Decision 45 COM 7B.139

Babylon (Iraq) (C 278rev)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 44 COM 7B.14 adopted at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021),
3. Notes the progress made by the State Party in continuing conservation activities and in augmenting the management and presentation of the property;
4. Reiterates its requests to the State Party to:
   1. Develop and finalize the comprehensive conservation plan for the property, and within this, address the various risk factors identified in the risk map previously provided. This should include proposals of concrete measures towards their effective reduction and mitigation as well as the establishment of a priority intervention scheme for the most urgent conservation measures needed,
   2. Augment the Management Plan to include the comprehensive conservation plan so as to allow the management team to focus on priority, emergency interventions, and providing detailed implementation-oriented guidance as well as quality indicators for its successful implementation,
   3. Research further the relationships between the Neo-Babylonian capital and its wider landscape, in particular towards the Euphrates River, and based on the outcomes of this research, consider further extending the buffer zone in order to address actual and potential future challenges which can be identified in the wider setting of the archaeological city,
   4. Communicate to visitors the three-dimensional boundary concept and the explicit exclusion of 20th century additions from the property;
5. Reminds the States Party to inform the World Heritage Centre in due course about any major development project that may negatively impact the Outstanding Universal Value of a property, before any irreversible decisions are made, in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
6. Welcomes again the willingness of the State Party to host as soon as possible a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Advisory mission to assist the State Party to develop a phased action plan for the conservation of the property;
7. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 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 47th session.