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 capacitybuilding 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.