Decision 39 COM 7B.55

Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab) (Lebanon) (C 850)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 7B.1, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Encourages the State Party to elaborate and implement the Action Plan for the management and conservation of the property, in collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Office in Beirut and the World Heritage Centre, and to integrate in it a prioritized programme of conservation;
4. Notes that a project to improve the landscape around the Church of St George will be drawn up and requests the State Party to submit details;
5. Also notes that a socio-economic study aimed at improving the living conditions of the communities in and around the property has started;
6. Takes note of the new management structure, but also of the lack of resources to allow it to function;
7. Expresses its concern that three years after the 2012 Reactive Monitoring mission, few of its recommendations on management and conservation have been addressed;
8. Urges the State Party to operationalize the management structure and update the Management Plan and, once the Conservation Action Plan has been approved, address urgent conservation needs of the property related especially to chapels, ruined buildings, terraces and the covered canal;
9. Also urges the State Party to consider the other recommendations of the 2012 mission, including ways to improve the socio-economic development of the valley in the framework of a sustainable management plan and through the organization of a workshop with the support of the World Heritage Centre;
10. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2016, an updated report, including a 1-page executive summary, on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 41st session in 2017.