Purchase of an all-terrain vehicle for Comoe National Park

Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon): The Bureau recommended that the Committee approve US$ 40,000 for the purchase of two vehicles for this site subject to the Cameroon authorities paying their dues to the World Heritage Fund, providing detailed information to the Centre on projects implemented in this site with national funds and provide assurance to the Committee that the maintenance of the vehicles will be supervised directly by the manager of the Dja Reserve.

School for the Training of Wildlife Specialists (Cameroon): The Bureau recommended that the Committee re-examine this request for US$ 43,367 for organizing a sub-regional seminar for protected area managers of Francophone Africa in January-February 1994 in the light of information on the proposed programme on the seminar, and a better justification of the estimated expenses of items to be financed by a contribution from the World Heritage Fund.

Comoe National Park (Côte d'Ivoire): The Bureau approved a sum of US$ 30,000 for the purchase of an all-terrain vehicle, as requested by the Director of the Institute of Tropical Ecology (ITE) in Abidjan, subject to the Director of ITE providing information on the benefits which the UNDP/UNESCO study on the Productivity of Savannahs has brought to the management of this World Heritage site and on the organizational links between the authorities responsible for the management of Comoe and ITE.

The Bureau also requested the Centre to contact the Director of ITE and obtain a written commitment that the vehicle will be used for activities directly linked to the protection of this World Heritage site.

Hal Saflieni (Malta): The Bureau approved a sum of US$ 30,000 as a contribution to the installation of an air-conditioning system at the entrance of this World Heritage property.

The Bureau however, requested the Maltese authorities to take all necessary precautions to minimize as far as possible the negative impacts of the installation on the conservation of this property.

Vallee de Mai (Seychelles): The Bureau deferred taking a decision on this request until the forthcoming session of the Committee and urged the Seychelles authorities to:

(a) pay their dues to the World Heritage Fund;

(b) provide their views on the possibility for expanding this site to include additional forests in adjacent areas, as requested by the Committee at the time of inscription of this property on the World Heritage List

and (c) provide supplementary information on the construction plan for the visitor information centre, particularly the location of the centre vis-a-vis the boundaries of the site and measures for mitigating any impacts of construction on this small (18 ha) World Heritage site.

The Bureau noted that IUCN will attend a meeting of the Seychelles Island  Foundation and discuss this matter in detail.

The Bureau urged IUCN to make a site visit to Vallee de Mai in order to assess the state of conservation of the property, emphasizing the potential for increasing its size and assessing the need for the visitor information centre.