Decision 45 COM 7A.8

Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (N 136)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7A.Add.2,
2. Recalling Decision 44 COM 7A.45 adopted at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021),
3. Deplores the continued armed conflict and resulting further loss of life of protected area staff killed in the line of duty and of local communities, and offers its most sincere condolences to their families and to all the staff of the “Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN)”;
4. Welcomes the progress achieved by the State Party and partners in implementing some of the corrective measures despite the challenging security context in the region;
5. Expresses its utmost concern regarding the considerable deterioration of the security situation resulting in large parts of the property being in the area under the administration of armed groups and the park authorities having to abandon the gorilla sector, and reported increase in poaching, commends the actions taken by the park authorities to maintain the monitoring of gorilla populations through local community trackers and as well as continuing anti-poaching activities in the rest of the property and urges the State Party to continue its efforts to protect the property in line with its commitments in the 2011 Kinshasa Declaration, including through the joint organization with UNESCO and its partners of a national workshop on heritage protection in conflict zones in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as soon as possible;
6. Notes with concern the reported increase in deforestation for fuelwood around the camps for Internally Displaced People fleeing the armed conflict and requests the State Party, in collaboration with humanitarian relief organizations, to address the matter, such as by providing the camps with alternative fuel systems for cooking and heating;
7. Whilst reiterating its position that oil and gas exploration and exploitation is incompatible with World Heritage status, notes with utmost concern that the State Party has again included the oil blocks overlapping with the property in a new auction for oil and gas blocks, despite the repeated requests by the Committee to cancel existing petroleum concessions granted inside the property, and again strongly reiterates its request to the State Party not to allocate new concessions overlapping with the property and to cancel any existing concessions and to confirm its unequivocal commitment to prohibit new petroleum exploration and exploitation within the property;
8. Welcomes the increase of gorilla populations and that elephants are starting to return to the property from neighbouring Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda) reported in the latest State Party report, notes with concern that the current upsurge in poaching pressure linked to the insecurity poses a risk that these successes could be reversed, with the increased presence of armed groups impacting patrolling and monitoring of large mammals - these species remain vulnerable and under threat by continuing poaching, and encourages the State Party to maintain its efforts to combat poaching as far as the security situation allows, and to submit, as soon as the conditions on the ground allow, the latest results of flagship species inventories, as well as the biological indicators for the Desired state of conservation for the removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger (DSOCR) to be finalized in cooperation with the World Heritage Centre and IUCN;
9. Welcomes the reduction of the encroachment in the property from more than 20% in 2018 to 12% in 2021, recalls that restoring the territorial integrity of the property remains one of the most important challenges and a key requirement to move towards a removal of the property from the List of World Heritage in Danger in the future and urges the State Party to ensure that local, provincial and national authorities cooperate with the park management to halt encroachment and take measures to recover and restore the encroached areas;
10. Further notes with concern the reported opening of a road and military infrastructure within the property and requests the State Party to ensure that any infrastructure developments in or around the property, including hydropower projects and road developments, are assessed for their potential impacts, including cumulative impacts, on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property in line with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, and to inform the World Heritage Centre of any new developments in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, prior to any activities being undertaken.
11. Further requests the State Party to continue its efforts to implement all corrective measures as updated by the 2018 Reactive Monitoring mission and to continue the implementation of the sustainable development activities established in the framework of the Virunga Alliance;
12. Requests furthermore the State Party to invite a joint UNESCO/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property, as soon as the security situation allows, to assess the impact of the renewed fighting in the property on its state of conservation, in particular in the central and gorilla sectors, the actions taken or planned for the cancellation of any oil block auctions overlapping with the property and the implementation of the corrective measures;
13. Notes with appreciation the development of a 2021-2025 Development and Management Plan (PAG), and the proposed development of a strategy to secure financial autonomy for the property by 2026, and requests moreover the State Party to submit the validated PAG to the World Heritage Centre for review;
14. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2024, 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;
15. Decides to continue to apply the Reinforced Monitoring mechanism for the property;
16. Also decides to retain Virunga National Park (Democratic Republic of the Congo) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.