Decision 40 COM 8B.15

Examination of nominations of mixed properties to the World Heritage List

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Documents WHC/16/40.COM/8B, WHC/16/40.COM/INF.8B1 and WHC/16/40.COM/INF.8B2,
2. Inscribes the Ennedi Massif: Natural and Cultural Landscape, Chad, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (iii), (vii) and (ix);
3. Takes note of the following provisional Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
   [Text available in French only]
4. Requests the State Party to present documentation meeting the requirements of the Operational Guidelines, which:
   1. strengthens the legal protection status of the property by the creation as of December 2016 of a protected area with a regime of protection adequate to the values of the property and meeting the protection requirements of the Convention,
   2. establishes a revised management plan that will be ratified as of September 2016 for the whole property meeting the international standards, including an operational implementation calendar for all steps needed to achieve this goal and clarify the management responsibilities of the new system in coordination with the traditional one which has been in place until today, and which clearly:
      1. spells out management operations to conserve the World Heritage values,
      2. includes a zonation which allows full protection of the key areas for biodiversity,
      3. details the measures foreseen to address the main potential threats,
      4. guarantees the full participation of the local communities and of their traditional authorities in the management of the property, and
      5. clarifies the institutional management regime of the property and provides a detailed staffing and budget consistent with the effective implementation of the required management;
   3. includes a strategy to establish a detailed botanical inventory of the site, to identify all important refugia and areas for relict flora that may further justify the application of criterion (ix);
5. Recommends the State Party to extend the northern boundaries of the property to include all attributes of Outstanding Universal Value including the rock art sites;
6. Also recommends the State Party to give consideration to the following:
   1. preparing and submitting cartographic documentation and mapping, with the assistance of the research institutions that have been and are currently working in the region, at an adequate scale, of the sites so far inventoried, in order to have a baseline for protection, conservation and management purposes,
   2. strengthening and diversifying waste management according to the waste types in the revised management plan,
   3. continuing training and sensitization of local communities,
   4. establishing capacity building strategies and training programmes in order to prepare the future managers of the property from within the members of the local communities,
   5. incorporating in the revised management plan a Heritage Impact Assessment approach into the management system, so as to ensure that any programme, project or legislation regarding the property be assessed in terms of its consequences on the Outstanding Universal Value and its supporting attributes;
7. Thanks the State Party for its commitment not to develop oil exploitation programme in areas within the property and the buffer zone;
8. Requests furthermore the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2017, a report on implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session in 2018.