Decision 44 COM 7B.150

Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple (Sri Lanka) (C 561)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7B.75, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Regrets that the State Party did not submit a report on the state of conservation of the property by the deadline of 1 December 2020, as requested by the Committee in the aforementioned Decision;
4. Welcomes nonetheless the efforts and progress made by the State Party to improve the overall state of conservation and management of the property;
5. Urges the State Party to continuously implement the Revised Golden Temple of Dambulla Management Plan (2019-2026) with further refinement as recommended by ICOMOS through the Technical Review;
6. Requests the State Party to submit the conservation approaches and related reports arising from the implementation of the immediate and short-term priorities identified in the 2019 Management Plan to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
7. Urges again the State Party to finalize a Visitor Management Strategy, including a Tourism Management Strategy and a Pilgrim Management Strategy, and submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
8. Also requests the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property, as requested in Decision 43 COM 7B.75, to assess the state of conservation of the property, and in particular the implementation of the revised Management Plan, the ongoing work to document and conserve the property, progress with the Visitor Management Strategy and the proposed minor boundary modification to expand the property’s buffer zone;
9. Further 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, for examination by the Committee at its 46th session.