Heritage or World Heritage are an international field where interests in politics, commerce, indigenous community relations, scientific research, representations of the past and creative performance are joined. The World Heritage programme focuses international attention on the need  to maintain and restore meaningful places that refer in one way or the other to the past. Pacific Island nations are significantly under-represented in the overall number of World Heritage sites, particularly cultural sites. This conference session should thus act as a point of focus and shared understanding for both Pacific and European-based scholars and indigenous Pacific Islands people.