The Fifth General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage met in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 4 November 1985, during the 23rd session of the General Conference.
Sixty-eight of the eighty-seven States which were parties to the Convention as at 4 November 1985 and which thus had the right to vote, were represented at the meeting, namely : Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic Yemen, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, ...
7. The General Assembly elected by acclamation H. Exc. Mr. Gough Whitlam (Australia), as Chairman, the representatives of Bangladesh, Hungary, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Madagascar as Vice-Chairmen and H. Exc. Mr. Marino Jaramillo (Colombia) as Rapporteur.
8. The agenda of the session was adopted without amendment.
5 GA 9-10
Examination of the statement of accounts of the World Heritage Fund, including the status of the States Parties' contributions
9. The General Assembly examined document CLT-85/CONF.009/2 by which the accounts of the Fund were submitted to the Assembly in accordance with the Financial Regulations of the World Heritage Fund. The attention of the Assembly was drawn to the accounts for the financial period which terminated on 31 December 1983 given in annex I of the document, to the interim statement for the financial period 1984-1985 drawn up as at 31 July 1985 set out in annex II, as well as to the summary of contributions received as at 31 July 1985 from States Parties given in annex III. The Assembly was informed ...
5 GA 11
Determination of the amount of the contributions to the World Heritage Fund in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the World Heritage Convention
11. The General Assembly decided unanimously to maintain for the financial period 1986-1987 the amount of the mandatory contributions to be paid to the World Heritage Fund foreseen in Article 16, paragraph 1, of the Convention at 1 % of the contributions of States Parties to the Regular Budget of Unesco.
12. The General Assembly was called on to elect 7 Members of the World Heritage Committee to replace the following 7 Members whose term of office was due to expire at the end of the 23rd Session of the General Conference : Argentina, France, Italy, Pakistan, Panama, Senegal and Switzerland.13. The list of States Parties which had submitted their candidature was read out before the Assembly. The candidatures of Argentina and Costa Rica were withdrawn in favour of Ecuador and Mexico and that of Egypt in favour of Yemen. In conformity with article 16, paragraph 5 of the Convention, the list ...
17. The representatives of Bulgaria, Greece, India, Mexico, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen assured the General Assembly of the firm intention of their countries to contribute actively to the work of the World Heritage Committee and to the implementation of the Convention. The representative of the United States of America emphasized his country's continued support for the World Heritage Convention which it regarded as a unique basis for increased international cooperation for the protection of sites of outstanding universal significance. After describing the measures taken in his ...
19. Before declaring the meeting closed, the Chairman referred to the low level of resources in the World Heritage Fund which was, in his opinion, due to the facts that certain of the largest contributors to the Regular Budget of Unesco were not parties to the Convention and that certain of those States paying voluntary contributions had not paid the full amount which they had the moral obligation to pay. He expressed the hope that full and regular contributions would be made to the Fund so that the World Heritage Committee could fulfil its responsibilities under the Convention. The ...
The Bureau recommended that the Committee approve these two requests, respectively US$ 20,000 for Talamanca-La Amistad (Costa Rica) and US$ 40,000 for Darien National Park (Panama).
5. At the request of the IUCN representative, an item was added to the agenda concerning the status of conservation of natural properties included in the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger. The agenda, thus amended, was adopted by the Committee.
6. Mr. Amini Aza MTURI (United Republic of Tanzania) was elected Chairman of the Committee by acclamation. Mr. Alex T. Davidson (Canada) was elected Rapporteur, and the representatives of the following States Parties were elected Vice-Chairmen, also by acclamation: Algeria, Bulgaria, India, Mexico and Norway.
7. The outgoing Chairman, Mr. J. Gazaneo (Argentina), congratulated the new Chairman and members of the Bureau on their election. He wished to convey some recent information to the Committee and make a few suggestions for the future. Mr. Gazaneo informed the Committee that an ...
9 COM V.8-12
Report of the Secretariat on Activities Undertaken since the Eighth Session of the World Heritage Committee
8. The Secretary, Mr. B. von Droste, Director, Division of Ecological Sciences, reported on activities undertaken since the Committee's eighth session held in Buenos Aires from 29 October to 2 November 1984. He began by reviewing the general status of implementation of the Convention, announcing that six new States, viz. in chronological order, Qatar, New Zealand, Sweden, Dominican Republic, Hungary and Philippines had adhered to the Convention, bringing the number of States Parties to 88. The Convention thus continued to arouse the interest of an increasing number of States. It was to be ...
13. The Secretariat presented the report of the ninth session of the Bureau and an amendment to that report proposed by the representative of Algeria. The Committee took note of the report as amended.
14. Introducing agenda item 6, the Secretariat recalled the Bureau's proposals as contained in the report of the ninth session. It was pointed out that, in addition to the question of the growing number of nominations, the real problem raised by development of the Convention was that of monitoring the status of conservation of properties included on the List.
15. In regard to the Bureau's proposed measures to reduce the number of nominations to be processed each year, the Committee was of the view that it was preferable not to lay down strict rules but rather to appeal to States that ...
9 COM IX.25-28
Elaboration of Guidelines for the Identification and Nomination of Mixed Properties or Rural Landscapes
25. The representative of IUCN recalled that this question had been first raised at the eighth session of the Committee at Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1984 and that the Committee had requested IUCN to consult with ICOMOS and the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) to organise a task force on this subject. The meeting of this task force had taken place at the headquarters of ICOMOS (Paris) on 11 October 1985.
26. The representative of IUCN presented document SC-85/CONF.008/3, which summarized the main points of discussion of the task force and its conclusions, ...
29. The Committee examined 37 nominations to the World Heritage List, taking account of the Bureau's recommendations, and of the evaluations of ICOMOS and IUCN for each property. The Committee decided to include 30 culturaland natural properties on the World Heritage List. These are presented under section A below. The Committee decided to defer its decision on the two nominations presented under section B, and not to include the four properties presented under section C. Section D covers one property whose nomination has been withdrawn.
Quebec (Historic area)
300
Canada
C(iv)(vi)
The Mayor of Quebec thanked the Committee for this inscription on the World Heritage List, pointing out that such an event would provide considerable support to the various Canadian authorities concerned, who will pursue their efforts to preserve the site.
Painted churches in the Troodos region
351
Cyprus
C(ii)(iii)(iv)
Pont du Gard (Roman aqueduct)
344
France
C(i)(iii)(iv)
The Committee drew the attention of the French authorities to the importance of strictly protecting the site's surroundings.
Kaziranga National Park
337
India
N(ii)(iv)
The Committee encouraged the Indian authorities to provide a legal basis to protect the buffer zone south of the Park (Mikir Hills and the Karbi Plateau). The Committee expressed concern over the proposed construction of a railway along the southern boundary of the park and asked that environmental impact studies be carried out.
Sites: Kaziranga National Park