Decision 44 COM 7B.143

Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy (Indonesia) (C 1194rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7B.63, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Commends the State Party for the progress made with the implementation of its previous decisions and encourages continued work to implement effective mechanisms for the management and protection of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property;
4. Welcomes in particular the updates provided by the State Party concerning its current priorities for this property and the various financial, cultural and physical measures that are planned and implemented by Bali Province and the Tabanan and Gianyar Regencies to support farming communities and increase the resilience and sustainability of the farming landscape, and requests the State Party to monitor the uses of recent provisions for Customary Villages to access new income opportunities to support subak activities;
5. Also welcomes the State Party’s indication that the draft National Strategic Area Spatial Plan should be completed by the end of 2021, and also encourages the State Party to finalise the process of designating the property as a National Strategic Area as soon as possible;
6. Notes that the State Party is currently developing technical guidelines on Heritage Impact Assessments (HIA) that will apply to all of Indonesia’s cultural World Heritage properties, further encourages the State Party to carry out the work in conformity with the ICOMOS Guidance on HIAs for World Heritage cultural properties, and also requests the State Party to continue developping specific HIA mechanisms that are linked to the property’s management system and can explicitly address the need for the ongoing protection of the OUV of the cultural landscape;
7. Further requests the State Party to conduct HIAs for all new development within the property and its setting, particularly at Jatiluwih, and to provide documentation on new development proejcts and the associated HIAs to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, before making any decision that would be difficult to reverse;
8. Requests furthermore 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, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.