Decision 31 COM 7A.3

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea) (N 155 bis)

  The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-07/31.COM/7A.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 30 COM 7A.3 adopted at its 30th session (Vilnius, 2006),
3. Regrets that the 2007 World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission was unable to visit the part of the property situated in Côte d'Ivoire;
4. Expresses concern about the continued threats to the integrity and values of the part of the property situated in Guinea, in particular by poaching and uncontrolled fires and the limited progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of the 1993 mission;
5. Takes note of the fact that the on-going exploratory activities in the mining enclave have no significant impact on the World Heritage property but that activities will increase as the project enters its next pre-exploitation stages and requests the mining company SMFG to present a plan of the forthcoming planned activities and measures taken to limit their impact;
6. Also notes the efforts of the mining company SMFG and the State Party of Guinea to clarify the limits of the mining enclave and requests the State Party of Guinea with the assistance of SMFG and the UNDP/GEF project to finalize the delimitation of the enclave and geo-reference the boundaries of the rest of the property before the 32nd session of the Committee in 2008, taking into account the recommendations of the 2007 mission;
7. Requests the mining company SMFG and the State Party of Guinea to continue the process of the environmental impact assessment of the mining project and the collection of the necessary baseline data in order to clarify and quantify the potential impacts of the planned mining exploitation on the property, in close consultation with all stakeholders, the Centre and IUCN, and submit to the Committee any intermediary results;
8. Urges the State Party of Guinea to clarify the legal status of the property, the mining enclave as well as the two other core zones and the buffer zone of the biosphere reserve, taking into account the recommendations of the 2007 mission, before the 33rd session of the Committee in 2009;
9.  Further urges the State Party of Guinea to implement immediately the recommendations of the 2007 Centre/IUCN mission, which can be considered as corrective measures in order to safeguard the integrity and outstanding universal value of the property, in particular:
   1. Strengthen the capacities of the management authority CEGENS in the field, in particular by providing the necessary financial and technical resources to accomplish its mission;
   2. Strengthen the surveillance of the property in cooperation with the local communities, in particular by recruiting the ecoguards necessary for the surveillance of the property and by strengthening the capacities of the newly created Village Surveillance Committees;
   3. Define a buffer zone for the property, in consultation with local stakeholders, with an appropriate legal status and strengthen the conservation of the property through sustainable management of the natural resources within this buffer zone;
   4. Put in place an ecological monitoring system and a geo-referenced database for all scientific data collected on the property;
   5. Conduct a feasibility study to define a sustainable finance mechanism for the property;
   6. Develop a strategy for the conservation of the Déré Forest and Bossou Hills;
   7. Prepare a management plan for the property and the biosphere reserve;

10. Encourages the State Parties of Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea to meet and resume tripartite discussions with Liberia to enhance the required coordination which will be essential to implement the recommendations from the 2007 mission. The States Parties may wish to request international assistance from the World Heritage Fund to organize a new tripartite meeting before the 32nd session of the Committee;

11. Requests the State Party of Côte d'Ivoire to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN mission to assess the State of Conservation of the part of the property situated in Côte d'Ivoire and if possible coinciding with the proposed tripartite meeting;

12. Also requests the State Parties, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN, to develop a draft Statement of Outstanding Universal Value for the property, including the conditions of integrity, for examination by the Committee at its 32nd session in 2008;

13. Further requests the State Parties, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN, to develop a draft statement of the desired state of conservation for the property based on its Outstanding Universal Value;

14. Requests the State Parties to submit a report by 1 February 2008 on the state of conservation of the property, in particular on the implementation of the recommendations of the 2007 monitoring mission to the Guinean part of the property, progress with the delimitation of the property, the clarification of the legal status of the property and the implementation of the environmental impact assessment process as well as the impact of the civil conflict on the Ivorian part of the property for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 32nd session in 2008;

15. Decides to retain the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.