World Heritage in New Zealand

Mount Aspiring National Park

New Zealand signed up to the World Heritage Convention in 1984 and was on the World Heritage Committee from 2003 to October 2007. New Zealand hosted the 31st session of the World Heritage Committee in Christchurch, from 23 June to 2 July 2007. This was only the second time the meeting had been held in Australasia in the past 20 years, and the first for New Zealand since adoption of the Convention in 1972.  From 16 July 2006 to 2 July 2007, Paramount Chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa Tumu te Heuheu was chair of the World Heritage Committee.

New Zealand’s world heritage areas

New Zealand has three sites on the List:

• Tongariro National Park
• Te Wāhipounamu - South West New Zealand
• The Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand

New Zealand’s Tentative List

A tentative list is a record of sites that a member country believes could meet the criteria for nomination as world heritage sites. This is an important process for New Zealand as the Committee only considers nominations that are already on a country’s tentative list.

The Department submitted New Zealand's tentative list to the World Heritage Committee at its meeting in Christchurch in 2007.

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