Decision 43 COM 7B.39

Ngorongoro Conservation Area (United Republic of Tanzania) (C/N 39bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/19/43.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 41 COM 7B.39, adopted at its 41st session (Krakow, 2017),
3. Welcomes the submission of the draft General Management Plan (GMP) for the property, the completion of the feasibility study for the southern bypass road, as well as the State Party’s temporary halting of the Laetoli museum project and its subsequent positive engagement with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies towards developing appropriate conservation perspectives for the Laetoli footprints, including a methodology proposed for the way forward on the project;
4. Acknowledges the State Party’s continuing commitment to combatting animal poaching and control of invasive alien plant species, but notes the 2019 Reactive Monitoring mission findings that general poaching and the spread of invasive alien plant species persist, and urges the State Party to further enhance its efforts to combat these threats to the property, including through stakeholder awareness-raising;
5. Also notes the recommendations of both the 2017 Advisory mission and 2019 Reactive Monitoring mission, and requests the State Party to implement all their recommendations;
6. Notes the reported continuing work on the surfacing of roads in the property while the State Party is addressing the recommendations of the 2017 Advisory mission, including the submission of the feasibility study for the southern bypass road, and also requests the State Party to urgently submit to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, the details of the surveys and studies that were recommended by the 2017 mission before construction works commence;
7. Further notes that the management system requires further augmentation to efficiently balance the conservation of the OUV of the property with other activities such as tourism, and further requests the State Party to develop and submit to the World Heritage Centre, the following to complement the draft GMP:
   1. An action plan and timeline for implementation of past Committee Decisions,
   2. A framework for stakeholder engagement that enables cross-cutting engagement on matters of mutual interest,
   3. Integrated policies and guidelines on tourism carrying capacity,
   4. Monitoring and enforcement mechanisms which ensure compliance with the conclusions and mitigation measures of validated impact assessment studies,
   5. Mechanisms for traffic monitoring, including regulation of speed and driving behaviour;
8. Encourages the State Party to augment the resources currently dedicated to cultural heritage preservation in the property, and to develop and maintain a database of archaeological attributes and other cultural sites in the property;
9. Also encourages the State Party to engage local communities and other stakeholders in exploring alternative livelihood solutions to its current voluntary resettlement scheme consistent with the policies of the Convention and relevant international norms;
10. Also notes with concern that the 2019 mission concluded that:
    1. There is a gradual and cumulative increase in threats to the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property due to previous Committee Decisions not being implemented,
    2. There is a need for a mechanism to monitor and enforce compliance with the conclusions of impact assessment studies in the implementation of projects;
11. Requests moreover the State Party to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of current and planned projects in the property, including a Heritage Impact Assessment, that assesses their individual and cumulative impacts on the OUV of the property, to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
12. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2020, 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 45th session in 2021.