The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (United Nations 1972) and the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (UNESCO 1972) paved the way for the Declarations of the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference (United Nations 2012) and the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO 2003).
Some of these international declarations aim to achieve goals relating to environmental, economic and social sustainability which incorporate culture as a transversal axis. The knowledge and ways of life preserved through past generations have proven themselves to be socially and naturally sustainable, and many of them constitute examples of intangible cultural heritage. Artisanal fishing with clay shelter pots for the common octopus, a resource threatened by overfishing, is an example of such heritage that would result in a more sustainable way of life and better protection of our ecosystem resources if safeguarded (Nocca 2017).