In its review of Canada’s Nomination of Pimachiowin Aki for World Heritage Status, the sector Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) deferred final decisions until the subsequent World Heritage Committee meeting. UNESCO pointed to “fundamental issues” within the evaluation process that prevented them from recognising the price of “the indissoluble bonds that exist in some places between culture and nature.” It further resolved to, “examine options for changes to the standards and/or Advisory Body evaluation processes to handle the problems raised by the nomination.”
UNESCO commended the Governments of Canada, Manitoba, Ontario and the five aboriginal nations who drafted their nomination. It praised their, “exemplary efforts to develop a nomination protect, maintain and restore the numerous cultural and natural assets and values related to Pimachiowin Aki.”
Pimachiowin Aki, an aboriginal territory whose name means, “The Land Which provides Life” in Ojibwe, encompasses 33,400 square kilometers (12,895 square miles) of Ashinaabek aboriginal territory in northern Canada in the North American Boreal Shield, the biggest of Canada’s terrestrial eco-zones. Five aboriginal nations: Bloodvein River First Nation, Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Pauingassi First Nation, Pikangikum First Nation, and Poplar River First Nation have occupied the land for greater than 6,000 years.
At this meeting, the nomination drew praise from other nations in the course of the world who acknowledged the exceptionality of the location, particularly with regard to its think about the interrelationship between culture and nature, and expressed regret on the current inability of the method to adequately recognise the worth of that relationship.
“The Governments of Manitoba, Ontario, and the five First Nations of Pimachiowin Aki are to be commended for seeing the worth in forging a brand new path in accordance with recognising not only the worth of the land and the indigenous cultures, however the unique relationship between both,” Mathew Jacobson, boreal conservation officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts. “It is our belief that ultimately this nomination process will result not just within the inscription of Pimachiowin Aki as a worldwide Heritage Site but additionally in a better evaluation process it is more open to and respectful of the values of all aboriginal people.”
This decision was made at a gathering of the area Heritage Committee meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The area Heritage List is maintained by UNESCO, which seeks to encourage the identification, protection, and preservation all over the world of cultural and natural heritage that’s considered to be of remarkable value to humanity.
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