Pacific world heritage meeting begins in French Polynesia

A UNESCO regional meeting kicks off this week in French Polynesia’s Maupiti island with high on the agenda the identification of further Pacific sites to be classified in the UN body’s world heritage list.
The six-day UNESCO World Heritage Pacific Islands Workshop 2009 will gather over fifty delegates from Pacific island countries and territories, who will together assess the merits of Pacific-based sites of worldwide cultural value and interest, including a scheduled declaration of the Pacific Ocean’s “cultural dimension” to reinforce the theme “We are The Ocean”!”.
The workshop is also expected to hear case studies on specific sites bidding for the prestigious enlisting.
The meeting also coincides with the presence of French Polynesia of neighbouring Cook Islands Prime minister Jim Marurai, who arrived in Tahiti mid last week.
Marurai was expected to spend most of last week in Bora Bora atoll, local radio reported.
French Polynesia’s President Oscar Temaru and French High Commissioner Adolphe Colrat are also expected to officially open the UNESCO regional meeting on Tuesday (Monday Tahiti time, GMT-10).
The meeting is sponsored by UNESCO, the French government’s “Pacific Fund”, the local government, the Australian government’s department of environment and the Oceania Football Confederation.
Local MP and member of the French Senate, Richard Tuheiava, is one of the main local figures backing the initiative while promoting the values of one local site, an ancient Marae (sacred place) on Vaiahu, to be selected by UNESCO.
The workshop draws on the perception that under the UNESCO World Heritage listing, the Pacific “continues to be one of the most under-represented regions”.
The main objective of such regional gatherings was, therefore, to ensure all Pacific islands ratify
the UN 1972 Convention on World Heritage and to increase Pacific sites representation.
To have their proposed sites considered, bidding countries and territories in the Pacific will have to meet several criteria, including credibility, conservation and the capacities to achieve this.
Another related goal was to draft and finalise a regional action plan for the period 2010-2015
which will then be submitted to the World Heritage UN Committee’s 2010 session.
Since the specific regional approach was endorsed by UNESCO, in 2003, 14 Pacific island countries have ratified the related UN convention and several regional workshops have been held in the Pacific to increase the capacity to draft national strategies.
Some of these meetings took place in Samoa (2006), Hawaii (2007), Turangi (New Zealand, 2007), and Cairns (Australia, 2008).
At the weekend also, a double-hulled traditional canoe was officially set to sail in the harbour of Pape’ete.

Herald Issue 463 10 June
- World famous activist assisting residents
- Budget will decide if residents prosecute Government over landfill
- Forestry project sucking Mangaia dry
- Budget 2010 – fiasco or disaster?