- Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
- Recalling Decisions 37 COM 8B.18 and 39 COM 7B.33, adopted at its 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013), and 39th (Bonn, 2015) sessions respectively,
- Notes the reported progress by the States Parties on:
- Preparation of a joint Fire Management Plan and an integrated Invasive and Alien Species (IAS) Management Plan,
- Completion of the Sehlabathebe National Park Oral History, the Cultural Heritage Management Plan for Sehlabathebe National Park and the Rock Art and Baseline Archaeological Survey of the Sehlabathebe National Park,
- Progress with staff training and the development of a joint Cultural Heritage Management Plan,
- Finalization of a sustainable tourism strategy and initiation of a community conservation programme;
- Requests the States Parties to complete the above-mentioned documents through appropriate stakeholder consultations, to carefully align them with the revised Maloti-Drakensberg Joint Management Plan for the property, and to submit all documents to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies.
- Welcomes the continuing transnational collaboration and efforts towards establishment of a buffer zone to the south of Sehlabathebe National Park, and reiterates its request to the States Parties to continue involving the local communities, and to submit to the World Heritage Centre a minor boundary modification to recognize the buffer zones, as soon as they have been formalized;
- Commends the State Party of Lesotho for preparing the Rock Art and Baseline Archaeological Survey and the study on the potential cultural contribution of landscape elements and also requests the State Party of Lesotho to prepare and submit to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, a programme for implementation of the recommendations of the Rock Art and Baseline Archaeological Survey;
- Further requests the States Parties to review the findings of these surveys, with a view to refining the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) for the property and incorporating this information into the above-mentioned revised Joint Management Plan;
- Encourages the State Party of Lesotho to continue with and further expand the training of staff within the Sehlabathebe management base and to expedite the development of the Biodiversity Resources Management Bill, and requests it furthermore to provide a copy of this Bill to the World Heritage Centre, as soon as it is approved;
- Also reiterates its request to the States Parties that the moratorium on non-urgent conservation interventions at the rock art sites is continued, pending completion of staff training and instigation of a programme for implementation of the recommendations of the Rock Art and Baseline Archaeological Survey;
- Also notes the State Party of South Africa’s renewed commitment to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed cableway, including a detailed Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA), in accordance with the guidelines of IUCN and ICOMOS and further reiterates its request to the State Party of South Africa to submit the completed assessments, with a specific section focusing on the potential impact of the cableway project on the OUV, to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies, before making any decisions that would be difficult to reverse, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
- Finally requests the States Parties to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2018, a joint 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 43rd session in 2019.
Decision 41 COM 7B.38
Maloti-Drakensberg Park (Lesotho, South Africa) (C/N 985bis)
The World Heritage Committee,
Decision Code
41 COM 7B.38
Themes
States Parties 2
Properties 1
Year
2017
State of conservation reports
2017 Maloti-Drakensberg Park
Documents
WHC/17/41.COM/18
Decisions adopted during the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee (Krakow, 2017)