20 November 2004. Sherdian Burke, Vice President of ICOMOCS reports:

Following the recent World Heritage Periodic Reports for Asia and the Pacific, a new world heritage programme “Pacific 2009” has been proposed by UNESCO with a focus on consultation, capacity building, education and the preparation of tentative lists and nominations for properties for inclusion in the World Heritage list, using a cooperative partnership approach.

A Roundtable meeting was organised October 17-22 in New Zealand for representatives of Pacific Island countries and territories, the Advisory Bodies and representatives of the World Heritage Centre. The Roundtable was set within the framework established by the Global Strategy meetings held in the Pacific (Fiji 1997 and Vanuatu 1999) to develop a credible, balanced and representative World Heritage List and in the context of the recent Representivity Report presented by ICOMOS to the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee in July 2004, which had proved disappointing in its lack of Pacific region material.

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