New Zealand is playing a role in a campaign to garner more recognition for the Pacific area from the World Heritage Organisation.
World Heritage Centre spokesman, Giovanni Boccardi, says there are currently 830 historic sites inscribed on the world heritage list worldwide but only one can be found in the Pacific region.
He admits this seems completely disproportional, given the area accounts for one third of the surface of the globe.
Vanuatu National Cultural Council director, Ralph Regenvanu, says the implications of acknowledgement will be far-reaching.
He says that ongoing development is negatively affecting cultural sites.
Regenvanu adds that in Vanuatu a lot of important sites are actually being destroyed.
Vanuatu is now applying to get the ancient home of its legendary Chief Roimata on to the UNESCO list.
Fiji wants its original capital, the colonial port of Levuka, listed.
The meeting has also encouraged applications from other Pacific nations.
Tonga is aiming to have its ancient royal tombs immortalised and the Marshall Islands wants Bikini Atoll remembered, which was the site of nuclear testing in the second half of the 20th Century.
Boccardi is confident that in a few years there will be more Pacific heritage sites.
