Decision 40 COM 7B.10

Aksum (Ethiopia) (C 15)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/16/40.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 39 COM 7B.39, adopted at its 39th session (Bonn, 2015),
3. Congratulates the State Party on the progress made in protecting, conserving and managing the property in accordance with the recommendations of the 2013 Reactive Monitoring mission;
4. Acknowledges the achievements of the Ethiopian Sustainable Tourism Development Project (ESTDP), broadly in line with the World Heritage Sustainable Tourism Programme, but notes that the designs of the ESTDP interventions should not be applied to other areas of the property;
5. Requests the State Party to submit details of the façade modification for the Church Museum to the World Heritage Centre for review; to expedite the completion of the Church Museum project, including the conservation of the collections, as soon as possible, and to investigate the archaeological features that were reported as being discovered during the Church Museum building works, and advise the World Heritage Centre accordingly;
6. Also requests the State Party to finalize and submit the draft Management Plan for Aksum to the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies for review in conjunction with the Thematic Master Plan;
7. Commends the State Party for gazetting the boundaries of the property and its buffer zone, and further requests the State Party to submit the detailed maps of the physical boundaries of the property and its buffer zone to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2016, for review by the Advisory Bodies;
8. Requests furthermore the State Party to keep the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies updated on the consolidation project for the reinforcement of the foundation of Stela III and the investigation of the causes of the rising water level in the Tomb of the Brick Arches, to continue to seek expert specialist advice, to avoid any proposal that requires excavation in or around the Tomb of the Brick Arches, and to pursue more cautious options;
9. Requests moreover the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre details of all current and potential developments within the property and the buffer zone, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
10. Encourages the State Party to instigate training for relevant personnel on the requirements of the Convention, the Operational Guidelines and the Management Plan for Aksum, once finalized;
11. Also encourages the State Party to continue to implement the recommendations of the 2013 Reactive Monitoring mission and to implement the additional recommendations of the 2015 Reactive Monitoring mission;
12. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2017, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in 2018.