Decision 38 COM 9A

Progress report on the Upstream Processes

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-14/38.COM/9A,
2. Recalling Decision 34 COM 13.III adopted at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010), Decision 35 COM 12C at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011), Decision 36 COM 12C at its 36th session (Saint Petersburg, 2012) and Decision 37 COM 9 at its 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013);
3. Welcomes all the actions undertaken to improve the processes and practices prior to consideration by the World Heritage Committee of a nomination (the ‘Upstream Processes’) and commends the States Parties, the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre for the pilot projects in which progress was made;
4. Acknowledges that outside of the referenced pilot projects, in order to be effective, the upstream support should ideally intervene at an early stage, more precisely at the moment of the revision of States Parties Tentative Lists;
5. Also commends the State Party of Namibia for the inscription on the World Heritage List of the Namib Sand Sea at the 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013), Saudi Arabia for the submission of the nomination on the Rock Drawings in the region of Hail, and Uruguay for the submission of the Cultural and Industrial Landscape of Fray Bentos;
6. Urges the States Parties concerned that have not yet done so, to fully collaborate providing technical and financial support to implement the required actions to make progress with the pilot projects and encourages them to seek assistance from the World Heritage Centre to identify opportunities to secure resources to progress the project, if necessary;
7. Calls upon the international community to provide technical and financial support to assist the States Parties concerned in the implementation of their pilot projects which were not able to identify adequate resources;
8. Requests the Advisory Bodies and the World Heritage Centre to report on the progress in implementing the pilot projects for consideration by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session in 2015;
9. Also requests the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies to draft a proposal in view of including the Upstream Process in the Operational Guidelines and to specify their implementation modalities, in the light of the outcomes of the Director General’s meeting “World Heritage Convention: Thinking ahead”, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 39th session, in 2015.