An Expert Panel has been appointed to advise the Minister on the makeup of a revised Tentative list. Information on the assessment process and the Expert Panel is provided below.
Background
Taonga tuku iho, kōrero tuku iho: Protect our heritage, share your story with the world
On behalf of the New Zealand Government, the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai (DOC) is leading the process to update Aotearoa New Zealand’s Tentative List of potential World Heritage sites. The sites on the Tentative List have the strongest potential to be inscribed as globally significant World Heritage sites.
Aotearoa New Zealand currently has three World Heritage sites:
These make up the country’s share of the most remarkable places on Earth. We want to know about other sites in Aotearoa New Zealand that could be considered for World Heritage status.
E arohanuitia ana e tātou ō tātou taonga tuku iho me ā rātou kōrero. He wāhi kāmehameha ō tātou e hiahia ana te ao kia āwhina i a tātou ki te tiaki mō ngā uri whakatipu.
We all love Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural and cultural heritage, and the stories of our tīpuna. A few of our sites have such outstanding universal value that the wider world wants to help us care for and protect them on behalf of our mokopuna.
World Heritage sites are important to everyone around the globe
World Heritage sites have such ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ for humanity that they should be conserved for future generations. They have specific status under the World Heritage Convention (the Convention), which was adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 1972.
The Convention recognises four types of World Heritage sites:
- Cultural Heritage
- Natural Heritage
- Mixed Cultural and Natural Heritage
- Cultural Landscapes (where human interaction with nature has formed distinctive landscapes)
As party to the Convention, New Zealand has responsibilities to identify, protect and conserve World Heritage sites for future generations.
The Tentative List is the first step towards World Heritage status
To be nominated for World Heritage status, a site must be on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Tentative List.
For a site to be placed on the Tentative List, it needs to have strong potential to be listed as a World Heritage site by meeting the UNESCO World Heritage criteria.
Inclusion on the Tentative List also requires applicants to be prepared to submit a full nomination within the next 10 years. The nomination dossier thoroughly documents the case for a site to receive World Heritage inscription.
Sites are considered from a global perspective, which means a site of local or national importance will not necessarily be inscribed on the World Heritage List. Other recognition is available for Aotearoa New Zealand’s important places – for example, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga has tools to protect the country’s best cultural heritage sites.
New Zealand’s current Tentative List.
Criteria to become a World Heritage site
To successfully achieve World Heritage status, sites must:
- be deemed to be of Outstanding Universal Value by meeting at least one of 10 specified natural and cultural criteria
- meet the relevant conditions of integrity and (for cultural sites) authenticity
- meet the requirements for protection and management
- demonstrate global significance through a comparative analysis
- have effective involvement and broad support from iwi/hapū and the local community.
Detailed information on these requirements can be found in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention.
Applications for the current Tentative List review process closed
Applications closed 30 January 2026. Next, they will be evaluated in two stages:- Applications will go through an initial review by officials from DOC and associated agencies with a role in protecting and managing cultural heritage in Aotearoa New Zealand. The initial review will check for completeness and for the site’s potential to meet World Heritage criteria.
- An independent Expert Panel with expertise in Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural and cultural heritage will then assess the applications and provide advice to the Minister of Conservation.
The assessment process is expected to take several months.
Get in touch if you’re considering World Heritage
For World Heritage enquiries, email WorldHeritage@doc.govt.nz.
Applications for the current Tentative List review process have now closed.
A review of the full Tentative List is needed as this is the first review since the original list was published in 2007.
In future years, the list will be actively managed with regular opportunities for future applications to be considered.
If you are considering applying for World Heritage status, we encourage you to get in touch so we may help guide you through initial considerations in preparing an application.
Our Tentative List review documents from the current process are provided below to help you.
Fill in the expression of interest form as your first step and email to WorldHeritage@doc.govt.nz
Documents for the 2005/26 review of the World Heritage Tentative List
Additional documents:
- Applicant information factsheet (DOC guidance document) (PDF, 1,371K)
- Information for iwi/hapū (PDF, 1,637K)
- World Heritage Tentative List review brochure (PDF, 827K)
Additional documents in te reo:
- Applicant information factsheet (DOC guidance document) (PDF, 889K)
- Information for iwi/hapū - te reo (PDF, 4,188K)
- World Heritage Tentative List review brochure - te reo (PDF, 537K)
Contact
To contact us, email worldheritage@doc.govt.nz.
He kura huna kei roto i ngā kōrero a kui mā, a koro mā hei ārahi i a tātou i tēnei rā ki te tiaki i ngā taonga tuku iho o āpōpō, mō ngā mokopuna.
The stories of our tīpuna can help guide our actions today, to protect our heritage for our mokopuna tomorrow.
Expert Panel
The independent panel includes;
Dan Hikuroa (Chair)
Dan Hikuroa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui, Ngaati Whanaunga, Pākehā) is a New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO Culture Commissioner. He has a PhD in Geology and is currently Associate Professor, Te Wānanga o Waipapa, Māori Studies, at the University of Auckland, where he has also lectured in Anthropology, Geology, Sustainability, Environmental Engineering and Business Studies.
Dan’s expertise is in the areas of Earth Systems, Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge and ways of knowing), climate change, natural hazards and rivers and he uses Kaupapa Māori methods in his work with Māori communities to realise dreams and address challenges.
He has contributed to community and participatory projects that have included: marine spatial planning; environmental management plans; natural resource use and management; natural hazards, disaster risk reduction, resilience; and industrial waste-site rehabilitation.
He is a member of Pou Herenga, Māori Advisory to the Climate Change Commission, Pūniu River Care Board and has key roles within New Zealand’s Centres of Research Excellence, National Science Challenges and advises national and regional government, communities and philanthropic trusts.
Bruce Clarkson
Bruce Clarkson is a Professor of Restoration Ecology in the School of Science at the University of Waikato in Hamilton. His research interests include restoration ecology, urban ecology, vegetation succession, restoration planting, and habitat reconstruction.
He has more than 45 years’ experience as a professional ecologist focused on understanding the pattern and process of indigenous ecosystems of North Island and working alongside a wide range of protected natural area managers seeking to protect, conserve and restore them.
Governance roles have included National Science Challenges, Conservation, Forest Park and National Park Boards, and iwi and community led projects. Since 2016, he has led ‘People, Cities and Nature’, a national MBIE funded research programme focusing on restoring damaged or depleted indigenous ecosystems in urban environments.
He is a board member and immediate past president of the Australasian Chapter of the International Society of Restoration Ecology.
Awards received include: the 2006 Loder Cup (New Zealand's premier conservation award); the 2016 Royal Society of New Zealand Charles Fleming Medal for environmental achievement; and the 2023 Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to ecological restoration.
Liz Mellish
Rebecca Elizabeth Mellish, known as Liz, is of Te Atiawa, Ngati Ruanui, Taranaki and English descent. Liz is currently the Chairperson of the Rarangi Korero Committee of Pouhere Taonga and is a member of the Maori Heritage Council.
She is also the Chairperson of Palmerston North Māori Reserve Trust and Ahu Whenua Trust and sister to Wellington Tenths Trust. She has Directorships at Metlifecare Palmerston North, is the Deputy Chairperson of the Federation of Māori Authorities and Chairperson of Te Raukura the Wharewaka.
Liz and her husband Graham live in the Wairarapa and have three daughters and nine mokopuna. Her go to is their garden.
Wendy Nelson
Wendy Nelson is a botanist and marine biologist, and has specialised in the study of marine macroalgae, particularly the discovery and documentation of NZ’s algal flora.
She is a Senior Research Fellow at Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira and has an honorary position in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland.
Wendy has participated in a range of government panels, committees and working groups, as well as national and international science bodies, and is currently Deputy Chairperson of the NZ Conservation Authority.
Wendy had a PhD in Botany, was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008 and became a Royal Society of New Zealand Fellow in 2010.
In 2016, she was awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi Hutton Medal, for outstanding work by a researcher in New Zealand in the earth, plant, and animal sciences, and in 2020 the Nancy Burbidge Medal from the Australasian Systematic Botany Society.
Elizabeth Pishief
Elizabeth first became interested in World Heritage about 1961 when her grandfather gave her mother a subscription to UNESCO Courier and she read about the effort to raise funds to save Abu Simbel from being flooded by the construction of the Aswan Dam. That interest led her on a circuitous path through Aotearoa New Zealand’s evolving museum and heritage educational system.
Elizabeth was in the first intake of Massey University’s Museum Studies diploma and in 1998 got an MA for her thesis “Augustus Hamilton: Assimilation, Acquisition and Ownership.” In 2012 she had the privilege of being the first person to obtain a PhD in Museums and Heritage Studies from a New Zealand university when she wrote “Constructing the Identities of Place: An Exploration of Māori and Archaeological Heritage Practices in Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Despite her deep interest in museums, Elizabeth has always worked in land-based heritage, first for the Department of Conservation in Hawke’s Bay/Te Matau a Māui and Whanganui/Taranaki where she honed her skills in site assessments and insisted on hapū involvement with the preparation of the reports.
She has subsequently worked for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Opus International Consultants and Auckland Council and run her own heritage consultancy. Her years with Opus gave her the opportunity to work across Aotearoa, while Auckland Council introduced her to the complexity of heritage management in a large multi-layered cultural landscape.
Katharine Watson
Katharine Watson is an archaeologist with over 20 years’ experience in the field.
She founded and ran Underground Overground Archaeology throughout the post-earthquake period in Ōtautahi Christchurch. She sold the company in 2017 and embarked on her PhD. She currently runs the not-for-profit organisation, Christchurch Archaeology Project.
She was a 2023 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, is on the board of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, served on the Western South Island Stewardship Land Panel and is a member of the CAA Australasia Committee.
Katharine is also Editor of the journal Australasian Historical Archaeology and a member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Historical Archaeology.