Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 2010 — Aloha mai kākou, [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aloha mai kākou,

Chairperson Apoliona, Trustee Stender and I were honored to represent OHA and our beneficiaries at the historic, unanimous vote by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on July 30, 2010, to inscribe Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands) as a "mixed" - cultural and natural - World Heritage Site. OHA has long been supportive of protections for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. As co-manag-ers of Papahānaumokuākea - the largest protected area in the United States (larger than all the U.S. National Parks combined), and the third largest marine protected area in the world - we must assure that the region continues to be protected through strict regulation from commercial and political interests, and that Native Hawaiians continue to be able to appropriately access it. By helping to seek international recognition of the importance of Papahānaumokuākea, OHA continued our commitment to be the kind of stewards that our ancestors taught us to be, for we constantly must prepare to give this ancestral gift to our future generations. Our Federal and State co-managing partners

invited OHA to play a visible and significant role in the U.S. Delegation to the World Heritage Committee meeting. To assure that the cultural component was appropriately understood, OHA's delegation traveled to Brasilia, Brazil, and met individually with every member of the World Heritage Committee before the successful vote, whieh included no objections from any member. Papahānaumokuākea's natural attributes likely would have secured inscription as a natural World Heritage Site, but our beneficiaries told us that this culturally significant plaee should be recognized in a holistic manner. We therefore had an obligation in Hawai'i to assist in drafting the nomination from a cultural perspective, and again in Brazil to educate the world about the universally important concept of integrated natural and cultural resource management. Papahānaumokuākea's "mixed" site inscription brings international attention to the sacredness and uniqueness of this seascape, and it honors the Native Hawaiian culture. Respecting indigenous cultures and recognizing their relationships with their places of origin ean only help to foster better worldwide understanding of the dual responsibility and privilege of caring for our cultural land and seascapes,

including their natural and historic environments. Constitutional and statutory mandates require OHA to advocate for perpetuating Native > Hawaiian culture, access, rights and resource M management skills throughout the Hawaiian I Archipelago. Successful co-management of H Papahānaumokuākea with our Federal and y State partners helps exemplify the need for an s active Native Hawaiian role in the management of other ceded and culturally significant lands . in Hawai'i.

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Me ka 'oia'i'o, Clyde W. Nāmu'o I Chief Executive 0fficer I