At its last session in Morocco (November – December 1999) the Committee expressed its agreement with the State Party's proposal that the effects of the inclusion of Sangay in the List of World Heritage in Danger should be evaluated. In accordance with that recommendation, the Centre and IUCN intend to invite a paper from the Ecuadorean authorities for presentation at a workshop on the ²Role of the List of World Heritage in Danger in promoting international co-operation for the conservation of World Heritage sites². This workshop is planned to be convened at the time of IUCN‘s World Conservation Congress, from 3 to 10 October 2000, in Amman, Jordan. Several other States Parties that have experience in using the List of World Heritage in Danger as an instrument for international co-operation will also be invited to submit presentations at the workshop.
The Bureau was informed of a meeting involving Centre staff and the Minister for the Environment of Ecuador, and which took place in UNESCO, on 22 May 2000. The Minister informed the Centre that the Guamote-Macas road is now completed and his Government will explore the actions required to minimise impacts of this road. The Bureau concurred with the view of IUCN that the mitigation of impacts of the Guamote Macas Road and the effective implementation of the new management plan for the site are the priorities for improving the state of conservation of this site. The Representative of IUCN noted that the case of the Sangay National Park illustrated the usefulness of inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
The Bureau recommended that the Committee retain this site in the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Bureau encouraged the State Party to describe in detail, as part of the paper it will be invited to present at the Amman Workshop, positive and negative impacts of the inclusion of the site in the List of World Heritage in Danger and their relevance to the long-term conservation of the site. As part of the deliberations during that Workshop, the Bureau invited the Ecuadorean authorities, the Centre and IUCN to elaborate a plan, including the description of indicators and benchmarks, for the continuous monitoring of the state of conservation of Sangay and for the eventual removal of the site from the List of World Heritage in Danger. The Bureau invited the State Party to provide the twenty-fourth ordinary session of the Committee with a summary of its presentation due to be submitted at the forthcoming Workshop in Amman, and a plan for further monitoring leading to possible removal of the site from the List of World Heritage in Danger.