Potential World Heritage Sites Announced

Nine internationally significant sites representing some of our most outstanding cultural and natural heritage have been selected for New Zealand's World Heritage Tentative List.

Sarah Meadows, the Department of Conservation's International Manager, says inclusion on the Tentative List is an important milestone towards becoming an official World Heritage site.

"World Heritage status is one of the most prestigious international recognitions a place can receive. It is reserved for sites considered to have 'Outstanding Universal Value', meaning their significance extends beyond national boundaries and is important to present and future generations around the world."

DOC led a review of the previous Tentative List, resulting in a new list of sites with the strongest potential to achieve UNESCO World Heritage status in the future.

In May 2025, DOC invited applications for the World Heritage Tentative List. The applications were considered by an independent expert panel appointed by the Conservation Minister.

Following the review, nine sites have been included on New Zealand's revised World Heritage Tentative List:

• Waitangi Treaty Grounds/Te Pitowhenua and Te Tii Marae – the site where New Zealand's founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi was first debated and signed in 1840.
• Mataatua Wharenui – Te Mānuka Tūtahi, Whakatāne – a monumental carved Māori meeting house (wharenui) in Whakatāne (Ngāti Awa).
• Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, Christchurch – the home from which Kate Sheppard led the campaign that helped make New Zealand the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote.
• Parihaka Papakāinga – a historic Māori settlement at the base of Taranaki Maunga and a renowned centre of nonviolent resistance to land confiscation under the leadership of Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai.
• Te Kauwhanganui Māori Parliament Building, Monument, and Taonga Collection, Morrinsville – preserves a rare Indigenous parliamentary system and comprises Te Kauwhanganui building, King Mahuta monument, and a surviving archive of 20,000+ documents largely in te reo Māori.
• Te Hauturu o Toi/Little Barrier Island – one of the world's most intact temperate island ecosystems and a powerful example of conservation grounded in both science and Indigenous stewardship.
• Tch Tatatei Awanui/Scenic Reserve Wharekauri coastal strip, Chatham Islands – a significant Moriori cultural landscape containing settlement sites, burials and the archaeological remains of the voyaging waka Rangihoua.
• Ngā Tapuwae o Mataaho, Auckland Volcanic Fields – a cultural and volcanic landscape shaped by the Auckland volcanic field and its deep associations with Māori history and traditions.
• Kermadec Islands and Marine Reserve – located about 1,000 km northeast of New Zealand, these are among the most strictly protected reserves in New Zealand.

Sarah says the sites selected have demonstrated strong potential to meet UNESCO's demanding criteria for inclusion on the official World Heritage List.

"We really appreciate the considerable effort of groups and individuals who put forward applications for the Tentative List. The successful applicants are well positioned to prepare a nomination dossier for full World Heritage status within the next 10 years."

DOC will submit the revised Tentative List to UNESCO's World Heritage Centre. The sites' nominators can now begin developing dossiers that demonstrate Outstanding Universal Value, effective protection and management arrangements, and strong support from relevant communities and rights holders.

New Zealand currently has three World Heritage sites: Tongariro National Park, Te Wāhipounamu – South West New Zealand World Heritage Area, and the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands.