V.212 The Secretariat informed the Bureau on the contents of the Draft Petra Park Operational Plan for the management of the site, prepared by a U.S. National Park Service team with funding from a World Bank Project. This Operational Plan was presented to a group of stakeholders, including UNESCO, during a Workshop held in Amman in January 2001. A copy of this Operational Plan was requested and obtained by ICOMOS for consultation.
V.213 The Bureau noted that this Operational Plan does not constitute a duplication of the Master Plan prepared by UNESCO in 1996 for Petra, but rather aims to provide an operational framework for its implementation.
V.214 The Bureau took note of the observations of the Secretariat and recommended that the present Draft be further improved to ensure the feasibility of the Plan. In particular, the Bureau found that three aspects of the Operational Plan needed to be addressed: 1) the institutional/legislative framework; 2) the financial sustainability of the Petra Park; and 3) the need to develop a local capacity and adequate human resources for the implementation of the Plan.
V.215 The Bureau thanked and commended the Jordanian authorities for elaborating an Operational Plan for Petra, whose implementation will constitute an essential step towards a sound management and conservation policy for this World Heritage site. The Bureau recommended that the Jordanian authorities work closely with the World Heritage Centre to ensure that the final version of the Petra Park Operational Plan takes into account the above observations, prior to its adoption by the State Party.