Decision 39 COM 7B.89

Churches of Chiloé (Chile) (C 971)

Decision: 39 COM 7B.89

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-15/39.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 38 COM 7B.40, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
3. Acknowledges the efforts made by the State Party in the establishment of a comprehensive mechanism to enhance the coordination and management of the property at all levels of administration and welcomes the progress made in creation of the future Ministry of Culture;
4. Reiterates the recommendations of the 2013 Reactive Monitoring mission to the property and urges the State Party to implement them;
5. Regrets that the State Party did not submit the final proposal for the buffer zones of each component part of the property as a minor boundary modification;
6. Notes with concern that no mitigation plan has been submitted to reduce the visual impact of the Castro Mall on the Castro Church and its wider setting as requested in previous decisions;
7. Also urges the State Party to finalize the legal definition of buffer zones and visually sensitive areas around each component part and establish the appropriate legislative measures to ensure the overall protection of the property;
8. Requests the State Party to finalize the review of all current Urban Master Plans in the light of the characteristics defined in the final proposal of buffer zones and new regulatory measures designed for the protection of the settings of the Churches of Chiloe and to establish clear building parameters and restrictions for all the municipalities that do not include these planning tools in their management framework to ensure the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
9. Also requests the State Party to finalize the process for the development of an Integrated Management Plan for all sixteen churches inscribed in the serial property;
10. Reiterates its requests to the State Party to develop measures to mitigate the impact of the Castro shopping mall on the visual characteristics and setting of the Castro church to better integrate it with the existing setting;
11. Also reiterates its requests to the State Party to submit a Study of Traffic Impact for the Castro shopping mall on the urban tissue of the City of Castro;
12. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2016, a progress report and, 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.