The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
- Recalling Decision 38 COM 7B.89, adopted at its 38th session (Doha, 2014),
- Welcomes the progress achieved by the State Party towards controlling and reducing gold mining with the assistance from the regional consultation committee, reiterates its position that mining exploration and exploitation are incompatible with World Heritage status, which is supported by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Position Statement of not undertaking such activities within World Heritage properties, and requests the State Party to continue its efforts in order to eliminate this threat from the property;
- Also welcomes the increased patrol efforts and the implementation of an operational strategy to improve the monitoring of poaching and other illegal activities, including the application of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART), however, noting with concern the reported increase in poaching following the lifting of the ban on bushmeat consumption, also requests the State Party to urgently address both local subsistence and commercial illegal trade in bushmeat, at the hunter-, trader- and consumer-levels;
- Reiterates again its request to the State Party to publish as soon as possible the decree formalizing the extension of the Park in order to align the boundaries of the property with those of the national park to enable more effective management, and to submit, once published, a boundary modification of the property to the World Heritage Centre, for adoption by the World Heritage Committee;
- Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2018, 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 43rd session in 2019.