Between International Law, Kastom and Sustainable Development: Cultural Heritage in Vanuatu - Island Futures: Conservation and Development Across the Asia-Pacific Region - page 27

a need for follow-up discussions and workshops with individual landowners to
ensure that diverse perspectives were taken into account and enshrined in a revised
plan for land use planning and management of the Buffer Zone. The consultations
resulted in the identification of key priority projects incorporated into a CRMD
funding package for which donor support is being sought. Priority projects include
physical planning and cultural mapping, revitalization of local kastom , land aware-
ness, provision of legal advice and business skills development (Fleming 2010 ).
Cultural tourism has been an alternative source of income for CRMD communi-
ties since the site was nominated as a heritage site. Tourism is based on 'kastom'
stories, dance and artifact restoration and production. For example, the practice of
carving napea slit drums has been revived after a century of abandonment; the
drums are played for tourists as accompaniment for the traditional dance of
Mangaas. The WHTC has developed a Cultural Tourism Strategy for CRMD, the
core of which is the management of a small-scale interpretative tour to the three
main sites of significance for Chief Roi Mata's life - Mangaas, Lelepa Cave and
Atok Island grave, followed by a local feast and display of handcrafts (Greig 2006 ).
The theory behind the tour is to use communal land as a cash-generating activity,
the profits of which are then shared equally among the landholders of the site at the
end of each year. Here, it should be noted that land issues also impact negatively on
the CRMD Cultural Tour operation. At the moment, Mangaas is accessed during
the tour by boat only, as the landholders of the most direct road from North Efate
ring road to the site are demanding financial compensation for its use. Currently,
the Roi Mata Cultural Tour does not have the financial capacity to provide such
compensation (Kalotiti et al. 2009 ). The WHTC is hoping to secure additional
funding to develop world heritage bungalows owned and managed by the commu-
nity as an additional source of income from tourism development. Clarifying the
land arrangements for the bungalows is yet another challenge the WHTC would
need to address.
As illustrated above, sustainable management of the world heritage status of
CRMD in the context of increased globalization and commercialization is expected
to be an uneven and on-going process of negotiation between the chiefs, the tradi-
tional landholders, community members, the WHTC and the Cultural Centre as its
national umbrella organization. In the context of weak state capacity, there should
be greater emphasis on incorporation of regulated sustainable development options
as part of world heritage nominations and management. The drive for a cash-
oriented economy promoted by foreign investment needs to be well balanced with
efforts to promote the resilience of the traditional economy, which feeds more than
80% of the population. This is a way of preserving yet another aspect of Pacific
cultural heritage (Regenvanu 2009 ; Huffman 2007 ).
Success in these tasks will largely depend on the ability of the provincial and
national government to increase control over unscrupulous land lease dealings and
to offer greater protection to customary groups so they can better benefit from invest-
ment. International agreements are certainly not a one stop shop for solutions to all
the contentious issues surrounding Vanuatu's CRMD. However, they may prove a
source of information and guidance on legislative options to be considered at