Decision 44 COM 7B.78

Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul, Campeche (Mexico) (C/N 1061bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 38 COM 8B.16 and 42 COM 7B.63, adopted at its 38th (Doha, 2014) and 42nd (Manama, 2018) sessions respectively,
3. Commends the State Party for the extensive conservation and management programme that was implemented during the 2018-2019 period and includes actions that are essential to the preservation of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
4. Welcomes the finalization of a new integrated Management Plan for the property and its buffer zone and reiterates its request to the State Party to provide adequate financial resources for its effective implementation;
5. Takes note of the zoning of the property and its buffer zone proposed in the new Management Plan and requests the State Party to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the established zoning in addressing its previous requests and to submit the results of such assessment to the World Heritage Centre for examination by the Advisory Bodies;
6. Acknowledges the State Party’s assurances that the Committee’s recommendations regarding the delimitation of the property and its buffer zone to include additional and relevant cultural sites are being considered, and also requests the State Party to keep it informed of any further action in this regard;
7. Recommends the State Party to strengthen documentation and monitoring procedures for all structures, and particularly the excavated tunnels for which it is recommended to develop specific conservation plans;
8. Further requests the State Party to consider the recommendations made in the July 2020 ICOMOS technical review and to submit to the World Heritage Centre updated detailed information about the Tren Maya project and its trajectory, and to ensure that all potential impacts of the project on the OUV of this and other properties in the broader region are adequately assessed through appropriate Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs), as per Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, and strongly requests to submit them for review by the Advisory Bodies as soon as they are available, before making any decisions that would be difficult to reverse;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2022, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, including a specific assessment of the effectiveness of the established zoning both within the property and its buffer zone in addressing previous Committee requests, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.