Decision 44 COM 7B.194

Cerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks (Brazil) (N 1035)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 43 COM 7B.22 and 43 COM 8B.42, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Expresses its concern about the increasing number of intense fires in the property and its surroundings, and regrets that no information on the impacts of the fire of October 2020 was provided by the State Party;
4. Welcomes the measures taken by the State Party to ensure that management of the property is further harmonized and focused on the Outstanding Universal Vale (OUV) of the property;
5. Notes the measures taken towards the revision of the management plan for the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (PNCV), but also regrets that no information has been provided regarding whether the development of an overarching Management Plan for the conservation units comprising the Chapada dos Veadeiros component of the property has been considered;
6. Requests the State Party to expedite the finalization of the Management Plan for the PNCV and to ensure that adjoining conservation units comprising the Chapada dos Veadeiros component of the property are considered in this process to ensure further harmonization of management approaches across the entire property, and to submit the revised Plan to the World Heritage Centre;
7. Takes note of further measures taken by the State Party in clarifying land tenure in the property through the land regularization process, but further regrets that no information was provided regarding the timeframe for the completion of this work, and urges the State Party to clarify the timeframe and to finalise this process, as a matter of priority;
8. Also welcomes the ongoing consolidation of the Integrated Fire Management within the property, also requests the State Party to ensure ongoing implementation of the Integrated Fire Management approach and continue to build capacities to respond to fires in the long-term across all conservation units comprising the property and encourages the State Party to evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Fire Management approach in reducing the frequency and impacts of intense fires ;
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.