12 Decisions
0 Resolutions
Year start: 1979close
Year end: 1979close
Session: 03COM 1979close
Theme: Inscriptions on the World Heritage Listclose
By Year
3 COM XI.(b).37
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of natural properties in the World Heritage List and guidelines for the evaluation of nominations by IUCN
In view of the difficulty of assessing nominations without an adequate inventory, the Committee decided to encourage States Parties to prepare such inventories. It was furthermore decided to ask IUCN to prepare a proposal for the next meeting of the Bureau relating to the methodology and cost of preparing an inventory on a global basis.
3 COM XI.(b).38
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of natural properties in the World Heritage List and guidelines for the evaluation of nominations by IUCN
The Committee decided to instruct IUCN to use great caution in the application of criterion (iv) when it was the sole criterion for recommending sites for the World Heritage List. The sites nominated under this criterion should be habitats where "significant populations" or "concentrations of populations" of rare or endangered species of plants or animals survive, that is, sites representing in some way "superlative situations".
3 COM XI.32
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of cultural and natural properties in the World Heritage List and Guidelines for the evaluation of Nominations to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS and IUCN
The Committee considered that it was absolutely essential that the List contained only properties which were of outstanding universal value. Unless this general criterion was applied to every nomination, the List could rapidly decline in value and indeed in credibility. With this in mind, the Committee recommended that the wording in the "Operational Guidelines" and the nomination forms should more adequately reflect this overriding consideration, and that ICOMOS and IUCN should be instructed to regard this requirement as of critical importance in their evaluation of nominations.
3 COM XI.34
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of cultural and natural properties in the World Heritage List and Guidelines for the evaluation of Nominations to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS and IUCN
On the general question of the number of inscriptions to be entered on the World Heritage List, as well as of the selection criteria to be applied, the Committee recalled that the Convention foresees in Article 11 paragraph 1 that each State Party "shall in so far as possible submit to the World Heritage Committee _an inventory of property forming part of the cultural and natural heritage_, situated in its territory and _suitable for inclusion_" in the World Heritage List (passages not underlined in the text of the Convention). The Committee recommends that States Parties in future ...
3 COM XI.35
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of cultural and natural properties in the World Heritage List and Guidelines for the evaluation of Nominations to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS and IUCN
In response to specific questions raised by Mr. Michel Parent's report, the Committee adopted the following principles:
(i) States Parties may propose in one single nomination several individual cultural properties, which may be in different geographical locations but which should:
-be linked because they belong to the same historico-cultural group, or-be the subject of a single safeguarding project, or-belong to the same type of property characteristic of the zone.
the geographical zone in which these properties are situated should be delimited and the cultural properties individually ...
3 COM XI.36
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of cultural and natural properties in the World Heritage List and Guidelines for the evaluation of Nominations to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS and IUCN
The Committee took note of the typology proposed in Mr. Michel Parent's report. It considered that it was on the basis of the inventories submitted by States Parties that such a typology could be finalized. The question will therefore continue to be studied until its next session.
3 COM XI.39
Amendments to the criteria for the inclusion of natural properties in the World Heritage List and guidelines for the evaluation of nominations by IUCN
The Committee considered the complex issues concerning sites occupied by migratory species on a seasonal basis and decided to add to paragraph 11 on integrity in the "Operational Guidelines" a new sub-paragraph (v) as follows:
"In cases of migratory species, integrity will require critical areas necessary for the survival of the species to be included in the nomination. States which are parties to the Convention are requested to seek the co-operation of other States which contain seasonable sites for populations of World Heritage species so as to ensure that these species are protected ...
The Committee took up one by one those nominations which had been recommended by the Bureau for inscription on the List, those which had been recommended by the Bureau not to be entered on the List and nominations which raised a problem of application of the criteria, in accordance with the Committee's decision mentioned in paragraph 15 above. In each case the Committee heard, as appropriate, the comments of the representatives of IUCN and/or ICOMOS who referred to the criteria met by the property in question.
The Committee decided to enter in the World Heritage List the following 45 properties:
No. Name of property / State Party___________________________________________
19 Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region / Ethiopia
20 Ancient City of Damascus Syrian / Arab Republic
The Committee noted the reservation expressed by ICOMOS concerning the threat to the site from rapid urban development.
31 Auschwitz concentration camp / Poland
The Committee decided to enter Auschwitz concentration camp on the List as a unique site and to restrict the inscription of other sites of a similar nature.
33 ...
Sites: Abu Mena Amphitheatre of El Jem Ancient City of Damascus Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis Antigua Guatemala Archaeological Site of Carthage Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945) Białowieża Forest Boyana Church Bryggen Chartres Cathedral Dinosaur Provincial Park Everglades National Park Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions Grand Canyon National Park Historic Cairo Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian Independence Hall Kathmandu Valley Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek Madara Rider Medina of Tunis Meidan Emam, Esfahan Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor Ngorongoro Conservation Area Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae Old City of Dubrovnik Palace and Park of Versailles Persepolis Plitvice Lakes National Park Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley Rock Drawings in Valcamonica Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo Sagarmatha National Park Stari Ras and Sopoćani Tchogha Zanbil Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak Tikal National Park Urnes Stave Church Vézelay, Church and Hill Virunga National Park
The Committee decided furthermore to defer the following sites:
No. Name of property / State Party
8 Ichkeul National park / Tunisia
The Committee deferred this nomination until the Tunisian Government has contacted the other States concerned to ensure adequate protection of summering and wintering areas of major migratory species found in Ichkeul.
79 Paphos, Birthplace of Aphrodite / Cyprus
The Committee deferred this nomination until more precise information was available on the possible adverse impact on the sites of the pressing needs of tourism development.
92 Sta. Giulia/St. ...
The Committee furthermore decided not to inscribe the following two sites on the World Heritage List:
No. 5: Zembra and Zembretta Islands National Park (Tunisia) andNo. 73: the Madeleine Island (Senegal).
In order to facilitate the examination by the Committee of nominations, it was decided that in future documents submitting nominations to the Committee would include indication of the criteria under which each nomination was to be considered.