Decision 39 COM 7B.68

Vat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) (C 481)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 7B.17, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Takes note of the findings and recommendations of the joint World Heritage/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission to the property;
4. Urges the State Party to formulate and implement an effective and efficient road system before the unmade section of Route 14A is completed and opened to traffic, and requests the State Party to:
   1. Limit the use of 14A to light vehicles, residents and visitors only; with Route 14B being used as the international connection for heavy vehicles between southern Lao PDR, Cambodia and Thailand,
   2. Arrange for tourist coaches to park in designated areas at the northern and southern perimeters of the property,
   3. Limit the use of the district road through Champasak town and the Ancient City to light traffic generated by the villagers themselves,
   4. Analyze and justify the need for proposed additional local roads,
   5. Complete Route 14A according to the original alignment 24 metres from the north-west corner of the fourth enclosure wall of the Ancient City, rather than according to the proposed realignment 100 metres from the corner;
5. Regrets that in spite of previous recommendations a number of new constructions have been undertaken in the monumental complex, without overall site planning, thus contributing to the haphazard densification of the main monumental complex;
6. Reiterates its requests to the State Party to develop, as a matter of urgency, a Master Plan based on landscape approach, taking into consideration the nature of the property as a cultural landscape and the buried archaeology, and the attributes of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), and to
   1. Ensure that the local land use zoning plans conform to the Master Plan,
   2. Provide within the Master Plan an overall strategic landscape protection and development framework addressing long-term planning issues,
   3. Ensure co-ordination with emerging wider territorial plans,
   4. Submit copies of the Master Plan to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies prior to final approval;
7. Also urges the State Party ensure the provisions of the management plan are put in place and reflect the OUV of the property, as well as to render it more practical and operational by including, among other things, an improved monitoring framework;
8. Notes the need for a clearer definition and understanding of the physical and other attributes of the property that convey its OUV, particularly in relation to the wider cultural landscape and Champasak town. Such consideration should involve meaningful consultation with the local community;
9. Recommends to the State Party to further enhance and strengthen inter-agency cooperation, including between provincial and national level authorities, in order to continue to address the conservation and management issues at the property by the Lao PDR National Committee for World Heritage and to ensure that the various committees concerned with the World Heritage property should be convened regularly and their decision-making processes reinforced through provision of greater technical support;
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, and the remaining recommendations of the reactive monitoring mission, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 41st session in 2017.