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◆Japan helps Palau World Heritage Inscription
Palau’s Rock Islands Southern Lagoon was inscribed as Palau’s first World Heritage at the 36th meeting of the World Heritage Committee on June 29th 2012. While the government of Palau nominated Rock Islands Southern Lagoon to be inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage list as mixed heritage (combination of natural and cultural heritage), the draft resolution by the committee proposed to inscribe the site as natural heritage only. However, during the discussion over the draft resolution, Japan actively supported the view that the site already met the requirements of the cultural heritage as well. At the end, Rock Islands Southern Lagoon was inscribed on World Heritage list as mixed heritage site. In sum, Japan, as a committee member, made contribution to the inscription of Palau’s first World Heritage.
The Rock Islands Southern Lagoon became the very first mixed heritage site in the Pacific region.
Earlier, Palau ratified the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in November 2011. Intangible heritage includes oral traditions, know-how of handicraft, languages, performing arts, etc. Japan was one of the first countries to realize the importance of the intangible heritage and thus created ‘The Japan Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage’ in 1993. The fund has been supporting preservation and promotion of intangible cultural heritage in numerous countries. For instance, between August 2009 and June 2011, the fund hosted workshops on capacity building in relation to the convention for five Pacific countries including Palau, which possess abundant intangible cultural heritage but had not ratified the convention. These efforts by Japan contributed to the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in the world.
©Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Palau
P.O. Box 6050 Koror, Republic of Palau 96940