Decision 45 COM 7B.80

Greater Blue Mountains Area (Australia) (N 917)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 44 COM 7B.180 adopted at its extended 44th session (Fuzhou/online, 2021),
3. Notes again its utmost concern regarding the impacts of the 2019-20 bushfires, which affected 71% of the property, welcomes the funding to support post-fire recovery of the property, and encourages the State Party to continue monitoring the ongoing health and recovery of areas and species impacted by the fires and to continue the recovery actions including invasive species and erosion control, fire management, and threatened species conservation activities, in particular noting that flooding has delayed some of these actions;
4. Requests the State Party to continue implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements in order to strengthen emergency management in the property as well as climate and natural disaster risk reduction, also welcomes the development of an updated climate variability assessment methodology and climate change toolkit for the World Heritage properties;
5. Appreciates the efforts of the State Party to share the lessons learned with other States Parties to the Convention facing similar threats, promoting knowledge exchange on fire management strategies at World Heritage properties;
6. Also requests the State Party to implement the recommendations of the New South Wales (NSW) Government and independent inquiries into the floods and to continue efforts to understand impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and support the recovery of attributes of the property’s OUV as well as its management function;
7. Noting that the raising of the Warragamba Dam wall would have inundated areas within the property, which would have affected directly its OUV, further welcomes the decision not to proceed with the project;
8. Takes note of the findings of the assessment of potential cumulative mining impacts to the property and further requests the State Party to use the findings to inform a strategic approach for the approval of future and management of current mining projects, which avoids cumulative impacts from mining on the property and considers all the recommendations made in IUCN technical review of the assessment;
9. Reiterates its request to the State Party to ensure that potential threats to the property from activities outside its boundaries, in particular mining activities, are fully considered in the development of the revised Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Strategic Plan;
10. Requests furthermore the State Party to fully assess the potential impacts of the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport on the OUV of the property, in line with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context;
11. Finally 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.