Decision 42 COM 7B.100

Socotra Archipelago (Yemen) (N 1263)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/18/42.COM/7B.Add2,
2. Recalling Decisions 40 COM 7B.86 and 41 COM 7B.23, adopted at its 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) and 41st (Krakow, 2017) sessions respectively,
3. Welcomes the State Party’s repeated invitations for the joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property requested at its 40th and 41st sessions, but regrets that the mission could not be undertaken due to the security situation in Yemen;
4. Expresses concern about the casualties and flash flooding caused by Cyclone Mekunu that hit the property at the end of May 2018 and calls on all UNESCO Member States to support emergency safeguarding measures at the property, including through the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund;
5. Expresses its utmost concern about the multiple reported threats to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, resulting from uncontrolled developments, unsustainable use of natural resources, and the absence of adequate biosecurity measures to avoid the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS), and considers that all these factors represent a potential danger to the OUV of the property;
6. Urges the State Party to halt any activity that may have a potential impact on the property’s OUV and to refrain from allowing any further development at the property, until planned activities and projects in the property and its buffer zone have been submitted to the World Heritage Centre, for review by IUCN, prior to taking any decisions regarding their implementation that would be difficult to reverse, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
7. Reiterates the need for the invited joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to take place as a matter of urgency, in order to assess its current state of conservation, in particular in relation to the above-mentioned threats, and to review whether the property meets the conditions for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger and requests the State Party to assure satisfactory security measures are in place;
8. Also requests the World Heritage Centre to urgently facilitate a technical meeting with the Yemeni authorities, IUCN and concerned parties on how to ensure the protection of the property’s OUV while also promoting appropriate sustainable development for the people of Socotra;
9. Further requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2019, 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, with a view to considering, in case of the confirmation of potential or ascertained danger to its Outstanding Universal Value, the possible inscription of the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.