Decision 44 COM 7B.5

Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions (Ghana) (C 34)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7B.106, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Acknowledges the State Party’s efforts to address the recommendations of the 2019 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Advisory mission, as well as the allocation of funds for conservation, the increase in staffing of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board to address the challenges faced in the maintenance of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and the creation of a Heritage Fund;
4. Notes the conclusions of the 2020 joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission that the combinations of threats and factors impacting each component of the property is considered a major threat to the OUV of the property that warrants the urgent implementation of remedial actions;
5. Also notes the recommendations of the 2020 mission, and requests the State Party to implement them without delay;
6. Also requests the State Party to develop an action plan with timelines, submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies and consequently implement it, including:
   1. Undertaking an urgent structural survey of the various components of the property, to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies and undertake, where necessary, emergency remedial structural interventions to safeguard the integrity of all the components of this property,
   2. Establishing a close monitoring programme at all components of the property,
   3. Establishing a protocol for the delineation of the boundaries of the components and their individual buffer zones as a matter of urgency, in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, following which the delineation of the boundaries and buffer zones should be completed as a matter of urgency and submitted to the World Heritage Centre,
   4. Establishing a programme to engender more local awareness of the international significance of the property;
7. Further requests the State Party to:
   1. Complete with urgency the Management Plan, including mechanisms for inter-governmental coordination and stakeholder consultation, and submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies,
   2. Submit the statutes for the new National Heritage Committee and the new Culture and Heritage Development Act to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, following which their approval and implementation should be expedited,
   3. Submit details of the work carried out at St George Castle at Elmina and Fort St Anthony at Axim to the World Heritage Centre, for review by the Advisory Bodies before implementation,
   4. Halt the James Town Fishing Harbour project and carry out a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) on the project, in conformity with the 2011 ICOMOS Guidance on HIAs for Cultural World Heritage properties, with a specific section focusing on the potential impact of the project on the OUV, and submit this HIA to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before further implementation of this project,
   5. Carry out Environmental Impact Assessments, HIAs, and/or Strategic Environmental Assessments as a pre-requisite for development projects and activities that are planned for implementation within or around the components of the property in conformity with Paragraph 118bis of the Operational Guidelines, and create legislative or management mechanisms to this effect;
8. Takes note of the construction of the sea defence wall at Fort Fredensborg at Old Ningo which caused the collapse of part of the remaining ruins and compaction of geological layers with potential detrimental impacts on archaeological attributes, and requests furthermore the State Party to halt the intervention and to consider relocating the site office and the equipment installed, to further secure the site by fully closing it for the trucks, and further encourages the State Party to conduct a conditions survey and take protective and remedial measures at Fort Fredensborg;
9. Invites the State Party, in conformity with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, to inform it, through its Secretariat, of any major restorations or new constructions which may affect the OUV of the property;
10. Also invites the State Party to expedite the development of an inventory that should compile documentation and information critical to the maintenance, restoration, and interpretation of the Forts and Castles, with the participation of national and international universities and experts to identify interpretation and presentation opportunities of the property, and encourages the State Party to consider engaging actively in UNESCO's Slave Route Project to further research and international cooperation to that effect;
11. Requests moreover the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission to the property in early 2023 to assess the state of conservation of all the components of the property, progress in the development and implementation of the action plan, implementation of the recommendations of the 2020 mission, in particular progress in the delineation and protection of buffer zones and the advancement on the preparation and implementation of the Management Plan;
12. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2022, a progress report, and by 1 December 2022, 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 46th session.