Anita Smith

East Rennell World Heritage Site: misunderstandings, inconsistencies and opportunities in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Pacific Islands

Continuing traditional land tenure and resource use pattern the landscapes and seascapes of the Pacific Islands, and the rights of customary land owners are enshrined in the constitutions of many Pacific Island states. The implications of this for heritage conservation programs implemented by national governments under international Conventions and Agreements are explored through a case study of East Rennell World Heritage site, the first site to be inscribed based on natural criteria under customary ownership and management. Dissatisfaction with World Heritage listing expressed by the community of East Rennell is argued to reflect inconsistencies in the requirements for inscription of the property and a tension between the conservation and ‘beauty pageant’ functions of the World Heritage List.

World Heritage and outstanding universal value in the Pacific Islands

Over the past two decades, the World Heritage Committee has sought to address the current and future credibility of the World Heritage List through capacity-building programmes in regions currently under-represented on the List, including the Pacific Islands, to support States Parties to nominate places of potential outstanding universal value. Since 2004, the Pacific 2009 World Heritage Programme has been successful in contributing to a dramatic increase in the number of World Heritage site in the independent Pacific Island nations but as this paper discusses, this does not necessarily equated to an increase in the representation of the heritage values of Pacific Islanders on the World Heritage List, highlighting tensions between the concept of outstanding universal value, the processes of nomination and the rights of customary landowners in the inscription and management of World Heritage properties in the region.

Archaeology, local history and community in French Polynesia

Abstract In French Polynesia traditional ceremonial stone structures known as marae are a focus of communities reviving Polynesian culture. In the context of this changing social and political environment this paper explores the role of archaeology in a local community project developing a World Heritage nomination for the largest and best-known of these sites, Marae Taputapuatea. Although not germane to the project, the community is increasingly interested in the potential of archaeological research to provide information about the social landscape of the marae and to assist them in re-establishing connections with their traditional places.

Learning History Through Heritage Place Management in the Pacific Islands

In 2007, the University of the South Pacific offered a pilot unit in the undergraduate history programme titled ‘Introduction to Cultural Heritage Management’. The unit introduced students to concepts and strategies in the management of cultural heritage places and sought to encourage students to think about the cultural values of local places and to explore the decision-making processes that would assist them and their communities in retaining those places and their values into the future. The curriculum provided students with an opportunity to articulate their own values and histories and those of their community. The major assessment task of drafting a heritage management plan for a place they felt should be protected demonstrated their deep sense of attachment to place and a connection to past, present and future through community spaces. In the years immediately prior to 2007, both archaeology and cultural heritage management had been discussed as possible additions to the undergraduate curriculum at the University of the South Pacific to address the urgent need for training in the protection and conservation of the region’s cultural heritage. The lack of trained specialists from the region has meant a continuing reliance on researchers and specialist consultants from elsewhere with an associated tendency for the design and outcomes of cultural heritage programmes to be directed towards the needs of these people rather than primarily for those whose cultural heritage is the subject of research. This lack of regional capacity has been highlighted by the UNESCO World Heritage programme to increase the representation of the Pacific Islands region on the World Heritage List.