The papers in this volume were presented at a UNESCO conference ‘Culture and Sustainable Development in the Pacific’ in Suva, Fiji, between 9–12 July, 1997. The conference was conceived as part of the Vaka Moana program, the UNESCO Pacific states’ contribution to the United Nations sponsored ‘World Decade for Cultural Development 1988–97’. It was financed by a UNESCO program grant to the New Zealand National Commission. The conference had two main aims. The first, more general aim, was to explore the ways in which the two politically charged notions of culture and development are commonly conceived, talked about and argued in the region. Eighteen invited speakers addressed this broad theme, focusing on topics of their own choosing. Their papers make up the bulk of the volume. The second aim was to relate the issues raised in these papers to the Vaka Moana program and to the 1995 report of the World Commission on Culture and Development.

The document includes a paper by Peggy Fairburn-Dunlop titled ‘Gender, culture and sustainable development – the Pacific Way’. 

Other authors featured in the volume include Antony Hooper, Langi Kavaliku, Epeli Hau’ofa, Marshall Sahlins, Malama Meleisea, Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka, John Burton, Philipp Muller, Joeli Veitayaki, Kerry James, Robert Norton, Shane Jones, Richard A. Englehardt, Levani V. Tuinabua, Hana Ayala, Mali Voi and Russell Marshall.