Resultion by the Nitijela 1990 compiled by Dirk H.R. Spennemann

11^TH CONSTITUTIONAL REGULAR SESSION, 1990

RESOLUTION No 100

A RESOLUTION

To provide for the preservation of the cultural and historic heritage of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

WHEREAS, the cultural heritage of the Republic represents both the foundations upon which rests modern Marshallese society and the identity of the Marshallese people; and

WHEREAS, the cultural and historic properties and resources of the Republic, which include submerged resources, form a fragile, finite and unrenewable resource that are subject to damage and destruction by patterns of modern land use, development and foreign impact, and which are therefore in need of preservation and proper management; and

WHEREAS, although there is a need for the protection of all cultural and historic properties, such protection in place and unchanged could seriously impede the wise use and development of lands in the public interest, frustrate scientific research, unduly restrict the cultural use of such properties and allow them to fall into disrepair through disuse; and

WHEREAS, such cultural and historic properties may co-exist with modern development, and preservation of such properties may involve creative activities other than static protection, including adaptive use, rehabilitation and data recovery; now therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands through their Nitijela in its Eleventh Constitutional Regular Session, 1990, that the Nitijela request, and it hereby requests, that the Cabinet provide for the creation of a Historic Preservation Office within the Ministry of Interior and Outer Islands Affairs by Act of the Nitijela for introduction at its next constitutional regular session; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that every person or agency planning or executing a construction project in the Republic shall take into account effects on the cultural and historic heritage of the Marshall Islands, and shall consult with the Historic Preservation Office to undertake reasonable efforts to prevent harm to that heritage.

Bibliographic citation for this document

URL: http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/RMILAW/Resolution.html

CONTACT:

Dirk H.R. Spennemann, Institute of Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, P.O.Box 789, Albury NSW 2640, Australia.

e-mail: dspennemann@csu.edu.au