World Heritage Listings, Changing Climate, and the Salalah Doctrine: Archaeological Heritage Management at Nan Madol Monument, Pohnpei, FSM

Summary

Nan Madol monument in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia was inscribed on the World Heritage list in July 2016. The same day it was listed on the Endangered List for World Heritage sites by the Committee. The designation was meant to insist on the seriousness of conservation and management planning and it has had a profound impact. A Conservation Plan has been launched, supported in part by UNESCO, and fine-grained monitoring with geocontrols, 3-D mapping, UAV structure-in-motion models, Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging, and detailed descriptions and monitoring for each islet have been initiated. Governance policy in the FSM, Pohnpei, and the Nahnmwarki of Madolenihmw is being reviewed for sustainable preservation and management. Monitoring for site impacts also supports observations of sea level rise, storm surge, erosion and siltation, and subsidence around the site. Nan Madol’s conservation management is a watch on the effects of climate change as well as ongoing environmental observations for the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18760