Decision 39 COM 7B.67

Meidan Emam, Esfahan (Iran, Islamic Republic of) (C 115)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 37 COM 7B.62, adopted at its 37th session (Phnom Penh, 2013),
3. Commends the efforts made by the State Party to implement the previous Committee decisions, in particular the completed works on the reduction of the upper floor on the Jahan Nama building;
4. Notes the results of the Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) on the Metro Line 2 and request the State Party to implement the detailed mitigation measures recommended by the HIA;
5. Welcomes the State Party’s commitment to put in place a continuous monitoring system for the adjacent monumental buildings, in order to ensure that the proposed routing of Metro Line 2, constructions and underground drillings do not cause any negative impact on the World Heritage property and its wider setting in Esfahan;
6. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies:
   1. a proposal for clarifying the boundaries of the property and the buffer zone,
   2. the draft Conservation and Management Plan;
7. Also recommends that the State Party carries out an assessment study of the vulnerability of the property against disasters such as earthquake or fire and develop a systematic strategy for disaster risk reduction and to integrate it into the Conservation and Management Plan;
8. Encourages the State Party to apply the UNESCO Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (HUL, 2011) as a useful tool to help manage the rapid urbanization and development of the property;
9. 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.