Pacific Nations are under increasing pressure as the climate warms up. Koha Managing Editor, Mere Takoko, recently travelled to the realm of Hawaiiki to learn how cultural revitilisation is key to heritage protection in the Pacific.
Earlier this month over 120 delegates from Pacific islands as far away as Papua New Guinea and Rapanui, travelled to Maupiti for a UNESCO sponsored World Heritage Workshop to safeguard knowledge, spirituality and traditional practices. The local community of Puatiriouraivaiahu-Raipuaea have prepared for months to host these experts of Pacific culture and history.
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Key quotes from this article:
“It’s only through collective cooperation that the Pacific is able to move forward in many ways both in terms of heritage but also in terms of the social and cultural needs,” says the former Chair of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
“The reality is that we live in an environment where we have to take cognisance of what’s needed from a global perspective because climate change is not confined to the Pacific. Climate change is something the whole of the world is having to understand,” says Te Ariki.
“One of the drivers for UNESCO sponsoring the workshop was to develop a regional action plan to get as many sites as possible on the World Heritage list. Currently only four countries are recognised as having sites of cultural and historical importance: Solomon Islands, Rapanui, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.”
“What we can do as indigenous peoples is to offer our traditional knowledge of the oceans and the land that is not really applied today. We need to increase and build our capacities on a local level while keeping our indigeneity alive and consistent.”
“We are people of the ocean. We learn how to move on the ocean. We learn to face the ocean and be unique with the ocean and nature. We have a spiritual connection with the land and all landscapes. This is something that the Pacific can help the rest of the world to understand and remember.”
