Decision 38 COM 7B.32

Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands (Russian Federation) (C 632)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-14/38.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 35 COM 7B.107, 36 COM 7B.86 and 37 COM 7B.82 adopted at its 35th (UNESCO, 2011), 36th (Saint-Petersburg, 2012) and 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013) sessions respectively,
3. Notes the recommendations of the joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM reactive monitoring mission to the property in August 2013 and requests the State Party to give high priority to the implementation of its recommendations;
4. Encourages the State Party to revise the Development Strategy of the Solovetsky Archipelago and its Master Plan, including all proposed projects, in order to enhance the protection of the property and to sustain its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV);
5. Urges the State Party to pay special attention to the living religious heritage of the property by defining its legal protection status and adopting efficient regulatory and management instruments, and also requests the State Party to revise and/or develop planning tools, including a Protection Zoning Plan and regimes of all components of the property, an Integrated Management Plan, a Conservation Master Plan, a tourism management strategy, a risk preparedness strategy, as well as environmental and socio-cultural risk management, and to submit the revised documentation to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
6. Reiterates its concern about the possible reconstruction of the monastery buildings and other major interventions in the landscape of the property given their potential impact on its OUV, and also reiterates its request to the State Party to submit, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, to the World Heritage Centre technical details, including Heritage Impact Assessments, for proposed projects that may threaten the OUV of the property;
7. Takes note of the steps taken by the State Party to develop legal measures for the protection of World Heritage cultural properties and further reiterates its request that it develops and implements appropriate legal measures and regulations for conservation, restoration and management and use of World Heritage properties of religious interest, and also encourages the State Party to adopt, as a matter of urgency, a legal framework to support the implementation of the World Heritage Convention;
8. Welcomes the results of the International Seminar for religious representatives involved in the management and use of the World Heritage properties (Moscow, 2013), and further encourages the State Party to share its experience with other States Parties by developing a capacity-building programme, as an essential part of the management strategy, to improve the qualifications of World Heritage site managers and users of the World Heritage properties of religious interest;
9. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2015, a progress report on the state of conservation of the property, and by 1 December 2015 a state of conservation report, on the implementation of the above, both reports including a 1-page executive summary, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 40th session in 2016.