2023, and for which the provided context does not give exact current numbers of practicing glassblowers.

Traditional glassblowing in Syria is an artisanal craft practiced historically in towns such as Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province.

Title:

Content: Art of glassblowing returns again in Aleppo countryside liberated from terrorism

The town of Urem Al-Kubra in Aleppo province in northern Syria has historically been famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen. The war considerably affected this traditional craft inherited from our ancestors, but after the liberation of the city from terrorism, some artisans have brought it back to life. The artisan, Yassin Arab learned the glassblowing craft from his father when he was a child, and after the town was liberated from terrorism, he returned to his small facility, where he worked to restore it and start working again. Arab does not hide his enormous passion for the craft of glassblowing and his belief in the need to preserve this ancient Syrian heritage. Regarding the working mechanism, the artisan explained to SANA that he uses recycled glass, melts it again in the oven at high temperature, and then chooses a specific shape for its manufacture, whether hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs, fish houses for decoration, decorated cups and antiques of different sizes. After that, t he piece is blown, rotated and processed by the artisan until it takes its final shape using white and brown colors, and once the manufacturing of the product is finished, it is decorated and colored to give it the required aesthetics. For his part, Hussein Najjar noted that he learned the craft of blowing glass manually since he was young and has been working in this field for 40 years. He added that he is able to make any shape or glass container, using his imagination, and considered that the art of glassblowing is one of the types of plastic arts. Traditional glassblowing is a profession that dates back more than two thousand years (since the time of the Phoenicians) and was included in December 2023 by UNESCO on the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity that needs urgent preservation. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Urem Al-Kubra was historically famous for its skilled glassblowing craftsmen and for passing the craft across generations.

The craft of glassblowing in Syria dates back more than two thousand years, with roots since the time of the Phoenicians.

The recent conflict considerably affected traditional glassblowing, and after liberation of some areas a number of artisans returned and restored small facilities to resume production.

Title:

Content: What is the reality of traditional and traditional professions in Syria?
DAMASCUS – The traditional professions and crafts in Syria were not immune to the repercussions of the war. In light of the difficult economic and security conditions that the country has been witnessing for more than a decade, these professions are suffering from an unprecedented decline related to production and market conditions, which makes them today threatened with extinction.
The head of the Union of Craftsmen in the province of Latakia Jihad Pro, in a recent statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan, the decline of the production of handicrafts and handicrafts of various kinds by 50% within the province, considering the high costs of production inputs and increased income taxes as direct reasons for this decline.
Bassam Qalaji, head of the artisanal association for confectionery in Damascus, told the local newspaper Global last month that more than half of the confectionery craftsmen had stopped producing and switched to other professions due to low demand and insufficient profits.
Successive statements reveal the reality of Syrian traditional and traditional crafts, which are suffering under the weight of the economic decline that the country is suffering from.
This situation has prompted thousands of craftsmen to close their workshops and shops and switch to other jobs, or migrate and move their work abroad, amid the real threat of the disappearance of many traditional traditional traditional professions and handicrafts, which constitute vital sectors of the economic sector in the country and an integral part of its cultural identity.
What are the main reasons for this decline?
How does it affect the economic life of the country?
Lack of support and unequal competition
Anton, a 42-year-old Damascene craftsman and former owner of a mosaic workshop in rural Damascus, says his struggle for years to keep his workshop open, producing and selling enough to pay its workers has been futile.
He adds in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: "I tried hard to maintain the workshop and its workers for as long as possible, but the constant high prices of wood (local and imported) in an inappropriate manner, the long interruption of electricity (16-18 hours a day), and the low demand for mosaic in the domestic and foreign market, all factors forced me to lay off workers, and later to close the workshop after months, during which I received only two orders."
In addition to these factors, Anton attributed the low demand for "original" mosaics and other handicrafts and heritage artifacts (copperware, damask, antika, textiles) to:
The reality of the market at the moment in the absence of tourists.
• The decline of external demand for the commodity as a result of the interruption of trade relations with foreign markets.
• Migration of brokers and traders and thus reduced export.
• Unequal competition.
With heritage products becoming “more than luxury ” for Syrians suffering from poor purchasing power (average monthly salaries of about $20), and the lack of support for craftsmen and awareness of the importance and authenticity of these products by trade unions and government agencies, Syria ’ s craftsmen face major challenges to continue their craft.
Although there are no accurate figures on the number of craftsmen who have been driven by working conditions to emigrate outside the country, the head of the Damascus Craftsmen ’ s Union, Ali Qarmashti, revealed in an interview with the local news website Click News last year that the percentage of Damascene craftsmen migrating has become very high, especially among young people.
Repellent economic and social policies
In addition to the direct economic factors that led to the decline of traditional crafts during the past few years, represented by the high prices of raw materials, the poor reality of services, and the decline of the sale and purchase movement, there were indirect factors that affected these crafts.
Syrian economist Younis Karim believes that the artisan crisis began in 2008 after being subjected to great pressures due to the change of the general economic orientation in the country.
He said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: "Since 2008, the authorities have put their hands on the spread of these industries due to the importance of their geographical location, and work to change their features in favor of wealthy investors, or provide them as donations to countries that Damascus seeks to establish bilateral relations with."
According to the expert, the reality of the work of traditional crafts after 2011 became more complex and difficult with "the continued adoption of economic and social policies by the regime that restrict the owners of these crafts, exclude them from support, take their places of deployment, in addition to the cessation of exhibitions and the difficulty of participating in external events because of the political positions of the regime.
Karim explains that the family and social disintegration suffered by Syrians as a result of large-scale migration during the last decade was an added reason for the decline of these crafts, which “relied on inheritance between generations of the same family as a tradition followed by Syrian craftsmen long ago. ”
Kilo to Piece and Pieces
It seems that some traditional crafts and crafts are in the same trench with traditional crafts in their war against extinction, where the owners of many traditional crafts are no less original than those of heritage, especially the confectioners from the high costs of raw materials in production, high costs of energy stands, and successive losses due to the reluctance of citizens to buy expensive Arabic sweets.
Suhaib, 55, owner of a sweets shop in the Jazmatiya area of Damascus, told Al Jazeera Net: "Days pass without selling a total of a kilo of various items, and two years ago the stagnation of goods in the shop became a familiar phenomenon to us, and had it not been for the holiday seasons, and some occasions and weddings held here and there, we would have closed long ago."
Al-Halwani Al-Damascene adds in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net: "Our profits, and the profits of most of the shops of Halwanis in Damascus, have decreased by a large percentage since the beginning of the economic crisis in the country."
Al-Halwani pointed out that the price of a kilo of some varieties of Arabic sweets has exceeded 400 thousand pounds recently, adding: "Which is not able for Syrians to buy, so we have become selling methods in which we rely on small quantities, so we sell baklava, crystal, shaped, asian, brominated and other items in ounces, grain (piece) and two grains to keep the sales movement, and do not stop customers from our shop."
As for the reasons why sweets in Damascus stopped working and many of them emigrated outside the country, Al-Halwani said: “Many reasons start from the large annual taxes that are inconsistent with high operating costs and low profits, in addition to the high prices of commercial electricity and fuel needed to operate shops and laboratories, the huge increase in the prices of raw materials, the high wages of workers, and the reluctance of customers to buy these sweets except on occasions. ”
High prices
Prices of food, nuts and other components of Arabic sweets have risen by varying rates recently, as the price of a kilo of animal margarine reached 150 thousand pounds ($equivalent to about 2511 pounds), while the price of a kilo of pistachio love rose to 300 thousand, and the price of a kilo of walnuts to 120 thousand.
The prices of popular sweets such as Al-Barazek and Al-Ma ’ amoul in Damascus markets, by the holy month of Ramadan, were between 100 and 130 thousand pounds per kilo, while the prices of medium and luxury sweets such as “Al-Belouria ”,“ Al-Mashkeel ”, “Kool and Shakour ”,“ Aish Al-Bulbul ” and “Baklava ” ranged between 250 and 500 thousand per kilo, which is equivalent to the salary of a Syrian employee in the public sector.
The head of the artisanal association for confectionery industry, Bassam Qalaji, attributed this rise in confectionery prices to the government lifting subsidies on oil derivatives, which led to a direct increase in costs by 150%, pointing out that raising the price of electricity by 5 times will lead to an increase in the price of about 650 products.
Qalaji said in a statement to the local newspaper Al-Watan last month that the largest number of confectionery craftsmen emigrated, and their first destination was Algeria followed by Germany.
In March last year, the head of the artisanal association for the confectionery industry revealed that 70% of the workshops of the confectionery industry were closed due to the economic crisis and the low demand for sweets and refreshments.
A severe blow to the economy
This gradual disappearance of traditional crafts is a painful blow to the Syrian economy, says economist Younis Karim, “For decades these crafts have been the largest incubator of Syrian labor, and their contribution to the economy before 2011 ranged from 40 to 50%. ”
This is what Matanios Habib, a researcher and former Syrian oil minister, said in a research paper entitled “The private sector in Syria ” (2005), when he pointed out that the private industrial sector in Syria tended to invest in crafts for fear of nationalization policies, whether during the era of Syrian-Egyptian unity (1958-1961) or after the revolution of March 8 (1967).
Karim stresses that the crisis of workers in traditional crafts, such as confectioners and others, dates back to before 2011, specifically to the period between 2007 and 2009, when there was “an attempt by the regime to pressure the owners of traditional crafts and crafts by forcing them to pay taxes, and to keep them away from city centers in favor of large investors. ”
Younis Karim believes that the gradual demise of these crafts will have negative effects on the Syrian economy because of their role in "providing job opportunities beyond those provided by large laboratories and their excellence in ease of operation and achievement, and the ability to spread.
Source: The Island

Artisans in revived workshops use recycled glass melted at high temperature, then blow, rotate, shape and decorate items such as hookah bottles, vases, plates, small jugs and decorative objects.

Glassblowing and other traditional crafts form part of Syria’s cultural heritage and are described in the context as an integral element of the country’s cultural identity and its economic fabric.

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Content: Syria participates in the Ninth Nishan Forum of World Civilizations in China
Syria participates in the Museums Sub-Forum within the Ninth Nishan Forum of World Civilizations, which is entitled “Museums …
A bridge between the past, present and future ”, in Kufu, Shandong Province, China.
During the forum, the curator of the National Museum in Damascus, Dr. Rima Khawam, presented a lecture entitled “The National Museum in Damascus..
The importance of international exhibitions, during which she reviewed the history of Syria and its geographical location, which is located at the crossroads between the African continent and the European continent.
Khawam explained that Syria is one of the countries in the world that includes a large number of archaeological sites, numbering more than 5,000 sites, including 2,865 registered and documented sites, including six sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Khawam stressed that the treasures of Syrian civilizations are preserved in more than 40 museums across the country, and are considered valuable and rare, and include many elements of traditional Syrian culture and overlapping accumulations of cultures that have spread throughout the country.
Khawam referred to the terrorist war in Syria that has made the Syrian World Heritage a target of deliberate destruction, while initiatives are being established to restore and preserve Syrian antiquities.
She stressed that the preservation of cultural heritage is not only important to strengthen the Syrian identity, but also helps to consolidate cultural continuity in the development of humanity, in addition to the fact that this cultural heritage belongs to future generations, pointing to the history of the establishment of the National Museum in Damascus, which dates back more than 105 years.
She explained that after 2011, the National Museum in Damascus was closed and turned into a large store of antiquities, where the work in the museum during times of crisis revolved around the rescue, protection, preservation and restoration of Syrian museums.
“In 2018, after security stabilized in the country, the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums worked to open a single section in the National Museum, the Classical Section, to reconnect with the local community, ” Khawam said.
On the importance of international exhibitions, Khawam explained that the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums in 2020 worked in cooperation with a number of cultural institutions in the field of international exhibitions to hold international exhibitions, including temporary exhibitions at the National Museum of Oman between 2020-2022, and an exhibition at the National Museum of Prague in 2022. ".
She added that the agreement and cooperation to hold six exhibitions in six museums belonging to different Chinese provinces, the first of which was in the Nashan Museum, entitled “Surprising Syria ” since 2021 and for two years, during which 195 artifacts representing the most important models that bear witness to the achievements of human societies that lived in Syria for thousands of years since prehistoric times that date back to more than one million years until the 19th century.
Khawam pointed out that the number of visitors to the amazing exhibition of Syria in the Chinese provinces has reached nearly one million visitors, and its visit is still available in the Guagdong Museum, which is part of the Guagdong province and will continue until October 20, indicating that the cooperation between Syria and China to display Syrian antiquities was recently extended for two new years.
Khawam pointed out that the cultural project, which came in cooperation with the Chinese Antiquities and Arts Fair and the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums, is successful for many reasons that go beyond cultural exchange. It enhances the cultural identity of the Syrian archaeological heritage in danger since the beginning of the war. “We are looking forward to strengthening the connection and connection with the past in which cultural exchange was established for a long time between our two countries via the Silk Road. ”
Khawam pointed out that the authenticity of Syrian artifacts participating in international exhibitions is a fundamental value in an era in which artificial intelligence is rapidly developing around the world, which will seem a rare opportunity for visitors in the coming years, stressing that preserving the beauty of our ancestors ’ knowledge and highlighting it as a heritage of humanity and protecting it for future generations is one of the main roles of museums and its extensions through cultural exchange of international exhibitions.
Khawam concluded her speech by stressing the importance of enhancing the image of museums at the international level, and their role in spreading culture with the participation of different communities, to provide diverse experiences in education, enjoyment, reflection, knowledge exchange and interaction with the relics of ancient civilizations as a source of learning and education about historical, scientific and cultural facts that have occurred throughout history.
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Traditional crafts in Syria have suffered an unprecedented decline owing to difficult economic and security conditions, high input costs, power shortages, reduced demand and migration of craftsmen.

The provided context does not include accurate figures for how many craftsmen currently practice traditional glassblowing or exact counts of those who have emigrated.

Local exhibitions and revival initiatives have been used to market craft products and to train and attract younger generations to traditional handicrafts, including hand glass manufacture.

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Content: Exhibition of craft products by Syrian and Russian artists in the public park in Aleppo
Halab-Sana
On the grounds of the public park in the city of Aleppo, the activities of the exhibition of craft products were launched today, with the participation of 20 craftsmen and artists from Syria and the Russian Federation.
The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Industry in cooperation with the Russian Cultural Center in Damascus, the Federation of Artisans in Aleppo and the Syrian Professional Center Association, includes a collection of heritage and artistic works, paintings of Ajami thread, ornaments and handicrafts of wool, orphans, leather, rugs, carpets, bamboo and silver industry.
According to the President of the Union of Artisans in Aleppo, Mohammed Hossam Hallak, in a statement to SANA correspondent, the exhibition aims to highlight the traditional handicrafts and crafts and folklore professions to revive them by training the younger generations and mastering their industry to preserve them.
Mustafa al-Nu, President of the Syrian Professional Center Association, pointed out that the association worked to attract professionals and handicrafts, and provided them with financial grants to encourage them to continue their work, to preserve these crafts from extinction, in addition to training young people wishing to learn these crafts and develop them to suit the times.
The Russian artist Yuri Lishin, famous for the manufacture of blowing on glass, talked about his professionalism for more than 54 years, and his participation in many exhibitions in the world, indicating that his visit to Syria to learn about the glass industry, and participate in workshops on the manufacture of hand glass in Syria.
A number of participants noted the importance of the exhibition, which allows for the marketing of their products, where Zakaria Sultan, who works in the craft of silver and peat breaking, explained that he participates with silver and copper products and accessories made by hand in various forms for swimming pools, steadfastness, image cadres and chandeliers, in addition to grafting copper on wood, calling for providing the necessary support to maintain this profession.
The craftsman Ayman Saeed presented the results of the drawing on wood, which is called Ajami art, and stated that he learned to make this art and plant motifs and painting in Arabic calligraphy in the association, and became a trainer contributing to the revival of heritage, and that the exhibition is an important opportunity to market his products.
Artist Tala Naravyan participated in watercolor, oil and other paintings painted with pencils and charcoal, talking about the Armenian and Arab heritage and the neighborhoods of Aleppo and its citadel, pointing out that she participates to introduce people to the components of the rich Syrian heritage through painting because it constitutes the language of the world.
Samira Misto, who works in the craft of making the ancient traditional macrame, using colored threads and ropes to decorate the Koran, mirrors, clothes and jewelry, pointed out that she is working to develop this profession by adding beads and tree trunks to revive and preserve it.
Qusay Razzouk
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Aleppo Public Park

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Content: The news tape.
UNESCO National Committee discusses raising awareness of the importance of tangible and intangible heritage
Damascus-Sana
Discussing the activities of the National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, and the need to promote awareness of the importance of tangible and intangible heritage in Syria through schools and external participation, were the most prominent points that the members of the Committee focused on during their meeting today at the Ministry of Education building.
The members of the committee, which includes representatives from relevant ministries and national bodies, stressed the need to develop capacity building programs in the field of tangible and intangible heritage and prepare time-consuming files to include heritage elements on UNESCO regulations, in addition to organizing tours and trips for school students to the Geological Museum in Damascus and cultural museums in all governorates.
The Minister of Education and Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Mohammed Amer Al-Mardini, pointed to the role of the Committee in coordinating between institutions and UNESCO to enable the implementation of projects and plans according to needs, pointing to the importance of working to benefit from expertise and employ them, and cooperation to determine priorities.
During the meeting, the Director General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), Dr. Mohamed Ould Amer, referred in a video speech to Syria ’ s role in supporting joint Arab action in the organization and its efforts to present projects that contribute to enhancing this work by hosting a number of conferences and events in various fields and supporting the organization ’ s programs.
Dr. Ould Amer pointed out the importance of pushing the efforts of the organization in the field of promoting the Arabic language in support of its cultural, educational and scientific mission, noting the impact of Syrian educational and cultural experiences and leaders in the reference visions and the preparation of major plans and programs for them.
For his part, the Secretary of the National Committee for UNESCO, Dr. Nidal Hassan, gave a presentation on the implementation of the plan last year, comparing it with the plan of the current year and the activities and events that were participated in.
Rehab Ali
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Focus on tangible heritage and its revitalization at UNESCO National Committee meeting
Damascus, SANA – The need to focus on the material heritage and its revival as the human cultural heritage existing in Syria, and to contribute

UNESCO inscribed traditional Syrian glassblowing on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in December 2023.

The context indicates that UNESCO’s listing responds to the craft’s great antiquity and to threats from the conflict and economic decline that put traditional glassblowing at risk of disappearance, thus requiring urgent safeguarding.

In short, Syrian traditional glassblowing is an ancient craft centered in places such as Aleppo’s Urem Al-Kubra that has been seriously affected by war and economic pressures, was listed by UNESCO for urgent safeguarding in December 2023, and for which the provided context does not give exact current numbers of practicing glassblowers.