Decision 45 COM 7B.20

Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe (N 1133quater)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add.2,
2. Recalling decisions 37 COM 7B.26, 38 COM 7B.75, 39 COM 7B.19, 41 COM 7B.4, 41 COM 8B.7, 42 COM 7B.71, 43 COM 7B.13, 44 COM 7B.99 and 44 COM 8B.32 adopted at its 37th (Phnom Penh, 2013), 38th (Doha, 2014), 39th (Bonn, 2015), 41st (Krakow, 2017), 42nd (Manama, 2018), 43rd (Baku, 2019) and extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) sessions respectively,
3. Notes with satisfaction that, further to relevant decisions, the joint Reactive Monitoring mission in 2014, the joint Advisory mission in 2018, and the modification of the boundaries of the component parts in Slovakia approved at its extended 44th session, the protection regime of the Slovak component parts is now in line with the requirements of the Operational Guidelines, thanks the State Party of Slovakia for its continuous work and cooperation to address these issues and requests the State Party of Slovakia to continue implementing any pending recommendations from the 2014 and 2018 missions, and to report on any new developments in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines;
4. Notes with serious concern that, in several buffer zones, it remains possible to conduct impactful forestry interventions such as shelterwood cuts and clear-cuts, and requests furthermore the States Parties of Italy and Spain to consider adapting intervention regimes to favour a natural transition towards more resilient natural beech forests, and the State Party of Germany to consider immediately banning any clear-cuts and significantly expanding the area of non-intervention in the buffer zone of the Grumsin component;
5. Welcomes the significant progress made by all States Parties in developing the “Guidance document on buffer zone management and buffer zone zonation” of the transnational property, and also requests the States Parties to finalise the document in line with the recommendations of the IUCN review, in order to ensure its effectiveness, in particular by developing a specific mechanism to ensure that areas of strict protection are significantly increased and that the use of interventions within the buffer zones is minimised beyond the minimum standard outlined in the Guidance document;
6. Commends the State Party of Ukraine for legislative changes ensuring that no logging and sanitary cuts are permitted in the buffer zones of the Ukrainian component parts, also commends the State Party of Romania for its plan to significantly expand to 75% the area subject to a non-intervention regime in Domogled – Valea Cernei National Park and further requests the State Party of Romania to provide more details on the timeline to reach this target and the areas that shall benefit from the non-intervention regime in the future whilst ensuring that no impactful interventions take place in proximity of the respective component parts;
7. Welcomes that the potential widening and paving of a forest track crossing the property and its buffer zone (National Road 66A) in Romania has been temporarily put on hold, also notes that the State Party of Romania is working to identify the best option in order to safeguard the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property and urges it to consider an appropriate alternative route to avoid any negative impacts on the OUV of the property;
8. Recalls its clear position that the construction of dams with large reservoirs within the boundaries of World Heritage properties is incompatible with their World Heritage status, and requests moreover the State Party of Romania to provide the World Heritage Centre with detailed information on the Cerna-Belareca hydropower facility and to submit the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), undertaken in accordance with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, once available, to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN, as required by Paragraph 118bis of the Operational Guidelines;
9. Further notes that a forest fire affected a part of the Valle Infernale component in Italy, and requests moreover the State Party of Italy to detail the cause of the fire, the exact amount of old-growth forest affected, if any, and provide a map of the affected area;
10. Takes note of the plans of the State Party of Belgium to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment and individual EIAs for the road upgrade programme located in the buffer zone of the property, and requests moreover the State Party of Belgium to ensure that these impact assessments are undertaken in accordance with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context and submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by IUCN, before final decisions on the project are taken that would be difficult to reverse;
11. Notes furthermore the efforts of the State Party of Belgium to expand and consolidate the protected areas that comprise component parts of the property and encourages the State Party to pursue options towards a boundary modification that would enhance the OUV of the property consistent with the integrity requirements of the Operational Guidelines;
12. Finally requests the States Parties to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2024, a joint updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, including a response to the Committee’s requests in Decision 44 COM 8B.32 to all States Parties concerned with this transnational serial property, and an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the 2019 joint Reactive Monitoring mission, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 47th session.