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World Heritage – Pacific 2009 Programme

Tongariro National Park-New Zealand

Under the umbrella of the Programme the efforts of UNESCO (Apia and WHC and some other units at HQ), IUCN, ICOMOS, ICCROM, SPREP (South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme), PIMA (Pacific Islands Museums Association) and other relevant organizations (including NGOs such as CI, WWF, TNC, regional universities etc) along with interested States Parties from the region, the donors (existing and new) and the beneficiary countries will be brought together in a more coordinated way. The Programme includes activities at the State Party level, preparation of Tentative Lists, nominations, transboundary and serial nominations and building capacity and awareness.

Objective

• Ensure full membership of the WH Convention in the Pacific to strengthen a collaborative sub-regional approach to implementation
• Raise awareness about the World Heritage Convention and the potential benefits of World Heritage in the Pacific
• Build capacity for the preparation of Tentative Lists and nominations of properties for inclusion in the World Heritage List
• Ensure the representation of the Pacific cultural and natural heritage on the World Heritage List within the framework of the Global Strategy for a credible, balanced and representative World Heritage List
• Promote transboundary and/or serial marine and terrestrial nominations including serial cultural landscape projects in view of the recommendations of the Global Strategy meetings held in Fiji in 1997 and Vanuatu in 1999, the meeting on "Filling Critical Gaps and Promoting Multi-Site Approaches to New Nominations of Tropical Coastal, Marine and Small Island Ecosystems" in Hanoi in February 2002 and the Capacity-Building workshop in Samoa in February 2003
• Build partnerships with Government organizations, NGOs, international and multilateral organizations and donors for assistance in the implementation of the WH Convention in the Pacific.

Programme Features

An Action Plan for the implementation of the Pacific 2009 Programme was developed.

Background

Despite this extraordinary cultural and biological diversity and richness, the Pacific is the most under-represented sub-region on the World Heritage List. East Rennell in the Solomon Islands is the only World Heritage property in the Pacific Sub-Region. To address the under-representation of the Pacific Region, World Heritage Global Strategy meetings were held in the Pacific - July 1997 in Fiji and August 1999 in Vanuatu. As a result, many Pacific Island countries have joined the World Heritage Convention. However, the Pacific Region still remains as highly under-represented on the World Heritage List and most of the Pacific Island Countries lack capacity and ressources, human and financial to fully implement the World Heritage Convention, as highlighted in their National Periodic Reports, submitted in 2003.

Contacts

• Megumi Takimoto (m.takimoto@unesco.org)
• Laurie Wein (lauriewein@gmail.com)