Vanuatu's Roi Mata domain gets UNESCO world heritage status
9/7/2008 17:46
The United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has
granted the South
Pacific tiny nation of Vanuatu's Roi Mata Domain World
Heritage status, Radio New Zealand International reported today.
It was the
first such site in Vanuatu and one of three new World Heritage sites named in
the Pacific at the UNESCO committee's meeting in Quebec, Canada. The others are
the reefs around New Caledonia's main island and the Kuk site of early
agricultural development in Papua New Guineam 's Southern Highlands.
The Roi
Mata Domain is comprised of three areas connected with the life of Roi Mata, a
17th century chief of the people in the areas, which include a settlement on
Efate Island and two islands close by.
The site is considered culturally
significant because Roi Mata's descendants still living in the area do so in the
same manner he did, foregoing modern conveniences such as electricity.
Xinhua
|
