Pohnpei State Historic Preservation Office hosts this year’s MEHP and consultation meetings.
Alik joined the governor of Pohnpei, John Ehsa, in welcoming the delegations from Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Island, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the four FSM states, the Republic of Palau and the U.S.
Alik reminded the conference participants that as Micronesians “face the opportunities and the challenges of globalization and modernization, the task and responsibilities of conserving, preserving, and protecting unique cultural traditions and historic heritage become more challenging.”
He said the cultural and historic heritage in the FSM are non-renewable and diverse.
“Therefore, we must be very careful when we undertake planning for the use and protection of these resources,” he said.
According to Alik, he and President Manny Mori recognize the need for the historic and cultural preservation office to be more involved in the policy-making processes.
In that regard they established the Office of the National Archives, Culture and Historic Preservation as a cabinet level office during the early stage of their administration.
“The construction of a cultural center that will house the national archives office and serve as a national museum is in the planning stage,” Alik said.
He concluded his remark with a request: “We are grateful for the much needed historic preservation funding support that comes from the environmental sector of the Compact” with the U.S.
He requests “that our federal grant partners, the environmental sector grant managers and staff, and the historic preservation officers of the states and the national government work together to secure this needed Compact funding support.”
