The preservation of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, has been on the forefront of UNESCO’s agenda since 1992, when the UNESCO World Heritage Centre was founded. Since its establishment, the UNESCO Heritage Centre has worked to preserve two specific aspects of world heritage: indigenous languages and cultural heritage sites. 

Of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, one is estimated to disappear every 14 days, often with the death of its last fluent speaker. As linguistic diversity declines, communities increasingly adopt dominant languages such as English, threatening indigenous cultural identities and heritage embedded in language. Preserving linguistic diversity is therefore essential to protecting cultural heritage and identity.

Additionally, as conflict persists across the Indo-Pacific and urban and tourism development accelerate, the priorities of the global economy are increasingly shifting away from cultural heritage site preservation. Sites and monuments once treasured as symbols of global history are now among the first affected and the last protected from conflict, environmental change, and development.

It is the job of UNESCO to come to discuss and conclude on how to balance the Indo Pacific’s role in cultural heritage preservation while also keeping in mind each nation’s sovereignty, history, and competitiveness in a changing economy.