Decision 29 COM 7A.26

Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras (Philippines)

The World Heritage Committee,

2. Recalling its Decision 28 COM 15A.27, adopted at its 28th session (Suzhou, 2004),

3. Congratulates the State Party of Philippines on the progress made in addressing concerns raised by the joint 2001 IUCN/ICOMOS mission and for the actions in involving local communities and stakeholders in every stage of the conservation and management processes;

4. Takes note with concern of the May/June 2005 UNESCO monitoring mission’s findings and recommendations concerning the construction of flood control walls within the property, which appear structurally inadequate in case of severe flooding, and have a negative impact on the aesthetic value of the landscape;

5. Recommends that the State Party take steps to implement the recommendations proposed by the 2005 UNESCO monitoring mission in order to mitigate the negative impact of the flood control walls on the heritage landscape values of the property, and to prevent their collapse, taking into account the recommendations of the reactive monitoring mission of June 2005;

6. Requests the State Party to conduct, in consultation with the World Heritage Centre and Advisory Bodies, a comprehensive Environment Impact Assessment on major infrastructure projects being planned at the Philippine World Heritage properties, so as to ensure that impact on the outstanding universal value of the properties is minimized;

7. Strongly encourages the State Party to guarantee the long-term provision of the necessary human and financial resources to ensure a functioning and effective site management authority, which can implement the conservation master plan as quickly as possible, and foster longterm sustainability of the Rice Terraces;

8. Requests the World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and IUCN to undertake a joint reactive monitoring mission to the property to assess the steps taken by the State Party in the follow up of the 2001 and 2005 missions’ recommendations and to define benchmarks for the possible removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger, for examination by the Committee at its 30th session (Vilnius, 2006);

9. Requests the World Heritage Centre, in cooperation with ICOMOS, IUCN and the State Party, to define benchmarks for consideration by the Committee at its 30 session (Vilnius, 2006);

10. Encourages the State Party to further pursue the idea of a twinning programme recommended by the 2001 mission, in consultation with UNESCO and the Italian authorities;