Decision 9 COM XIII.A

SOC: Garamba National Park (Zaire)

Garamba National Park, Zaire: The representative of Zaire, the President Delegate General of the Zaire Institute for the Conservation of Nature (IZCN), presented the Committee with an up-to-date report on the progress of work undertaken by IZCN and the consortium formed by Unesco-World Heritage, IUCN/WWF and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. The main objective of the project is to safeguard the population of endangered northern white rhinoceros in the park. The project was progressing well and the equipment provided with support of the World Heritage Fund had helped to strengthen the protection of this park. Indeed, there had been no deaths of rhinoceros reported since 1984 and two baby rhinoceroses had been born in May and June in 1985, bringing the population to 15 specimens. The representative of Zaire stressed his Government's commitment to this project, which, in particular, would enable the rhinoceros population to build up its numbers in its natural habitat. The Committee congratulated the Zairois authorities on their laudable efforts to ensure the success of this project and hoped that sufficient progress could eventually be made to remove Garamba National Park from the List of World Heritage in Danger.