What is ICOMOS Pasifika?

ICOMOS Pasifika is the name for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) International Scientific Committee of the Pacific Islands.

Election of the first Executive Board of ICOMOS Pasifika

ICOMOS Pasifika Board members and guests meeting in Cairns, July 2007

After many years of planning and lobbying by heritage professionals in Australia and the Pacific, the first ICOMOS Pasifika Executive Board was elected at the Pacific Islands World Heritage Workshop on 22 February, 2007 at Waitetoko Marae, Turangi, New Zealand at the end of the last working session of the Workshop.

ICOMOS Pasifika is a body of professionals and experts from the Pacific dedicated to the conservation, protection, rehabilitation and enhancement of the traditional and historical heritage of the Pacific Islands.

Pacific Islands Museums Association Chair Ms Faustina Rehuher was given the floor by the Chairman of the Workshop, Mr Paul Green, to conduct the election of the first Executive Board of ICOMOS Pasifika. Before conducting the elections Ms Rehuher asked Ms Kristal Buckley, Vice-President of ICOMOS International, to speak on the benefits of having a Pacific ICOMOS committee and the need to elect its first board so it could begin operations. The following people were elected unanimously:

• President – Mr Rufino Mauricio (Secretary General, Federated States of Micronesia National Commission for UNESCO, located in Pohnpei State)
• 1st Vice President – Mr Christophe Sand (Head, Department of Archaeology, New Caledonia)
• 2nd Vice President – Ms Faustina K. Rehuher (Director, Belau National Museum, Palau)
• Secretary – Mr Richard Ariihau Tuheiava (Chairman "Na-Papa-e-Va'u" Raiatea, Tahiti)
• Treasurer – Adi Meretui Ratunabuabua (Principal Cultural Development Officer, Department of Culture & Heritage, Fiji)

After his election, the President, Dr Rufino Mauricio, expressed his thanks to the meeting and pledged to do his best to achieve the aims of ICOMOS Pasifika.

ICOMOS Pasifika’s First Board Meeting 

The Executive Board held its first meetings at the 2007 Australia ICOMOS National Conference in Cairns from 19-21 July. At these meetings the Board discussed their vision, aims, and a program of activities that all form the Strategic Workplan 2007-10. ICOMOS Pasifika signed an MOU with PIMA which sets out how the two organisations will work together using the one Secretariat based in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

ICOMOS Pasifika wishes to thank Australia ICOMOS for its very generous sponsorship of Board Members and Secretary General to attend the conference, without which this meeting could not have taken place.

Read the ICOMOS Code of Ethics

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Find out what happened at the 31st UNESCO World Heritage Meeting in Chrischurch New Zealand in July 2007

Download ICOMOS Pasifika’s Statutes:

Download ICOMOS Pasifika’s 2007-2010 Workplan:

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