Decision 37 COM 7A.7

Salonga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (N 280)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-13/37.COM/7A,
2. Recalling Decision 36 COM 7A.7 , adopted at its 36th session (Saint-Petersburg, 2012),
3. Warmly welcomes the important efforts of the State Party to secure the property and reduce large-scale poaching, notably elephants, enabling the management authority to regain control of 80% of the property;
4. Takes note of the progress reported by the property managers and their partners concerning the participatory management of the natural resources and their involvement in the marking of the property;
5. Considers that it will need time to establish an effective management of the site in view of the vast area, logistical problems, available budgets and the security situation that, despite improvements, remains an important challenge;
6. Urges the State Party to continue to implement the corrective measures, as updated by the World Heritage Centre/IUCN joint reactive monitoring mission in 2012 to rehabilitate the Outstanding Universal Value of the property;
7. Requests the State Party to carry out inventories of the flagship species to quantify the state of the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, establish a Desired State of Conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger, and a realistic timetable;
8. Reiterates its request to the State Party to provide detailed information on the oil exploration and exploitation projects in the central basin that risk encroaching on the property and recalls its position on the incompatibility of mining and oil exploration and exploitation with World Heritage status;
9. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2014 a detailed report on the state of conservation of the property and progress achieved in the implementation of the corrective measures for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 38th session in 2014;
10. Decides to continue to apply the Reinforced Monitoring Mechanism;
11. Also decides to retain Salonga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.