Mali Launches Development of Timbuktu Management and Conservation Plan

Since January 2006, the Malian authorities have been developing a management and conservation plan for Timbuktu, a World Heritage site since 1988. In March 2006, a management committee made up of the imams of the three mosques, representatives of all local areas, tour guides, and municipal and administrative authorities was officially created by municipal decree.

The development of a management and conservation plan is the result of a decision by the World Heritage Committee to take Timbuktu off of the List of World Heritage in Danger (Decision 29COM 7A.14), on the condition that a management and rehabilitation plan to facilitate the preservation and sustainable development of the Old City of Timbuktu be completed. The Committee also decided that if there was no substantial progress toward the implementation of a management plan, the property will be inscribed again on the List of World Heritage in Danger at its 30th session in Vilnius (Lithuania) in July 2006. 

The Malian authorities plan to submit the plan to the World Heritage Committee during the 30th session (Vilnius, 2006).