Nevertheless, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which oversees the nature evaluation process, and the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which addresses culture, did not recommend the nomination.

Of particular concern, the ICOMOS required the First Nations of Pimachiowin Aki declare this site unique and superior to other places associated with indigenous people around the world to meet the culture criteria. The Pimachiowin Aki First Nations refused.

Despite the IUCN and ICOMOS findings, the World Heritage Committee notes that Pimachiowin Aki was a mixed nomination that raised fundamental questions about “how the indissoluble bonds that exist in some places between culture and nature can be recognized on the World Heritage List.” The Committee says that evaluating the cultural and natural values of one property separately and the present wording of the criteria may contribute to the difficulty of evaluating this site.

“They recognized very clearly that there was a major problem within the evaluation process,” Jacobson says, adding this is something they are working to solve right now.

Jacobson says that while they are working on changing the criteria, they are also looking at ways to solve this particular situation so that no other communities have to go through the same problem.

“I’m exceedingly confident that the next time (this nomination) comes up, they’ll move past the existing hurdles,” Jacobson says. “Other people in other countries, First Nations in Canada and indigenous people around the world will have their particular landscapes recognized in ways not recognized before.”