8. Strengthening World Heritage Protection in the Pacific: Lessons from Solomon Islands

Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, opened for signature 16 November 1972, 1037 UNTS 151 (entered into force 17 December 1975) (‘World Heritage Convention’).

World Heritage Convention art 29; UNESCO, Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, UN Doc WHC.16/01 (26 October 2016) (‘Operational Guidelines 2016’) para 199.

WHC Res 29 COM 7B.10, WHC 29th sess, UN Doc WHC-05/29.COM/22 (9 September 2005) 45, 46; WHC Res 31 COM 7B.21, WHC 31st sess, UN Doc WHC-07/31.COM/24 (31 July 2007) 58, 58; WHC Res 33 COM 7B.19, WHC 33rd sess, UN Doc WHC-09/33.COM/20 (20 July 2009) 68, 68; WHC Res 34 COM 7B.17, WHC 34th sess, UN Doc WHC-10/34.COM/20 (3 September 2010) 71, 71; WHC Res 36 COM 7B.15, WHC 36th sess, UN Doc WHC-12/36.COM/19 (June–July 2012) 63, 64; WHC Res 37 COM 7B.14, WHC 37th sess, UN Doc WHC-13/37.COM/20 (5 July 2013) 68, 69; WHC Res 38 COM 7A.29, WHC 38th sess, UN Doc WHC-14/38.COM/16 (7 July 2014) 39, 40; WHC Res 39 COM 7A.16, WHC 39th sess, UN Doc WHC-15/39.COM/19 (8 July 2015) 30, 31; WHC Res 40 COM 7A.49, WHC 40th sess, UN Doc WHC-16/40.COM/19 (15 November 2016) 68, 69.

Solomon Islands only submitted State party reports in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017. See Solomon Islands Government, State Party Report on the State of Conservation of the East Rennell World Heritage Area (Solomon Islands) (SIG, 2012); Solomon Islands Government, State Party Report on the State of Conservation of the East Rennell World Heritage Area (Solomon Islands) (SIG, 2013); Solomon Islands Government, State Party Report on the State of Conservation of the East Rennell World Heritage Area (Solomon Islands) (SIG, 2014); Solomon Islands Government, State Party Report on the State of Conservation of the East Rennell World Heritage Site (SIG, 2017).

For example, no representative of Solomon Islands attended the World Heritage Committee annual meetings in 2014, 2015, or 2016.

For example, Presentation of the World Heritage Programme for the Pacific, WHC 31st sess, UN Doc WHC-07/31.COM/11C (10 May 2007) annex I (Appeal to the World Heritage Committee from the Pacific Island State Parties) (the ‘Pacific Appeal’).

Alliance of Small Island States, About AOSIS http://​aosis.​org/​about/​.

Pacific Appeal, UN Doc WHC-07/31.COM/11C, annex I para 11.

Ibid., annex I para 13.

Solomon Islands Independence Order 1978, sch (‘Constitution of Solomon Islands’) sch 3 para 3.

Jan McDonald, Marine Resource Management and Conservation in Solomon Islands: Roles, Responsibilities and Opportunities (Griffith Law School, 2010) 2; Phillip Iro Tagini, The Search for King Solomon’s Gold: An Examination of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Mining in Solomon Islands (PhD Thesis, Australian National University, 2007) 261.

Interview by the author with Malchoir Mataki, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment (Honiara, 1 October 2013).

Interview by the author with Joe Horokou, Director of the Environment and Conservation Division of the Ministry of Environment (Honiara, 15 August 2013).

See, for example, William Logan, ‘Cultural Diversity, Cultural Heritage and Human Rights: Towards Heritage Management as Human Rights-Based Cultural Practice’ (2012) 18(3) International Journal of Heritage Studies 231, 237–239; Naomi Deegan, ‘The Local-Global Nexus in the Politics of World Heritage: Space for Community Development?’ in Marie-Theres Albert, Marielle Richon, Marie José Viñals and Andrea Witcomb (eds), Community Development through World Heritage, World Heritage Papers 31 (UNESCO, 2012) 77, 80.

See, for example, UNESCO et al, Managing Natural World Heritage, World Heritage Resource Manual (UNESCO, 2012) 37.

Deegan, above n 20, 81.

Adam M Trau, ‘The Glocalisation of World Heritage at Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, Vanuatu’ (2012) 24(3) Historic Environment 4, 7. See also Adam M Trau, World Heritage at Chief Roi Mata’s Domain: The Global-Local Nexus of Community Heritage Conservation and Tourism Development in Vanuatu (PhD Thesis, University of Western Sydney, 2013).

Trau, above n 25, ‘The Glocalisation of World Heritage’, 4.

Other reasons for the relative success of the Chief Roi Mata’s Domain site include the accessibility of the site from Port Vila (which has facilitated tourism) and the level of government support. See generally Trau, World Heritage at Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, above n 25; Meredith Wilson, Chris Ballard, Richard Matanik and Topie Warry, ‘Community as the First C: Conservation and Development through Tourism at Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, Vanuatu’ in Anita Smith (ed), World Heritage in a Sea of Islands: Pacific 2009 Programme, World Heritage Papers 34 (UNESCO, 2012) 68.

The need to research and document customary legal systems before assuming they will form part of an effective heritage or resource management regime has been recognised elsewhere: see, for example, Joseph Eboreime, ‘Nigeria’s Customary Laws and Practices in the Protection of Cultural Heritage with Special Reference to the Benin Kingdom’ in Webber Ndoro and Gilbert Pwiti (eds), Legal Frameworks for the Protection of Immoveable Cultural Heritage in Africa, ICCROM Conservation Studies 5 (ICCROM, 2005) 9, 11; Shankar Aswani, ‘Customary Sea Tenure in Oceania as a Case of Rights-Based Fishery Management: Does it Work?’ (2005) 15 Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 285, 304–305.

Ibid., paras 104–107.

Chris Ballard and Meredith Wilson, ‘Unseen Monuments: Managing Melanesian Cultural Landscapes’ in Ken Taylor and Jane L Lennon (eds), Managing Cultural Landscapes (Routledge, 2012) 130, 132, 149; Anita Smith, ‘The World Heritage Pacific 2009 Programme’ in Anita Smith (ed), World Heritage in a Sea of Islands: Pacific 2009 Programme, World Heritage Papers 34 (UNESCO, 2012) 2, 5; Pepe Clarke and Charles Taylor Gillespie, Legal Mechanisms for the Establishment and Management of Terrestrial Protected Areas in Fiji (IUCN, 2009) 2.

Made under the Environment Act 1999 (Kiribati).

This is also the approach taken in relation to several World Heritage sites in Australia, such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Legislation providing such a framework for implementing the Convention is proposed for Fiji. See Heritage Bill 2016 (Bill no. 10 of 2016) (Fiji), in particular Parts 5–6.

Deegan, above n 20, 80.

WHC Res 35 COM 12B, WHC 35th sess, UN Doc WHC-11/35.COM/20 (7 July 2011) 266.

The last review of the Operational Guidelines was done in 2015. However, amendments were made in 2016 after the review of certain provisions of the Guidelines on an exceptional basis.

WHC Res 37 COM 7B.14, WHC 37th sess, UN Doc WHC-13/37.COM/20 (5 July 2013) 68.

WHC Res 40 COM 7A.49, WHC 40th sess, UN Doc WHC/16/40.COM/19 (15 November 2016) 68.

WHC Res 41 COM 7A.19, WHC 41st sess, UN Doc WHC/17/41.COM/18 (12 July 2017) 35.

Ibid., 7.

Pacific Heritage Hub, Who We Are http://​www.​pacificheritageh​ub.​org/​about-us/​who-we-are/​. The Pacific Heritage Hub is now a section of the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific.

UNESCO, UNESCO Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws http://​www.​unesco.​org/​culture/​natlaws/​index.​php.

Of the Pacific Island States, only Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Palau, Samoa, and Tonga are covered.

Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute http://​www.​paclii.​org.

UNESCO, Model for a National Act on the Protection of Cultural Heritage (2013) http://​www.​unesco.​org/​new/​fileadmin/​MULTIMEDIA/​HQ/​CLT/​pdf/​UNESCO_​MODEL_​UNDERWATER_​ACT_​2013.​pdf.

Model Law for the Protection of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Innovations and Practices http://​www.​grain.​org/​system/​old/​brl_​files/​brl-model-law-pacific-en.​pdf.

Craig Forrest and Jennifer Corrin, ‘A Model Law to Implement the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and its Possible Application in Plural Legal Regimes in Pacific Small Island States: A Case Study of Solomon Islands’ (Paper presented at Solomon Islands National University Workshop, Honiara, December 2014) http://​www.​themua.​org/​collections/​files/​original/​602a7962da5dd01c​eafc413b8ec2d8fe​.​pdf 4.

WHC Res 41 COM 7A.19, WHC 41st sess, UN Doc WHC/17/41.COM/18 (12 July 2017) 35.

See, for example, Judith Bennett, Roots of Conflict in Solomon Islands – Though Much is Taken, Much Abides: Legacies of Tradition and Colonialism, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper (Australian National University, 2002); Judith Bennett, Pacific Forest: A History of Resource Control and Contest in Solomon Islands, c 1800–1997 (Brill Academic Publishers Inc, 2000); Judith Bennett, ‘Forestry, Public Land, and the Colonial Legacy in Solomon Islands’ (1995) 7(2) Contemporary Pacific 243; Daniel Gay (ed), Solomon Islands Diagnostic Trade Integration Study 2009 Report (Solomon Islands Government, 2009); Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, ‘Rumble in the Jungle: Land, Culture and (Un)sustainable Logging in Solomon Islands’ in Antony Hooper (ed), Culture and Sustainable Development in the Pacific (ANU E Press and Asia Pacific Press, 2005) 88; Siobhan McDonnell, Joseph Foukana and Alice Pollard, Building a Pathway for Successful Land Reform in Solomon Islands (2015); Graham Baines, Solomon Islands is Unprepared to Manage a Minerals-Based Economy, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper 2015/6 (Australian National University, 2015); Tony Hughes and Ali Tuhanuku, Logging and Mining in Rennell: Lessons for Solomon Islands. Report to the World Bank and Solomon Islands Government (2015); Ian Frazer, ‘The Struggle for Control of Solomon Island Forests’ (1997) 9(1) Contemporary Pacific 39; Solomon Islands Office of the Auditor General, An Auditor-General’s Insights into Corruption in Solomon Islands Government, National Parliament Paper 48 (2007).

Ibid., 4, 5, 7.

The Action Plan does refer to the need for awareness raising and capacity building in communities (at 5), which is arguably broad enough to encompass strengthening customary protection. However, the only specific reference to strengthening customary protection is in a national-level activity for Papua New Guinea. That activity is ‘promoting respect for customary practices and decision making in heritage protection and management’: 7.

See, for example, Marianne Pederson, Conservation Complexities: Conservationists’ and Local Landowners’ Different Perceptions of Development and Conservation in Dandaun Province, Papua New Guinea, State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper 7 (The Australian National University, 2013); Joeli Veitayaki et al, ‘On Cultural Factors and Marine Managed Areas in Fiji’ in Jolie Liston, Geoffrey Clark and Dwight Alexander (eds), Pacific Island Heritage: Archaeology, Identity and Community (ANU E Press, 2011) 37, 45; Adam M Trau, Chris Ballard, Meredith Wilson, ‘Bafa Zon: Localising World Heritage at Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, Vanuatu’ (2014) 20(1) International Journal of Heritage Studies 86, 98; Paige West and Dan Brockington, ‘An Anthropological Perspective on Some Unexpected Consequences of Protected Areas’ (2006) 20(3) Conservation Biology 609, 614; Simon Foale, ‘Where’s Our Development? Landowner Aspirations and Environmentalist Agendas in Western Solomon Islands’ (2001) 2(2) Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 44, 45; Jonathan M Lindsay, Creating Legal Space for Community-Based Management: Principles and Dilemmas (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 1998) 8.

Veitayaki et al, above n 74, 45.

Anita Smith, ‘East Rennell World Heritage Site: Misunderstandings, Inconsistencies and Opportunities in the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Pacific Islands’ (2011) 17(6) International Journal of Heritage Studies 592; State of Conservation of the Properties Inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, WHC 42nd sess, UN Doc WHC/18/42.COM/7A.Add.2 (15 June 2018) 17 (East Rennell, Solomon Islands).

Environment and Conservation Division (Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management, and Meteorology) Lake Tegano World Heritage Site, East Rennell, Rennell-Bellona Province: A Report on Community Consultation Visit on the Status of East Rennell World Heritage Site, 5–12 October 2011 (SIG, 2012); John Marnell, ‘Concerns Raised Over East Rennell Logging Application’, Sunday Isles, 25 March 2012, 9; Hughes and Tuhanuku, above n 68, 12; Teddy Kafo, ‘Proposed logging threatens World Heritage Lake Tegano’, The Solomon Star, 24 February 2015; Paul Dingwall, Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to East Rennell, Solomon Islands, 21–29 October 2012 (IUCN, 2013) 18.

Trau, Ballard and Wilson, above n 74, 98.

Pacific World Heritage Action Plan 2016–2020 (2016) 16; State of Conservation of Properties Inscribed on the World Heritage List, WHC 41st sess, UN Doc WHC/17/41.COM/7A.Add (2 June 2017) 26 (East Rennell, Solomon Islands) 31–32.

Allen et al, above n 73, 24.

The potential for a REDD project to be implemented at East Rennell has been subject to some analysis: see Scott Alexander Stanley, REDD Feasibility Study for East Rennell World Heritage Site, Solomon Islands (Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, 2013). For a discussion of the implementation of REDD in Solomon Islands more generally, see Jennifer Corrin, Background Analysis of REDD + and Forest Carbon Rights in Solomon Islands (Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, 2012).